How Paul solved a major problem for Sony Business Products

Copyright Crain Communications Inc.

For Sony Electronics, the National Association of Broadcasters convention is among its best lead-generating opportunities to sell professional broadcast equipment.

The problem is about two-thirds of the more than 100,000 people who attend the convention also visit Sony's booth in the show's 36 hours, hardly enough time to greet each potential customer let alone gather important sales lead information.

"We needed to be user-friendly and customer-driven, but to process over 60,000 visitors to our booth," says Barbara Miller, teleservices manager for Sony Electronics' Business & Professional Group, Montvale, N.J. "We had to do deep qualification with a quick survey" before and during the show

Sony's objectives

Sony wanted to capture buying information from at least 10,000 visitors to its two NAB booths, a number it exceeded by 20%; identify priority visitors to be given personal attention by sales reps; and provide an alternative to the grab-and-go literature distribution to meet customers' desire for information and track buyer leads.

Sony worked with Galaxy, a Frederick, Md., provider of comprehensive data management services. Galaxy is best known for Expocard, a computerized on-site show registration system that collects scanner data from encoded cards.

"Trade shows are all about generating leads," says Paul Pival, Galaxy's Manager of Marketing Services, who conceived and developed the project. "But too often, opportunities are missed because booth personnel get too wrapped up in gathering basic information. Sony wanted help smoothing the traffic.  But they also wanted to get as much information about attendees as possible, and beyond that to be able to follow up after the show."

Customers intrigued

"The iGoExpos were quick, efficient and technically flawless," Ms. Miller says. "Customers were consistently intrigued by the iGoExpo. It was to the point where they would sometimes approach our staff and ask to input their own information."

Visitors could choose from 12 prebundled packets of literature, a major streamlining compared with 1996. Galaxy downloaded iGoExpo and InfoStation data to Sony's literature fulfillment house nightly.

About 12,000 qualified leads were sent to Sony's fulfillment house, nearly double 1996's total and exceeding Sony's goal by 20%. Sony estimates that 35% of those qualified are in its target market, making the potential impact significant.

Sony executives say sales to customers within the target market range from $15,000 to upwards of $3 million for major purchases.

"Galaxy's system helped us (Sony) meet and surpass our goals," says Ms. Miller

Galaxy sent personalized letters to 5,000 previous Sony NAB booth attendees and randomly selected other attendees from previous shows. This year, the invitation included a prepaid phone card.  Respondents activated the card by calling a toll-free number and answering four qualifying questions, such as job function and business type. The two-minute survey generated 600 replies, a 12% response rate that exceeded expectations.

"We were more than satisfied," says Ms. Miller.

That survey helped attract more qualified people for hands-on demonstrations. Ms. Miller says 100% of those who completed the preshow survey and attended NAB also visited Sony's booth.

On the floor, booth visitors entered qualification information or literature requests by using one of 11 freestanding Galaxy InfoStation touch-screen kiosks or speaking with Sony representatives, who used mobile iGoExpo devices, Galaxy-customized handheld personalized digital assistants. Using 28 of the mobile units, Sony quickly moved floor staff to where crowds gathered, reducing qualification to less than four minutes and smoothing booth traffic flow.