I remember my first job in Los Angeles. My boss hated me. I was working for a company that made fancy industrial products. I went to a trade show. I stepped out for a cigarette break. The boss was furious and said he was paying $10,000 per day to have a booth there and every minute counted. I had no idea it was so costly. Why didn’t he tell me before hand?
Trade shows are one of the most cost effective ways to get leads according to some marketing experts. Asian companies that manufacture products are all over trade shows. But, why can’t there be tradeshows for outsourcing, and what would they be like?
Can you imagine going down the aisle and seeing endless data entry companies shoving their brochure at you? You might see programming companies, call centers, content writers and more. But, what about samples of their work? What would that look like? After all, they are selling services not products here. My feeling is that the best way to promote outsourcing services might be by video. Companies could create videos showing their building, staff, training process, and actual work being done. Sales people could talk about service packages and hand out cards. For a joke, a programming company could give you a page of programming code as a free sample. Nobody would be able to read what it meant unless you too were a programmer!
I guess if companies really wanted your business, they would get your email address, phone number and give you a free mouse pad with a photo of their office and their company name on it.
The idea of trade shows is interesting. Sometimes there are trade conferences for outsourcing in the Philippines or other countries. Once in a while there will be an international conference about call center outsourcing or other outsourcing topics. Conferences are fun, but trade shows are even better. Especially if there are snacks!