Building the Exhibit Partner Event Marketers Actually Need

0:00 Hi, Lance.

0:01 Hello there.

0:02 Thanks for taking a little bit of time to answer a couple questions today.

0:07 Let's start really quickly with you just introducing yourself and your role at Steelhead.

0:13 So my name is Lance Randall and I'm Chief Revenue Officer.

0:16 And so obviously I'm accountable for revenue at Steelhead, but also I look at it like I'm also championing the customer experience, you know, the teams that report to me, our first line with customers and prospects.

0:32 And so all of that really, really matters.

0:35 Yeah, absolutely.

0:36 Well, in addition to all of those wonderful contributions, you are also my business partner and one of the owners at Steelhead, which I love being on this wild ride of entrepreneurship with you.

0:50 Yes, likewise.

0:51 We are very, very blessed.

0:53 Yeah.

0:53 Amen.

0:54 OK, cool.

0:54 Well, let's start with question #1. Yep.

0:57 So what does our industry keep getting wrong about what event marketers actually need?

1:04 That's a great question.

1:06 I think they get a couple things wrong.

1:07 I still think that our industry leads with selling exhibits and I think what our customers and prospects are looking for is predictable outcomes.

1:17 And so true.

1:19 People don't usually get fired for a design that's maybe off a little bit, a kiosk maybe it doesn't look exactly what like they they think it's supposed to look.

1:29 Our customers always know what it's going to look like because we we guarantee that a couple different ways.

1:33 But what they will get in trouble for is not adhering to budgets and having to have conversations with finance or leadership about why things have gone the way that they've gone.

1:46 Those are very, very uncomfortable conversations.

1:49 The second thing is because so many companies are still selling exhibits, they're treating flexibility like it's an option.

1:57 And you know, companies, calendars change, budgets change, mid year, companies are rebranding.

2:04 And so when that happens, the industry's answer has been to just charge them every time reality moves.

2:11 And that's backwards.

2:13 And so people want to have the flexibility to do whatever they want whenever they want.

2:19 And they shouldn't have to pay exponentially for that thing, for those things because there's no way for anybody to forecast, you know, what is next year going to look like or the year after or when's the rebrand coming, all of these things.

2:32 And so that is challenging for a lot of, you know, event professionals.

2:36 I kind of feel like you just mic drop that answer.

2:39 Yeah, good job.

2:42 OK, are we done?

2:43 No, no, there's more.

2:45 OK OK, let's go to the next one.

2:47 Number two, two of four.

2:48 So what problem is Steelhead solving that

2:52 no one else in our space as a provider is solving well?

2:57 Another great question.

2:59 I think what we do really, really well is we balance three things.

3:04 We balance creativity, we solve budget predictability, and we do it sustainably.

3:10 We do all three of those things.

3:12 And I don't think anyone else can do those things really, really well.

3:16 And they're all very, very important.

3:18 You know, as we just mentioned, shows change, calendars change, booths scale up and down, and they need to have the flexibility to do whatever they want, whenever they want and know that the budget is being preserved.

3:30 And if you can do all of those things sustainably, and we can say this with confidence that we do that better than anybody else.

3:38 So let's just recap.

3:39 So you said flexibility, which means creative flexibility.

3:44 Yes, for sure.

3:45 Yes, yeah, yeah.

3:46 Budget predictability, yeah.

3:48 Meaning like they know what they're going to get and the price it's going to be prior to anybody signing off on anything 100% and then we do it sustainably.

3:59 So solving those three things in combination, yeah, you feel that we are doing it that are kind of unequivocally and better than anybody else in our industry, which I agree with 1000%.

4:10 I mean, we're B Corp certified, we're EcoVadis certified.

4:14 And for those that are looking for a sustainable partner and those other things matter, which they should with anybody who's seeking a partner, Yeah, we should be part of each and every one of those conversations.

4:25 Yeah, mic drop again.

4:29 All right, let's see if you could do it for a third time.

4:33 OK, we'll try.

4:33 So what would you refuse to compromise on even if it cost us a deal?

4:40 You know, when we were coming up with the brand promise years ago, we were told we've worked with a business consultant for many years.

4:48 That helps us, you know, organize and run the business.

4:51 He said that if you're going to have a true brand promise, not delivering on that brand promise should cause you pain.

4:57 Yeah.

4:58 And so when we guarantee a price to a customer, that is the price.

