I can't tell you how many times I have spoken to meeting planners who are surprised that exhibitors didn't take advantage of certain sponsorship offerings, or that they are unaware of specifics regarding schedules, etc. I also can't tell you how many times I've heard exhibitors admit that they don't [...]
Clearly I love alliteration..... ANYWAY. People used to be shocked when they learned that the number one fear among people is public speaking. Please note: I don't know if current research shows that this is still accurate. When I taught public speaking at Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, IL) and Midstate [...]
CONTINUED... THE GOAL IS IRRELEVANT Last month, I shared my thoughts regarding goals. I know I said they were irrelevant, which is a bold statement and not entirely the point in terms of face value; instead the main idea was that we are not able to control the result. We [...]
Being in a business that does not sell directly to the end-user is quite a different playing field than working in consumer sales. For me, the biggest challenge has always been the lack of control in regard to selling to the end-user (the patient). When I was the marketing director [...]
I have my guilty pleasures, like we all do, and this weekend I binged a show on Netflix called, "Buying Beverly Hills." I'm not going to get into the premise, but the point is, one of the episodes showcased a perfect example of a concept I had been thinking about. [...]
Have you ever met someone who genuinely believes they are good at sales, only to think to yourself, "You're not good at sales, you just like to talk a lot." On the other hand, there are individuals who are actually very strong at communicating with people, but they are a [...]
Say what you want about multi-level marketing programs (or as most people refer to them, the dreaded PYRAMID SCHEME!). Granted, it's unlikely I would ever get involved in one again (I had my first and last experience in 2014), but there were a lot of "crash course" business lessons learned. [...]
Be honest - are you ready for the month that's made for you?!! Obviously I'm talking about FOOT HEALTH AWARNESS MONTH. Every year, I urge DPMs to use the 90 days (January - March) to plan an epic marketing/communications/awareness campaign to launch on April 1. 90 days may seem like [...]
In life we know that two things are inevitable - death and taxes. As a meeting planner, you know one thing is inevitable - complaints about more exhibit hall traffic. This is ALWAYS top of the list when it comes to satisfying your exhibitors and there is no magic button, [...]
RAPPORT - JUST ANOTHER BUZZ WORD. You've likely read about or been in a sales training session when the concept of "building a rapport" with your client(s) comes up. For me, the term "rapport" is thrown around as loosely as "I love you." Creating and maintaining rapport with your [...]