Like all of us, I have politics on the brain—my text messages and spam calls have been reminding me about the election for weeks! However, we can learn a few valuable lessons from politicians, which apply to trade shows and conferences.  Yes, it’s trade show and conference season. While some folks are busy counting down the days to Christmas, others are looking down the road and realizing the NAED Eastern meeting is coming up in January. It is not advisable to do all your holiday shopping on December 24, just as waiting until early January to prepare for the upcoming conference is unwise. Let’s discuss the best practices for trade shows and conferences so you aren’t doing the last-minute scramble.  Job 1: Plan and Strategize Job 2: Network and Take Notes Job 3: Follow up Job 4: Debrief your team Start planning early. Your conference is in January, in this example, so you had better start planning in October or early November. 90 working days before the event is the ideal time ...

Nothing can be more rewarding for a salesperson than launching a new territory.  The drive to build something where nothing stood before shines through the history of mankind; explorers did it, pioneers did it better, and entrepreneurs further the process.  The sales guy new to uncharted territories continues the march.  But, the road to success is littered with frustration and failed attempts to “gather momentum and succeed.”  Since there are many companies launching new territories and very little information tied to the process of launching a new territory, I will be devoting the next couple of posts to the topic.  Variations of new territory Your new territory probably falls into one of three basic categories: Accounts once served by a salesperson no longer with your company and largely ignored for a lengthy period of time. A collection of previously underserviced accounts (sometimes called house accounts) where no salesperson has actively worked ...