The Most Important Questions We Ask Before Designing A Tradeshow Booth

0:00 Hi, Lance, hello there.

0:02 Thank you for taking the time.

0:04 My pleasure.

0:05 So why don't we kick off by you describing your role at Steelhead.

0:14 So my role is Chief Revenue Officer and I, I look at that in a couple different ways, obviously accountable for revenue at the company as a whole, but I like to look at it also like I'm also accountable for the customer experience because the first people that our prospects and customers meet are our sales people and account management team.

0:42 And I really want it to start off the right way and first impressions go a long way.

0:48 And so it really starts there.

0:51 OK, cool.

0:51 That makes a lot of sense.

0:53 OK.

0:54 So as the Chief Growth Officer, is that how you said it, Chief Revenue Officer?

1:02 Chief Revenue Officer, Yeah, well, both both are super important to Steelhead. Growth is part of revenue.

1:10 Amen, brother.

1:11 OK.

1:11 Well, I know that our process of getting to know clients and helping them come up with solutions to meet their objectives to exceed their expectations.

1:23 We start off getting to know our clients, their companies and their projects with a lot of inquiry.

1:32 And specifically it's twofold that I'm thinking of.

1:36 So would you speak into first from a, a company really knows nothing about Steelhead and we know nothing about them and then move into the second phase, which is, hey, they know about us, we know about them, we think there might be something great we can do together.

1:53 And then there's a second kind of set of inquiry.

1:55 So will you kind of speak into both of those phases?

1:58 Yeah, absolutely.

1:59 Well, well, the first one is what we call a discovery call.

2:02 And that's really whether or not, you know, that's an inbound lead.

2:07 If it's an inbound inquiry, what we first do is we got to set up a call, we refer to it as a discovery call.

2:13 And what we're trying to do is find out if we're going to be a good fit for what it is that they're looking for.

2:20 And you know, I know that when when prospects are contacting companies like ours, you know, they're going through a little bit of an interview process, right?

2:28 And they're trying to find out, gosh, is this company, do I think that they can help us?

2:32 Are they, are they a good fit for what it is that we're looking for?

2:35 Well, it's equally important for us to do that same thing.

2:39 So while they're interviewing us, we're interviewing them because it has to be a good fit.

2:45 We have to have alignment and agreement on a whole host of things.

2:49 Do we do it in about 30 minutes?

2:51 I mean, I think if, if you can't invest 30 minutes to find out if someone's a good match to help your company grow, then we're probably not a good fit to begin with.

3:03 But we want to understand the program, what's worked in the past, what hasn't worked, why they're looking in the first place, Why don't they?

3:13 And this is an important question that I love our team to ask is why don't they continue doing what they've done before or why don't they continue using the company they've been using?

3:23 Because from there we can usually glean something.

3:27 There's usually an issue.

3:28 If they say that we might just do that, there's no issues, Well then why are we having a conversation in the first place?

3:34 Because companies come to us to solve problems and help and help level them up.

3:40 And so, you know, when you're asking these questions, if there's really no good reason for them to switch, then I almost encourage them to continue doing what it is that they're doing.

3:51 Right.

3:51 You know, it's, it's funny because as you're describing our discovery call, it kind of sounds like a first date.

3:58 And if you're not, and if you're not willing to at least sit over a cup of coffee and have, you know, a fairly good dialogue, then are you really serious about, you know, finding your next person you're going to partner with?

4:14 Yeah.

4:15 I mean, that's a great analogy.

4:16 And, you know, unfortunately some companies just have to do it.

4:20 And so that's kind of what we're trying to gauge as well as like, you know, is this just something that someone has forced you to do and you really have no intention on making a change.

4:29 And so you got to try to figure that sort of stuff out in 30 minutes.

4:33 And sometimes it requires an additional call later on where, you know, maybe we are are tasked with gathering some resources to share with them and maybe they have some homework to go back and find out, you know, exactly what it is that they've spent in the past.

