Reframe Your Trade Show Sales Conversations

[00:00:00.760] - Marlys Arnold

You're listening to The Trade Show Insights podcast, Season 19, Episode 7. I'm your host, and Exhibit Marketing Strategist, Marlys Arnold, bringing you tools to improve your Exhibit Results. On today's episode, brought to you by the Exhibit Marketers Cafe, we're going to talk about some strategies for having better sales conversations in your booth. Today, I am delighted to introduce you to Aleasha Bahr, who's a seasoned sales strategist, speaker, author, and founder of the Black Sheep Sales Method. We'll hear more about that today. Having personally sold over $50 million in services, she now uses her proven approach to help clients convert up to 80% of their leads without the need for pressure or pitching. That'll be fun to talk about today, too. With over 14 years experience customizing sales strategies to match individual personalities, target audiences, and services, Aleasha brings a fresh perspective to the world of sales. She believes it's not all about selling, but rather finding the perfect match between the offering and the customer. Her mantra, Because if it's a fit, it's a fact, and there's no selling involved, epitomizes her philosophy towards sales strategies. Besides hosting her own podcast, which is called Sales is Not a Dirty Word.

[00:02:02.720] - Marlys Arnold

I've been binging on a lot of the episodes lately, by the way. Aleasha has also been featured on dozens of other business podcasts. So welcome to Trade Show Insights, Aleasha.

[00:02:13.590] - Aleasha Bahr

I am so excited to be here, Marlys. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:02:17.200] - Marlys Arnold

Oh, you're welcome. This is going to be fun. I know a lot of your sales strategies are talking more about cold calling, but I think a lot of the principles you talk about really apply to trade show sales, not only in the booth, but also doing the follow-ups as well. So I want to start out talking about, you talk a lot about how to seamlessly weave your pitch into the conversation. You call it pitch weaving, right?

[00:02:46.600] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah.

[00:02:47.330] - Marlys Arnold

Let's talk a little bit about that, how that can apply in the trade show setting.

[00:02:51.560] - Aleasha Bahr

Okay. And I will say, actually, my methods aren't so much for cold calling. They're really for inbound leads, or if It could be for cold calling, but it's the conversation that happens after you've done the cold call. So they've agreed there's consent for the conversation.

[00:03:09.760] - Marlys Arnold

There's a semi-warm lead at that point then.

[00:03:11.920] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah. They're like, I would like to know more about what you're offering. And that's the conversation, which very much applies to trade shows because people are walking up to a booth and saying, I'd like to know what's the deal with this, right? So pitch weaving, the issue mainstream sales typically tells you to ask questions in an interrogation way, and then pitch, which sounds a lot like a monolog, like a 10-minute monolog or something like that, where only one person is talking.

[00:03:42.980] - Marlys Arnold

Or else you're drilling the people.

[00:03:45.540] - Aleasha Bahr

Well, they are drilling them. That's the mainstream strategy is to grill people. It's not a great feeling. You're like, why are you asking me all these questions? I want a chance to talk. And instead, you really want to model It's still an actual conversation. So pitch weaving, there's a huge opportunity missed to weave in information during the discovery section. Because when you get to a pitch, when somebody is selling to you and they start pitching, I mean, are you leaning in? Are you hanging on every word? No, you're probably leaning back and you're like, I'm going to take everything they say with a grain of salt because it's probably embellished, and I'm just going to wait for my turn to talk, essentially. And I'm going to try to look for holes in what they're saying or something, right?

[00:04:32.320] - Marlys Arnold

Well, and you can tell they're talking from a script a lot of times, too. It's like they're almost like robotic. The pitch is just... You can tell they've done it a thousand times.

[00:04:43.210] - Aleasha Bahr

Right. And also, sometimes they'll mirror your words right back at you. So they'll ask what you want, and then they'll just be like, And that's exactly what we have.

[00:04:51.770] - Marlys Arnold

And you have all the words that you use.

[00:04:54.850] - Aleasha Bahr

So yeah, those are the two options. And really, what's going to help somebody is if you offer insight to the answer to their question. So let's say, give me an example of a trade show.

[00:05:08.140] - Marlys Arnold

So say a trade show for manufacturing companies.

[00:05:11.590] - Aleasha Bahr

Okay, manufacturing companies. So they're walking up to different booths, and they're like, Oh, okay, I see that you produce T-shirts, or whatever. So what does that look like? Is that the right manufacturing company or no?

