Last year we had two booths to staff--here's our guy Henrik at the Verizon Booth in the south hall
And here's our own Kelly modeling what's been coined the "Kelly Cam". This is an adapter that converts handheld "pro-sumer" style camera into a shoulder-mount arrangement-- much friendlier to be used with our LiveShot video codec.
This will be my 26th NAB, always exhibiting for Comrex. It's something I look forward to every year, as nothing makes me happier than chatting about our products. I'm really proud of them.
Now I'm aware we are there are the seller, and the customer should be given ultimate deference in most matters, but I'll take this opportunity to list a couple of "don'ts" at NAB I hope will sink in to some of the more "challenging" visitors. If not, it still makes me feel better having the chance to whine about them.
1) Phone etiquette- Sure I'm here to borrow some of your time, but I'm not always wearing my sales hat (I run the tech side of things here at Comrex on most days) so how about a little respect and not answering your phone while I'm mid-way through a deep tech answer? I'd like to wait for you to end your call, but the three people patiently waiting to talk to me won't feel quite as generous with their time. Our company spends a small fortune to come to NAB, and I really enjoy tech discussions even when they don't lead to sales. But it's pretty dispiriting to work your brain that hard to try to help someone, only to realize your thoughts are the least important thing in their world. So let it go to VM while we're talking OK?
2) Product Support- As mentioned, NAB is really expensive for us to do, and the peak times (Monday and Tuesday) are extremely limited and busy. I am truly interested in helping diagnose that thing that happened last month with your ten year old product, but could you do me the favor of coming by on Wednesday or Thursday when things are slow so I can give you my full attention? Keep in mind, we also have a crew of friendly and sharp techies to handle this stuff back home.
3) Dealer Inquiries- Don't be offended if I ask you a few details about your company before launching into a summary of our entire product line. I do it because there are a host of guys on the floor just looking to represent our products in their territory. This is a huge time waster, as most of them don't understand what we do, and are just "cold calling" to drum up business. If you're a potential dealer, wait until slow times at NAB. If you interrupt me with a customer, I may have to be less than polite. Also true of those trying to sell me their services at my NAB booth. Actually, I don't want to talk to those guys anytime :)
4) Breaking the Ice- Please don't be shy about approaching us at our stand. Lots of folks like to come and read the signs and get a feel for the products so they have better questions to ask. That's cool-- and my personal tactic is to hang back and let you do that until I sense you have need of help. It can be a tough call, and I don't always get it right. When I sense you're ready I'll then ask if you have any questions. At that point the attendee will either turn on his heel, or say what's on his mind. So if I'm unoccupied (or chatting with Comrex folks) but not giving you attention, it's because I'm giving you space. Feel free to approach. You are the most important thing at NAB to us.
5) The no-brainers--Please don't raid our stock of swag. Please don't manhandle the live demos (or at least ask first). The seating in our booth is in short supply--it's perfectly OK to rest your feet for a few minutes but please don't make it your personal workspace. The ladies in our booth are employees and are really sharp and shouldn't be patronized or called "honey".
'nuff said. The vast majority of our visitors are there for all the right reasons and we have a great experience meeting them, discussing the issues, and showing off our stuff. Hope you can come by and at least say hello!
No comments:
Post a Comment