5:04 And so if for some reason we blow it, we're going to eat that cost.

5:08 Yeah.

5:09 And it should be painful.

5:11 And so that guarantee is something that we'll never budge on.

5:15 We're always going to make that commitment to our customers.

5:18 The other thing is, and people probably don't want to hear this, but there's a certain level of margin that we need to uphold.

5:26 We cannot go below that number because if we do, we're going to sacrifice quality and the experience.

5:34 And there's a lot of things that are going on.

5:36 We need to do the pre-stage, there's people on site and that's what some of the budget covers is to make sure that we can do this guarantee for our customers.

5:45 And so if we were to lose a deal, it would cost us a deal, right? If we lose it, it costs us a deal. Delivering badly because we've sacrificed quality or cut a corner that costs us our reputation.

5:58 And that's something that we just cannot do because it has a cascading effect, right?

6:03 Because you deliver that a poor experience, well, then you're also not going to get referrals and the reputation is damaged and they're going to tell everybody about that.

6:12 And it's just something that we just cannot waver on.

6:14 Yeah, I'm glad to hear you say that because as the CMO who's in charge of our brand and how we are perceived by the market, if we were to do things that sabotage our reputation, it compromises our brand and it makes my job much more difficult, you know, when we aren't delivering on the things that we say are important, as you were kind of pointing out our brand promise and that being predictability, like we're promising that what we say is what you're going to get.

6:49 No surprises, no surprises.

6:51 Exactly.

6:52 No surprises.

6:52 And it leads me to something some may not know about us, but internally we are a values driven organization and you are speaking a lot into the value of quality, like quality over quantity in all that we do.

7:10 We absolutely could, could lower the price to get a deal done, but it would be compromising something else that's very important and that our company is built on and it's the value of quality.

7:22 Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

7:24 OK.

7:24 All right.

7:25 So last question, where do you want to take Steelhead from this growth perspective in the next three years?

7:34 Yeah.

7:35 And what has to be true for us to get there?

7:38 Yeah, Obviously, we want to scale and that.

7:41 We don't have to talk about those numbers.

7:42 We've been very fortunate this year.

7:44 We've won at an amazing clip.

7:47 It looks like we'll probably end the year close to 30% more than we did the previous year.

7:52 But in three years, I think Richard Branson and Herb Kelleher, when Southwest was really good, says that your employees come first.

8:01 And some people may not agree with that, but your employees come first.

8:06 And if you have all of the right people on the bus, they are going to serve your customers better than anyone else in the organization.

8:13 And so if we continue to have the best employees serving our customers, that will help us get to where we want to get growth wise.

8:23 And we want to grow at a certain rate, but we also want to make sure that we don't have customers falling out the bottom.

8:31 Right now, we have a very high client satisfaction score, somewhere around 9.8.

8:36 So when we're looking three years out, we want that customer satisfaction score to be as high or higher than it is right now because that will mean that everybody is doing their job at a very, very high level.

8:46 And it's easier for us to get to where we want to go if we have all of the right people in the right seats.

8:51 Yeah.

8:52 I love that you made mention of our people first and foremost because we have had times where growth has been hard.

9:00 Growth can break the systems that you work within to get the end result accomplished.

9:07 And I know that as owners, we've made a commitment to always keep a really good eye on that because we never want to get to the point where growth is great, clients are happy and the Steelheaders are having a really terrible employment experience.

9:22 So it's like all three of those things need to be true, right?

9:26 Like we want the trifecta of the happy clients, the good quality outcomes and happy Steelheaders.

9:34 Yes, absolutely.

9:35 They're such a priority.

9:36 And to our point earlier, you know, if you're taking margin haircuts to get stuff and you're sacrificing quality, it doesn't give you the ability.

9:44 We want our employees to be the happiest in the industry.

9:47 We've been fortunate enough to be Nevada's best place to work a number of times.

9:51 We want them paid fairly and above what other people are making.

9:54 And when you do all of these things, that's where the magic happens.

9:58 Yeah.

9:59 Yeah.

9:59 We've definitely been fortunate to taste the magic of, yes, running a good business, a good business from so many of the areas that you just spoke into.

10:10 Well, Lance, I love being your business partner.

10:13 I love you as a human.

10:15 I love you, too.

10:16 All right, well, I love you and thank you.

10:18 Bye.