[00:05:25.990] - Marlys Arnold

Well, we could work with that fine. I was thinking more like show for people who are in the manufacturing industry, and they're going around to booths that produce the equipment and things that they're going to buy.

[00:05:37.140] - Aleasha Bahr

Okay. So they're like, I see you have equipment that produces T-shirts, and that's what we do. And so There you go. I want to know more about that. And they're like, Yeah, so what have you used before for T-shirts? And how was the experience? And I'm like, Well, we have this machine. It's 15 years old. It only produces so many in a minute or whatever specs that... So we're not really happy with it, and we're looking for something that produces more. And for the booth person to be able to have empathy for that situation and how annoying it is to have a dated machine that isn't producing as much as you would like. So you're not able to keep up with deadlines the same. You have to work longer hours or take smaller orders or have delayed delivery times or whatever.

[00:06:26.320] - Marlys Arnold

Or fix it more often.

[00:06:28.340] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah, or maintenance, right? So they're able to say, Yeah, that's really... It's hard with a dated machine. I totally understand not wanting to switch up the machine, but it ends up costing you a lot more because of X, Y, and Z. And the issue a lot of times with not wanting to switch over is and they would be able to give some insight into that. So a lot of times it's that there's not ongoing maintenance. So they'll install it, and then there'll be a problem, and you have to get a team back out. And it makes a huge difference when there's a team that's vigilant and checking in that first month just to make sure everything is working seamlessly. And notice that I'm not saying we do that. It's implied. So it's a big difference in basically giving them some expert insight into what's possible. I also call it authoritative empathy. It's like, Hey, I see where you're at. I know what you're going through. This is what it is. And I'm so excited we're talking because this is what's possible on the other side of that. And is that something that would give you more confidence in moving forward with the machine if you had that integrated maintenance just from the very beginning or something?

[00:07:40.230] - Marlys Arnold

Yeah. So it's giving them perspective. It's showing them the possibilities, the options maybe they weren't aware of, all of those kinds of things, right?

[00:07:49.040] - Aleasha Bahr

Yes, without saying, We. Without saying, We do this, blah, blah, blah, because their guard goes up right away when you do that, and they just think that you're selling. So the other reason that the The discovery portion, the questions portion of a conversation is a missed opportunity is that people aren't expecting you to, quote, unquote, sell during that section. So they can hear you more than when you're pitching, they're just not really believing in anything you're saying. So pitch weaving really positions you more as the expert that can guide this person to the best solution. And it's a collaborative conversation that has an exchange of communication throughout. At no point is one person just talking forever. And so it's a lot more... In my opinion, a successful sales conversation is one where the prospect forgot they were having a sales conversation and thought that they were just talking to an expert that they could trust to find the best solution.

[00:08:47.790] - Marlys Arnold

Well, and it's more real-world, too. I mean, it feels more natural. It feels like just sitting down, having a conversation with somebody in the lobby or at after-hours or something. I mean, you're just just physically having that conversation and not feeling like you're being railroaded into something.

[00:09:09.110] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah, it's so funny because sales is just a conversation. And for some reason, mainstream sales advice completely deviates from normal human conversation.

[00:09:19.530] - Marlys Arnold

Yeah. Well, years ago, I wrote a blog post about how salespeople are not necessarily the best people to staff your booth for a multitude of reasons. But that's one of them, is that they do They come on sounding very robotic, very pitchy, very... You had a great term for this as well.

[00:09:37.500] - Aleasha Bahr

Commission breath. They have commission breath. You are like, Don't look at them. They're going to call me out. They're going to ask me to come over. Like that vibe.

[00:09:44.980] - Marlys Arnold

Yeah, they're like a repellent almost in the booth. So talk about selling in context. You talk a lot about that in a lot of your different blog posts and podcasts. How do you, and I think we touched on that a little bit, but talk a little bit more about how you sell in context and how you actually relate to the person that you're talking to.

[00:10:09.610] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah, so to the point that sales is just a conversation, Let's say that you want to bring a friend to... You want to convince them to go to a baseball game. And you have one friend who is single. And so when you tell them about the game, you're like, Yeah, okay, we're going to... I'll buy you a beer. And there's all these singles that we can mingle with, right? And then if you have a different friend who's married with children, you're going to talk about the fresh air and how you have a really great spot behind the home plate or whatever. And they're both the same game. And in neither of those scenarios, are you lying or misguiding the person? You're simply focusing on what they care about that benefits them. And the difference in a sales conversation is you just don't know yet. So don't guess. Ask some questions and understand what's important to you. What's been your experience? What are you looking for? And what are your expectations and your timeline and things like that. And then you can really position your offer within that context for that person if your solution actually is a fit for the things they're looking for.