4:50 If they have any assets, if they're switching from an ownership model to our access model.

4:55 Like there's a little bit of work that needs to be done.

4:57 And sometimes that that takes, you know, a week or two.

5:00 Yeah.

5:01 So.

5:02 OK, cool.

5:03 I I dig it.

5:04 So then let's assume our first date discovery call goes well and there's a project that we want to work on together.

5:14 Yeah, what's the next level of inquiry or getting to know how we can help and and solve a solution that will exceed expectations.

5:25 Yeah.

5:25 So that's that's what we refer to as the design input call.

5:29 OK, this is, this is an hour commitment and we need to make sure that when we have that discovery call, when we're booking, you know, the next call that they've got an hour, you know, sometimes we can give them a little bit of time back, but trade shows are so expensive and they require a lot of work.

5:47 And we do a pretty deep dive on this input call.

5:51 And so we'll have usually creative director, design director, another designer on the call and we're just asking a, a whole host of questions to get to understand what it is that they're trying to do.

6:07 You know, we want to know what success looks like for for them.

6:12 And that's really where we started out because one, I found that if you don't know what the goal is or what it is that you're trying to achieve, you can you can't get there, whether it's personally, professionally or whatever.

6:28 And, and so we want to understand that and get them to think a little differently.

6:32 And it's actually, it's not uncommon for companies when we're having these conversations to not know exactly what success looks like.

6:41 You know, sometimes it's this amorphous thing.

6:43 It's like, you know, our president and CEO will be happy and, or the booth will be full or whatever.

6:50 And so we want them to think a little differently.

6:53 The other thing is if we don't start out with that question, what happens is prospects come to us and they start firing on what it is that they think they need.

7:04 And it might be entirely accurate.

7:07 But if we start with the end in mind and we say this is what success looks like, this could be lead generation, it could be sales, it could be meetings, it could be demos, whatever that might be.

7:20 Well, then when we're asking them some of the design related questions, we can challenge them a little bit.

7:28 So for example, let's say the the client, they're an established company.

7:33 Obviously leads are important, sales are important, but what they really want to do is deepen the relationships with existing customers.

7:41 Well, when we hear that sort of information where they, they want to strengthen the relationships.

7:46 Well, now we need to talk about, you know, different seating areas and hospitality and areas where they'd be comfortable spending time.

7:53 Whereas if we didn't know that going into it, they might come to us and say, well, we need more demos and we need a theater and we we need all of these things.

8:02 And we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

8:04 You said you want to deepen the relationship.

8:07 So we need to think about how we can achieve that and then fit in some of the other stuff.

8:13 So it really starts to challenge some of the tactical requirements that they thought they had.

8:20 And so we looked at it from a different angle.

8:21 Yeah.

8:22 What's that movie where it's like, help me help you?

8:26 You remember it's the baseball movie or Help me is that is that are you thinking Jerry Maguire?

8:35 I think it's Jerry Maguire.

8:36 But I mean, when we're asking for an hour of their time and to engage and get the right people in the room.

8:42 Help me help you.

8:45 Yes, exactly.

8:46 I'm glad you didn't stop me on that movie thing because I'm terrible at those, but I... Hey, I am too.

8:51 So you and I, we pulled that one out of the bag.

8:53 Yeah.

8:55 Nailed it.

8:55 OK, cool.

8:56 All right, well, that's kind of what I wanted to cover today.

8:59 So I know that we've internally given so much thought to our process it when we meet and then when we go into creating solutions, we just want everything to be super well-intentioned.

9:12 And I figured just a little peek behind the curtain might help introduce people to a systematic way and for some systems equal comfort.

9:22 And we know that switching providers is it can be daunting.

9:27 And by sharing these sorts of things, it's just, you know, indicating that everybody is in very good hands.

9:34 Yes, absolutely.

9:35 Yeah.

9:35 Thank you.

9:36 You're welcome.

9:36 Have a good day, Lance.

9:37 All right.

9:37 You too.