Trade show success rule # 2 – know your costs

As I contemplated exhibiting our new line of lamps at the American Institute of Organbuilders convention, I quickly assessed the booth cost, room and meals, and transportation, and did a rough estimate on return-on-investment. Satisfied with the results I sent in my registration form and fee and started planning for the exhibit. Of course, as I began developing a detailed budget, the overall costs quickly escalated!

It is really important to know the costs and develop a budget for any trade show. Here is a checklist of costs to be considered:

• Registration fee
• Booth fee
• Booth related fees such as electric or internet hookup
• Exhibit design, construction, graphics, etc
• Marketing materials
• Room and meals for everyone who will be staffing the booth
• Transportation costs for staff
• Shipping, storage, and drayage costs
• Labor costs for setup and teardown (some locations have strict union rules that must be adhered to)
• Give aways or drawing prizes
• Entertaining costs for a suite or to wine-and-dine VIPs
• Value of discounts given to people who buy at the show
• Pre-show mailings
• Post-show mailings
• Staff labor time to prepare for the show, attending the show, and following up
• Temporary help hired for the show

Will Limkemann
Siqua Group Limited

Trade show tactic to get business cards

One of my goals for the upcoming trade show is to get business cards and/or contact information from at least of 80% of the attendees. To this end we will have an eye-catching booth (more about that later) which, I trust, will attract people to at least look at our wares. But no booth design will compel people to speak with me or to leave  contact information.

So, I got to thinking, what is hot today that everyone wants that could be given away in a drawing? A wide-screen HD TV is out – too hard to ship and it would break the bank. A digital camera was within budget and about the right size – but I’m of the opinion that most people now have inexpensive digital cameras. During a recent visit to my local Radio Shack I saw a GPS navigation system on sale. Perfect!

So now I have a give-away. I’ve also procured a box for deposit of business cards, created a sign explaining the drawing, and have forms to fill out for folks who have run out of cards.

I think I’m on my way to achieve my 80% goal.

Will Limkemann
Siqua Group9

Trade show success rule 1

Yesterday I wrote of exhibiting at an October trade show – which will be my first such experience in over twenty years. Over the next few weeks I will, from time to time, discuss the strategy and planning going into the show along with results from exhibiting our new line of music lamps.

It is not enough to pay the fees, show up, set up a booth, and hope for the best. A trade show is a marketing investment, and like all investments you need to set expectations on what returns are to be achieved. Does it not then make sense to be methodical in planning for the show? I have several rules for trade show success which I will implement.

The first rule is to set goals.

In setting goals it is helpful to know the size of event you will be attending and the  makeup of the attendees. In the case of the American Institute of Organbuilders convention in Columbus, I know that the show will be small – attracting about 150 people. I also know that most of the people will be either proprietors or practitioners of the art of organbuilding.

We will be exhibiting our new line of Ektralamp organ lights which have been on the market for just a few months and which have been enthusiastically accepted. Yet we have had minimal feedback from the early-adopting customers.

Given this data, here are my goals for the convention:

1. Obtain business cards and/or contact information from at least 80% of the participants to be used for follow-up after the show.

2. Speak with senior managers from the top five organ companies with the objective of convincing them to order samples of our lights.

3. Get orders for at least four lamps – to cover the cost of exhibiting.

4. Get honest feedback and critique of the lamps.

5. Create a buzz about our products.

With these goals in mind, we can move to success rule 2 – planning the exhibit.

Will Limkemann
Siqua Group Limited

Trade Show Strategies

It has been over twenty years since I last exhibited at convention trade show. For many years my software company would display our wares at annual conventions in the United States and Europe. During those prosperous years (for the business) we did little advance planning for the events, and our follow-up was hap-hazard and weak. Our only significant goal was to leave the show with sufficient orders in our pockets to cover our costs of being there – a goal we generally met.