[00:11:26.660] - Marlys Arnold

Well, and I think, like talking about finding Now, at the size of the company, if you're back to your T-shirt machine, if you're talking to a small operation, you're going to want to focus in on different elements. And if you're talking with a company that maybe has 12 machines and they have this huge volume and they're going to have all kinds of different issues. It's like, and you probably do, too, as a podcast host, I get a lot of pitches all the time in my emails. In fact, I just got one this morning, somebody wanting to pitch me a guest, and it was something completely I never talk about. It has nothing to do with business, it has nothing to do with trade shows. And I'm thinking, did you even look at my podcast? So you've got to really think through what it is that they're going to relate to before you just launch into that pitch.

[00:12:16.810] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah, totally. You really want to ask them questions first. And I understand that sometimes people will be like, well, just pitch me, which is the most annoying thing that I've ever heard.

[00:12:26.450] - Marlys Arnold

I don't think that happens very often.

[00:12:29.910] - Aleasha Bahr

Oh, really? They might not say those words, but they'll be like, Tell me about you. Tell me about your machine. Tell me about your blah, blah, blah. And a lot of people will be like, Okay. And they just walk right into it. There's a laundry list of features and specs and whatever. They don't need to know all of that. Ask some questions first. When they say, Tell me about your machine, you say, Tell me about your company.

[00:12:54.420] - Marlys Arnold

What do you do? What are you looking for? What have you done in the past? What have you used in the I mean, all of those kinds of questions. That's what I always teach exhibitors is you've got to ask what I call probing questions, be inquisitive and curious and asking lots of questions to learn more about them. A lot of times, I think if you do a really good job of asking them questions about themselves and you let them talk about themselves, you don't have to do a lot of selling because people are just... They love so much to talk about themselves and their problems and their issues or whatever, that they're going to love you and they're relate to you, even without hearing about how fabulous your product is, right?

[00:13:35.180] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah. So I mean, really good sales is making somebody feel seen and heard, because if they feel seen and heard, that means they feel like you understand them. And if they feel like you understand them, then they believe you understand how to help them. Right. So it's not about convincing anyone. It's about showing them that you understand their position and where they're at and what they're looking for. And you're being honest and transparent about whether your thing can do that without going down a crazy rabbit hole of everything included that isn't relevant to the other person.

[00:14:13.560] - Marlys Arnold

Yeah. Well, and I think, too, if they feel that bonding and that caring relationship, they're going to be more inclined to do business with your company anyway, because that's going to be something that stands out above most of the other exhibitors that they've talked to on this show on the floor.

[00:14:31.320] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah. So being a pattern interrupt is a huge deal. So a lot of times people think they need to be extroverted, and smooth, and always smiling, and high energy, and And that's what everyone expects a salesperson to be like. And so they immediately don't really trust that person because they're so typical.

[00:14:54.170] - Marlys Arnold

Yeah. It doesn't seem authentic.

[00:14:56.730] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah. And maybe it is authentic to them. They're authentically annoying. They might be like that in real life. And it's not someone that we'd hang around, right? So when you're a little awkward, a little nerdy, a little shy, or a little quieter, a little more inquisitive, all those things are going to make you seem more trustworthy.

[00:15:18.230] - Marlys Arnold

Exactly. Well, let's shift gears a little bit and talk about dealing with objections, because I think that's one area where, especially on the show floor, you start getting objections and you want to know how to deal with those without, again, sounding slimy and pitchy. So how do you recommend people deal with objections?

[00:15:40.780] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah. So mainstream, two things. Mainstream sales will tell you to pretend like objections aren't there, that if you talk about them, you're putting them in their head and save it all for the end of the conversation. And this is really difficult because the end of the conversation is when everybody's tired. And if all you're going to do is And then they also recommend to basically just tell them why their objection isn't valid.

[00:16:04.340] - Marlys Arnold

Which doesn't win you any friends or customers.

