Sales tip – working a conference

Sales Tips

Sales reps often find themselves at industry conferences or other large meetings where they should be networking. However, in too many cases sales reps fail to optimize the opportunity because they aren’t sure what to do. So, by default, they end up spending time on activities like waiting in line to share a moment with a keynote speaker – which will be forgotten by the speaker and hence a waste of networking time for the sales person.

So, what might a sales rep do? A colleague of ours, Scott Nelson at Medsider shared a piece on becoming a Conference Ninja – with “13 easy ways to help you do just that”. Here’s a quick look at some of the points on Scott’s list.

Know who you want to target at the conference. Then think about what you might do to help them.
Think about thoughtful questions you might ask during Q&A sessions. It’s a great way to gain 30 seconds of airtime and create a basis for subsequent networking.
Use breaks as time to meet people – not snack on munchies or chat on your iPhone.
Be prepared – when you engage a target contact, know what you want to talk about … don’t waste the time discussing the weather.

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About Janet Spirer

For more than 30 years Dr. Richard Ruff and Dr. Janet Spirer - the founders of Sales Horizons - have worked with the Fortune 1000 - such as UPS, Canon USA, Smith & Nephew, Boston Scientific, Owens & Minor, Textron - to design and develop sales training programs. Janet has followed two different, yet complimentary paths. First, as a B-School Professor she taught marketing, sales, and business strategy courses. She also managed a consulting practice focusing on sales productivity and marketing – working with a variety of clients ranging from Xerox to IBM. She translated those experiences into a book – “Parlez-Vous Business” – that helps sales people develop the business savvy to sell successfully. Since co-founding Sales Momentum® in 2000 with Richard Dr. Spirer received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, an M.P.A. from The University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. in Economics from Brooklyn College. She holds the appointment of Professor Emeritus at Marymount University.

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One Response to Sales tip – working a conference

Sales Business Melbourne says:

May 8, 2012 at 1:53 am

Conferences play a very essential role in sales. It is important to get the corporate information out early in a sales meeting and allow for sales-related topics for the rest of the meeting. Thanks!