As I’ve grown older and wiser I have come to realize how much more effective we could have been by implementing strategies for the shows. These strategies should have included:

• A mission statement describing the reasons for exhibiting at each show
• A detailed budget
• Notification of significant potential customers of our intent to exhibit along with a booth number
• Attention-grabbing booth design
• Goals for specific people we wanted to reach at the show
• Goals for number of good leads we wanted to garner from the show
• Goals for percentage of leads we wanted to convert to sales after the show
• Tactics for attracting maximum traffic to our booth
• Follow-up strategy

After a twenty year hiatus I’ll once again be exhibiting at trade shows starting with the American Institute of Organbuilders convention to be held in Columbus in mid-October. My manufacturing company, Wolcraft, will be exhibiting lamps of particular interest to those attending the show. In days and weeks ahead I’ll report not only on the strategies for this show but will also report on the results. Stay tuned.

Will Limkemann
Siqua Group Limited

Succeed by using and heeding good advice

The past four posts discussed some common business pitfalls and how to avoid them, including employee theft, unplanned growth, catastrophic IT failures, and poor record keeping. Finally I’d like to comment on seeking and taking good advice.

A business owner who goes entirely on his/her own without seeking and using external advice is much more likely to fail that owners who embrace the advice from outside advisors.

Here are some things to do:

• Find professionals that you are comfortable talking with and whose judgment you trust. These may include: a banker, attorney, accountant, and a general business advisor. Depending upon the nature of your business, and your own skills, you may want to seek out marketing, sales, or other advisors.
• Seek opinions from your advisors any time you make a change in your business.
• Keep in touch with your advisors. Don’t just contact them when you have a crisis.
• Understand up front what costs will be incurred when dealing with your advisors.
• Create a board of advisors, and meet with them at least quarterly.
• Most important—when you have received advice, act on it in order to get the benefits of the advice.

While, as a business owner, you have the ability to control your own destiny, you need to make the right moves and right decisions in order to assure the sustainability of your business.

Will Limkemann
Siqua Group Limited

Good record keeping is good for business

One survey of businesses filing for bankruptcy reported that 58% of respondents did little or no record keeping. At a minimum keeping good records of sales, expenses, and debts is critical for business survival.

Of the surprising reasons for business failure, this is probably the easiest and least expensive to prevent. Here are some things to do:

• Set up an accounting system that will record all financial transactions. Using a system such as Quick Books ensures that you will have a workable system.
• Use the accounting system! Use it to write invoices, pay bills, and reconcile the bank statement. Print reports showing your cash balance, what your are owed by customers, and what you owe vendors.
• If you have two or more employees, have a payroll service do your payroll. This will not only save work, but will ensure that payroll records are properly maintained and that taxes will be paid on time.
• Create a financial projection for at least one year that shows how much money you expect to have come in each month, and how much money you expect to have go out. Use this to help guide your business decisions.
• Have a professional (your accountant) review your financial records at least once a year.

Will Limkemann

Preventing Catastrophic IT Failures

Many businesses are totally reliant on their computer systems. A brief power outage or server down time is often more than just inconvenient as extended loss of servers or other parts of the IT infrastructure can be downright catastrophic. Many businesses are so dependent upon their IT system that without it they can not process orders, support customers, and perform daily operations. An outage of just a few days has forced some companies to shut their doors.

If you are heavily reliant on your IT systems, here are some things to consider:

• Have redundant servers on-site
• Have a backup power source in the event the power goes out
• Have a redundant off-site system

• Back up data daily and verify that backup tapes (or other media) actually have the backed up data
• Use redundant backup such as an on-line backup service
• Store back ups in a secure fire proof location
• Contract with a service company to provide remote preventative maintenance on your systems
• Ensure that your service contracts include a suitable maximum response time, including rapid hardware replacement if needed
• Install and keep up to date appropriate firewalls, anti-malware, and anti-virus software
• Establish and enforce suitable Internet and e-mail use policies
• Ensure that all of your software is current and supported by the vendors/developers
• Ensure that all software is properly licensed and license fees are paid
• Don’t allow users to install unauthorized software
• If you have custom software, ensure that you have all applicable current source code and there is at least one person other than the developer who knows and understands the inner workings of the software
• Establish processes to adequately test and exercise new software changes prior to going live

Will Limkemann

Siqua Group Limited

Employee Theft

According to the U S Chamber of commerce, employees steal between $30 to $100 billion each year, and is the reason for 30% of business failures. Theft can include taking money from the till, embezzlement, stealing intellectual property, walking away with inventory. Without excellent controls in place, you may be vulnerable to employee theft. Here are some things you can do to prevent it.