[00:16:09.480] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah, it's what they expect from you to say. It feels like they weren't heard. It feels like they were invalidated and dismissed, and they don't believe anything that you said. And also, it was happening at the end of the conversation, which means you're coming from a defensive position. So what I recommend that works really well is prompting objections. If you know there are common objections, it's like, How soon do you need the machine? Because we have at least 12 weeks delivery time. Is that going to be okay for you? Do you have an event or something coming up that you need this for? Are we going to be able to fit in that timeline? Do you have someone on site that can manage this order with the team and everything? And if you don't, then it's not a good fit because we don't have somebody to do that for you. And they're able to tell someone like, Okay, Great. I'm so glad because that means... And the whole time, it's making the person feel like, Oh, good. I know all the exceptions. Because anytime someone's in a sales conversation, they're wondering, They're telling me all the good things.

[00:17:10.700] - Aleasha Bahr

They're telling me all the people this worked for. What about the ones that didn't work for? What about the bad things? What are they not telling me? What's a fine print? So just tell them, and they will trust you more. And if they do have objections at the end of the conversation, you're going to want to get curious. Do not overcome the objection. Leave room for the objection to be valid. This is a concern, right? Imagine that your mom is like, well, the movie theater is going to be so cold. I don't want to go to the movie. I'm scared. And you're like, no, mom, it's going to be fine. Just come. That's what mainstream sales is, right? Get over it. It'll be a great movie. It's like, well, would you feel comfortable enough if we brought a blanket?

[00:17:58.430] - Marlys Arnold

Yeah.

[00:17:59.710] - Aleasha Bahr

And She's like, You know what? Yes. Instead of you saying, We'll just bring a blanket. It's different when you're asking, you're being collaborative in the conversation, right? So when somebody says, Well, I'm just not sure if these specs will fit in our space. And you can say, Well, would it help to have somebody come and measure the space?

[00:18:19.650] - Marlys Arnold

Yeah. Things like that. It's always problem solving and solution finding. It's asking what their problem is and then seeing if you've got a fit to help overcome that.

[00:18:33.620] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah. Or like, Oh, well, that's not going to be delivered. How much time? I'm worried about the delivery time. How much time is it going to take? When do you need it delivered? Rather than just launching into your big long thing about delivery times because you're just going to start guessing at what they want to hear. And so you just start vomiting all this information that you feel like you're hoping is valuable. Just ask them, When do you need it?

[00:18:58.040] - Marlys Arnold

Well, and the thing is, they're not going to remember most of what you just spout off anyway. But if you're actually answering them and giving them details specific to their need, they're going to be a lot more likely to remember that later, especially a lot of times it's not the final decision maker that you're talking to. It may be somebody that's just gathering information and has to go back and talk with their team or their boss or whoever. And so you give them enough information that then they can go back and say, Okay, here's what Aleasha had to say about their machines. And this is what we liked what they had to offer, and here's how they can work with us, rather than going back and saying, Oh, yeah. Aleasha told me that their machine could do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah The attention spans are very short. Yes. If it relates to them personally, they're much more likely to remember it.

[00:19:51.700] - Aleasha Bahr

Yes. I mean, it's a difference between, Oh, I need it delivered in six months. That's perfect. We can get it to you in four. Okay, great. As opposed to, Well, there's different variables for the delivery time. We're getting this size. You know what I mean? And they just go, just shut down.

[00:20:10.350] - Marlys Arnold

So let's talk a little bit about... So you've had this great conversation in the booth, and let's focus a little bit as we wrap up here on the follow-up. What are some things... So you've had a great conversation, you've connected with them really well in the booth. How does that lead into your follow-up conversation?

[00:20:29.440] - Aleasha Bahr

So It is really, really important in the conversation at the booth to ask someone what's their timeline. What's your timeline for making a decision on this? And they'll tell you if they need to go talk to somebody. Like, do you need to talk to somebody else? What does that process usually work? How does it work? Is there any way I can support you? Maybe I could provide some information. What would be helpful to you so you don't have to just remember everything? Because you're going to be talking to a lot of people here. So really understanding what their process looks like so you can follow up and say, Hey, I know you had that meeting with the board, and you were talking about this on Tuesday. What did they say? You're able to follow up with specifics or like, Okay, so if you have this big, the T-shirt company. So Q4 is huge for you. We would want to start installing this in September to make sure that you are ready by by Q4. You're able to follow up with that natural sense of urgency. I want to make sure that you have everything that you need by Q4.

