Sales: there where the action is

Great sales people are there where the action (business) is. And that’s where their customers are.

To reach these (end) customers sales teams should be active building value propositions and reach out to them with great and solid sales stories. Reaching out to these suspects, prospects and current customers can be done in various ways. For example via old fashioned (cold) calling, via social media and digital marketing (think about using online platforms with targeted content via LinkedIn and YouTube), via (e)mailings and of course via direct and face to face contact. A great way (stil) of making 1:1 contact is via exhibitions, trade-shows, seminars, congresses and the like.

What exhibitions and other events do you normally visit? How do you plan these visits? Do you have a yearly sales plan in place where you already map out these events and plan them in time? My suggestion: you should! 😉

Some trends I picked up visiting several exhibitions across Europe:

1. We are truly living in an era of globalization 3.0. The days of doing only local business are over. Many parties are fishing in the same pond. Parties from Poland, Italy, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Germany or the UK; we are all fishing for the same (big) fishes. What does that tell us? That our value proposition and our go-to-market approach needs to be as strong as a Swedish made family car and our internal processes as simple and easy as an IKEA building kit.
2. The push and pull for “Green”. It’s real! Retail channels and end-customers are looking for more environmentally friendly solutions. This is actually more than a trend; this will become a standard requirement and more than a simple “check in the box”. Especially the Nordic countries (with Sweden spearheading this region, always a pioneer with green solutions) have some impressive “Green” initiatives.
3. Technology drivers: Big Data, artificial intelligence, voice technology, IOT etc…The technology we are having today is making major quantum leaps. Innovation is key, those who don’t spend serious money and time in innovation will be the dinosaurs of tomorrow. Plenty of examples there who have witnessed this first hand. How technical savvy are you? What do you to innovate?

We will continue to be there where the action is! There where we can successfully offer our Blue Pepper services (Strategy, Sales, Marketing, Training & Coaching and Executive Search).

If you have any questions about (sales) events, feel free to reach out to me or anybody else from our team.

Best regards and Happy Selling,

Sandor Willems

Blue Pepper

About the author:

Sandor Willems is founder and managing partner of Blue Pepper. Out of his personal drive to support companies with their continuous quest for Commercial Excellence he started his own business. Blue stands for structure, Pepper for action. In short, structured action where he ans his team combine Strategy, Sales, Marketing and Search. With +20 years sales & marketing (management) experience in EMEA & North-America, Sandor helps your company, team and individuals to grow. At SME, start & scale-ups and Corporates / Fortune200.