Embezzlement

A trusted employee, writes extra payroll checks to self, or pays bogus invoices perhaps to accounts set up by self, or checks to cash. Sometimes the employee abuses check signing privileges, or alters a check, or forges the owner’s signature.

Prevention of embezzlement includes:

• Background check of any employee handling money
• Being wary if employee appears to have money problems or overwhelming personal problems (family health issues, etc)
• The business owner, or outside accountant, should open the bank statements and examine each check to verify the payee, amount, and signature
• If practical, the owner should sign checks, or two signatures should be required
• If possible, someone other than the person who writes checks should balance check book

Theft of incoming receipts
An employee diverts incoming cash or checks to his own account or a dummy bank account.
Prevention includes:
Carefully watch receivables

• Personally investigate if customers complain they are not getting credited for their payments. Get cancelled check copies and examine front and back to determine if they were properly deposited in your account
• Have two employees involved in counting and verifying receipts

Cash theft

Employees who receive cash in retail establishments “dip into the till”

Prevention includes:

• Establishing and following rigid cash out procedures that verify that the starting cash plus the receipts  (printed from the register) for the day equal the ending cash
• Verify that the cash deposits equal cash receipts
• Personally investigate customer complaints of receiving incorrect change

Inventory or equipment theft

Is your inventory or equipment “walking out the back door”?

Prevention includes:

• Keeping a record of company owned equipment, including serial numbers
• Tag all company owned equipment
• Keeping a record of inventory, including incoming and usage
• Verify inventory levels with periodic physical inventory counts
• Be suspicious of inventory shortages, or higher than normal inventory purchases

Intellectual Property Theft

Could a disgruntled employee walk out with valuable intellectual property, such as secret formulas or customer lists? Your business could suffer dramatically if such information were to get into the hands of competitors.

Prevention includes:

• Having all employees sign appropriate agreements relating to your intellectual property
• Having a clear written policy (in the employee manual) about company intellectual property

Most fraud the theft are preventable – but you, the business owner, must be vigilant and be totally intolerant of any and all fraud.

Will Limkemann
Siqua Group Ltd.

Planning for sustainable growth

I’ts been a long time since my last post. Technical issues and a portation of the geniocity.com web site took me off the air for awhile.

I see that issues have been resolved and we are once again on-line so I look forward to continuing our daily conversation about running productive small businesses.

Rapid growth of a business may seem to be a wonderful thing, and often is. However, unplanned growth can be as devastating to a business as planned growth can be good.

A business that suddenly receives an order that is, perhaps, equivalent to half the total sales of the prior year may have these challenges:

• Can production, personnel, and infrastructure be ramped up quickly enough?
• Can the product or service be delivered on time?
• Can customer’s quality expectations be met?
• Is there cash available to pay for material, employees, sub-contractors, etc.?
• Will customer payment terms provide cash in a timely manner?
• Is there a line of credit in place with the bank to supply needed cash?

Companies have often been forced out of business when overwhelmed by the cash flow challenges of sudden sales growth.

Here are some things you can do to prepare for sustainable growth:

• Have a business plan that you periodically review and update.
• Keep your eye on your financial statements, continually projecting cash flow and cash requirements.
• Maintain constant contact with your banker.
• Maintain a line of credit that can be tapped.
• If a large sales opportunity presents itself, seriously consider whether: it is consistent with your business plan; it will enable continued sustainable growth (or is just an anomaly not likely to happen again); can be executed to meet customer expectations of delivery and quality; there will be sufficient cash available to execute the contract while continuing regular business activities.
• When confronted with a large sales order try to get the customer to help finance through a down payment and progress payments. Negotiate favorable accounts receivable payment terms.
• Be prepared to turn down business that is either not strategic or which, after careful analysis, will have a damaging effect on your business.