[00:21:37.480] - Aleasha Bahr

Have you been able to talk to people? Are you ready to make a decision yet? We need to have it by September just to make sure there's enough time and some padding and whatever. You always want to be adding value to the other person in any way that you can and not guessing. So often people are like, I'll let you know, and they're like, Okay. And maybe they'll follow up and say, I'm checking in and circling back and touching base, and did Did you have any questions? And nobody's going to answer that email because it doesn't offer any value. It's all about the person who's sending it, and are you going to buy my thing? And so it's just like, no. But if you're like, Hey, look, there's longer delivery times on parts. This just came out. Check this out. I want to make sure that you're taken care of? Did you guys have a chance to talk? So different.

[00:22:26.030] - Marlys Arnold

Well, and I love that line, too, that you used. I think it was, Do you Have everything you need? How did you put it?

[00:22:34.550] - Aleasha Bahr

Is there anything I can provide that would support you in talking to the people that you got to go bring this back to? Any materials, any information? What would be helpful?

[00:22:44.810] - Marlys Arnold

Yeah, I love that. I love that. And that's one thing I teach exhibitors all the time is to ask what they want that next step to be, because if they want it to be you sending them more information and you follow up with the sales rep calling them, that's not what they ask for. So asking, having that conversation in the booth about what can I provide for you to help as you go back to your company and talk this over with whoever it is, what can I provide, how can I support you? I love that angle, that approach.

[00:23:18.950] - Aleasha Bahr

Yeah. And I mean, also it's about... Sometimes people will be not sure if it's too open in the end of a question. So you can also suggest some options. Would you like me to at this time? Would you like me to send this? If they're like, I don't know, I don't know. I'll just get back to you. If they have that answer, you can get more specific, and that helps people make a decision on what they actually want.

[00:23:42.680] - Marlys Arnold

Aleasha, this has been so great. I mean, And I think, like I said, this is a conversation that needs to happen a lot more often within a company before they go to a show about how to interact in the booth and then how to follow up afterwards. And I think you've given everybody some really great insights. What are the best ways for people to... I know other than your podcast, Sales is Not a Dirty Word. What are some of the best ways people can get a hold of you and learn more?

[00:24:09.760] - Aleasha Bahr

I would say go to my site, aleashabahr.com, and I'm also on LinkedIn in.

[00:24:16.210] - Marlys Arnold

Okay, great. And we'll have a link for all of that in the show notes, including one of the things on your website that I think is really clever, the Black Sheep Ten Commandments of Selling, which, by the way, I have the Ten Commandments of Booth Staffing, so we're right there in in sync.

[00:24:31.700] - Aleasha Bahr

I love that.

[00:24:33.270] - Marlys Arnold

So we'll put a link for that in the show notes as well. So Aleasha, thank you so much for coming and sharing your insights today on Trade Show Insights.

[00:24:42.130] - Aleasha Bahr

Thank you, Marlys. Thank you so much for having me. It was wonderful. And I love that you are doing something different in the Trade Show space because talk about pattern interrupt needed. Oh my gosh. And the bar is so low. It is really easy to stand out. So I'm so glad you're bringing that to the market.

[00:24:58.720] - Marlys Arnold

Thanks, Aleasha. Well, thank you. Together, we're going to help them really improve their sales conversations at their next show.

[00:25:05.890] - Aleasha Bahr

Absolutely.

[00:25:12.780] - Marlys Arnold

Want more tips and tools on how to improve your next Trade Show Exhibit, join us inside the Exhibit Marketers Cafe community. Just go to exibitmarketerscafe.com/joinemc. And by By the way, did I mention it's free to join. If you enjoyed today's episode and would like more, you can subscribe to The Trade Show Insights podcast and automatically receive future episodes on your chosen device. Simply search for Trade Show Insights in Apple, Spotify, or virtually anywhere else that podcasts are found, then click the Subscribe button. Trade Show Insights is protected by the Creative Commons copyright license. You may feel free to share this recording with colleagues or embed it on your own blog as long as it's shared in its entirety and is not used for commercial purposes. To learn more, please see the link in the sidebar of the show notes at tradeshowinsights.com. Well, that's it for this episode of Trade Show Insights. Be sure to check out our show notes and archives at tradeshowinsights.com. You can also connect with me using the social media links or the contact page on the site. I'm Marlys Arnold. Thanks for listening, and be sure to join us next time for more tools to improve your Exhibit Results.