[HKChigger]

Hello All,

So for those of you that know I changed careers awhile back. Set myself up in freight forwarding now just brand new. I am working in sales just starting to move in to the actual sales related work slowly while I learn more about the company/business.

Most of it is going pretty simple but I want to find a strong way to bring in some business. One way we use to get a sale from time to time is visit sourcing fairs. It's great because we have buyers of products going to meet suppliers and order things. Of course they then need shipping from Hong Kong/China (among other places) to overseas.

Issue: Not easy to talk to buyers, not easy to get business from Suppliers as most of the time the buyer picks the shipper. Any ideas for how to meet more buyers or general ideas for sucess at shows?

Other ideas also welcome.

[taihunggao]

Maybe you're going to the wrong shows. Buyers and sellers don't care about shipping at the average trade fair, they're doing their market research, buying or selling, making relationships. If you think these shows have bounty for you, get a booth, give people something for free (gimmick, pretty gals, magician, cocktail party) be sure to ask every john who sips your champagne and ogles your magician exactly who at their company you should follow up with on freight... and then target the hell out of those referrals with a marketing campaign.
Or just go to freight forwarding shows and cut out all the crap!
Consider sponsoring a session on something cutting edge and aspirational like "freight derivatives", pay for a good expert speaker, show you're a thought leader in the biz and follow up like crazy.
just my 20 cents (i have lots left with the new lamma ferry prices)

[Boris]

taihunggao - I would stick to your finance job if I where you.

Best way - my very best friend is Import freight forwarder in the UK and uses M&R here in HK for the APAC link. He is always going to every show he can, as does his partner who handles inland freight issues.

You put your card out and follow up with company visits.
FYI - choose the quietest day ( normally the penultimate but not the last day ). You have a chance to say a few words then. You will rarely get business straight up, but keep putting the cards out and stay in their " line of sight ". If they have a problem with the current service provider you will be the call they make.

Keep your intel on the market HIGH. Get any info about prices etc etc out to all the contacts, whether customers or not. Call them first, don't e mail. Then Fax a confirmation of what you said OR a " sorry I couldn't speak with you " don't e mail and then lastly e mail a " hope you got the fax."

Keep your prices competitive and your service quality HIGH.

Story - I let my friend know that a large UK customer had been pissed of by XXX. He called the company and got the gig. THEN his HK connection let him down by saying there was no service BLAH BLAH. He lost the gig and the customer shipped with another HK agency using the same vessel his HK connection said wasn't available.

Moral - Make things happen , don't happen to make things.

[helskarm]

TRADE SHOWS:

Still an newbie in here (3:rd post?), but I guess I have some experience on the subject.

Something to consider is that the visitors that need your help also will seek it, maybe this sounds dull and boring, but of course it is true, still this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t promote yourself, if your customers don’t see you it doesn’t matter how good you are or how much they actually would benefit from your help…

I’ve worked at many trade shows and sourcing fairs in Europe before and I think the key to success isn't really giving out free stuff or serving beer (sorry guys, just my experience), sure there are visitors that will look for this, but generally these are not the ones that actually end up buying something (at least not in the long run)… There are two keys to success at a trade event and I think that the most important of them is the staff which must be highly motivated, knowledgeable and of course friendly. I have often visited fairs where the sales staff just sit in a corner and look like they rather die than talk to you or when they simply jump out from the booth trying to pull you in with the promises of gifts and free drinks. There is a “golden patch”, a balanced middle way for the staff to follow, but this is hard to find and it certainly isn’t the same in all countries, the more you know of the culture of your prospective clients the easier it will be to meet and greet them in the right way I guess.

The second key to success in trade shows lies in the planning of the booth, it doesn’t need an extreme design to stand out and be effective, but it needs to be cleverly designed… We are all animals (some more than other, ha ha) and this is something that should be taken into consideration when building and designing a booth for a trade event. First and foremost it has to be accessible, you need an easy entrance and you also need an easy way out, people don’t want to get trapped or they won’t even consider entering in the first place (think it’s called psychology…).

Just my thoughts, maybe I’m all wrong, but hey… the “advice” is for free!

[HKChigger]

Hello all thanks for the replies.

Perhaps I should clarify though. We don't have a booth or anything set up. We are going in and browsing around trying to meet customers. Problem is when people are walking around trying to buy things from suppliers it's not easy just to say hi to random people in the halls or something. This is the difficult part.

[KnowItAll]

A friend of mine in the tradeshow business hired a group of good looking students in nice jumpsuits - with company website etc etc on them, to stand around near major locations and hand out free starbucks coupons in exchange taking 30 seconds to provide information ( 3 or 4 questions where were inputted into a PDA ) and a business card.

They had done a bulk deal with starbucks for something like 20,000 gift certs / coupons.

I'll have to check, but the coupons were custom printed so they had company information on them too.

[climber07]

HKChigger,

You may want to send a note to Sara on facebook, she worked in purchasing for a long time as buyer. Walgreen Co. is a large customer over here as most of their products are shipped from the region. She may have some tips for you on how they went through the selection of shippers.... If I recall correctly, there's usually a bidding process involved and whoever is the cheapest...typically wins out. The're also reputation risk to take into account though.

[Boris]

Originally Posted by HKChigger

Hello all thanks for the replies.

Perhaps I should clarify though. We don't have a booth or anything set up. We are going in and browsing around trying to meet customers. Problem is when people are walking around trying to buy things from suppliers it's not easy just to say hi to random people in the halls or something. This is the difficult part.

You are in the same situation as all the other freight forwarders. You are in a business that has a huge amount of competition. If you are a small agency then you also have the problem of not getting the best rates from the lines. You also have to compete with the big boys ( k&n , shenker etc ) and also the lines themselves who will do business direct on contract ( L&F , Wal Mart etc )

The only way you can get ahead is to do as I said.
Its a long road and my friend has been doing it a long time. However he gets a good living and expands year on year.

If your expecting to do huge business quick then you are in the wrong industry sector.

[taihunggao]

Originally Posted by Boris

taihunggao - I would stick to your finance job if I where you.

cmon, can a guy not have some escapist freight forwarding fantasy every now and again?

[HKChigger]

Thanks all for the ideas. -Shri, cool idea.

Actually Boris we are already decently large. We jumped from 26th in 2005 to 17th in 2006 for the IATA rating and in 2006 has a $171M USD turnover. So we are still decent sized.