FCA Fleet's Denise Berecz On Making The Expo Floor Experience Count
As a member of the NAFA Affiliates Committee, one of our goals is to bring value to the Institute & Expo show floor for exhibitors and attendees. Exhibitors need to develop customer relationships, and attendees need to be educated on the best value of products for their fleet business. The Expo Floor can be a win-win for everyone if executed well. Sixty-five percent of populations are visual learners and the Expo Floor gives the fleet manager the best opportunity to understand the fleet products available.
NAFA, in conjunction with the Affiliates Committee, works to attract the right exhibitors, determines the best display areas such as grouping similar product suppliers to make it easy for fleet managers to find similar products for comparison, and determines exhibit hours that works into the I&E scheduled program.
The program is a success for the exhibitor when they can build a visually attractive display that promotes their product or service, delivers the right product information, and generates new business relationships. With all the social media outlets, it is more important than ever to give the customer a favorable experience. The exhibitor will benefit by developing a leads system that will log contacts, allows them to send further information and ultimately make the sales contact.
If the exhibitor has the right people, materials, and leads system in place, it will measure the results to ensure that the Expo is right for their business. It’s not just collecting business cards but rather understanding customer’s needs. Are they looking for specific product information, a sales representative contact or should the supplier consider other fleet solutions in their future product development? Most importantly follow up, follow up, follow up! Build that relationship!
The benefit for the fleet manager is that all your fleet needs are exhibited under one roof, with the ability to get your questions answered, see product demonstrations, educate yourself on the latest technology, direct personal contact with the experts, and see new products that are many times launched at the conferences. The fleet manager will be able to take back information on why Product "X" may be better than Product "Y" for their organization, and start relationships all in one day! Best of all, it gives the consumer direct negotiation with exhibitor’s senior decision makers.
The Expo Floor needs to be a win-win for exhibitors and Fleet Managers. The Affiliates Committee meets on a quarterly basis to ensure the best experience for everyone at the NAFA I&E. We look forward to seeing you in Austin, Texas in 2016!
This month's contributor Denise Berecz is Business Development Manager, FCA Fleet.