Analysis
Growth rates and profitably must
be underpinned by a sales-focused
organisation and a well-developed
commercial strategy to defend the
market position and this may just
be the Achilles heel of German
organisers. As they are specialised in
organising large-scale tradeshows,
often with waiting lists of exhibitors,
their teams often maintain wall-
bound situations where sales skills
and sales structure are not necessary
or don’t need to be developed.
Time for a new game plan?
As the environment is changing, with
the economy tightening its purse
strings, so too are many exhibitors.
They are starting to scrutinise more
carefully the reason for, and the
return on, participating in tradefairs,
which not so long ago, they were
chasing after.
MBB-Consulting Group recently
conducted an industry survey
into the main internal triggers
stimulating growth in tradefairs. The
primary purpose of the survey was
to understand what the industry
believes are the key triggers for
industry growth, how important they
feel these triggers are, and whether
they are well developed in the
responders’ own companies.
While the industry seems to
be in an agreement that aspects
such as sales culture, new revenue
streams and upselling processes are
enormously important in triggering
growth, it is quite eye-opening
to see that, on the aspect ratio of
30% to 60%, fewer participants
believe that these functions are well
developed in their organisations.
Alarm bells should ring for any
company where there is a perceived
imbalance between how developed
a sales function should be, and how
developed that sales function is in
reality.
In other aspects, the industry is less
united. 40% of respondents deemed
rebooking extremely important and
20% didn’t think it was important at
all.
The majority of respondents
admitted to not having a well-
developed rebooking strategy in
place. This was again an interesting
insight as our industry seems to
acknowledge the importance of a
commercial aspect yet has difficulty
acting on it.
The survey shows a similar picture
when it comes to pricing strategies, as
there seem to be differing opinions as
to the importance and effectiveness of
this trigger.
Some respondents rate pricing
strategies as extremely critical, but
surprisingly, others don’t rate it as an
important commercial trigger at all,
Above:
Berlin,
Kreuzberg
subway.
with a view
on Oberbaum-
brucke
To read the
detailed White
Paper on Top 10
growth triggers
and how they can
be implemented
within your
company,
contact
matthias.tesi.
and even more admit that they have
not even developed a pricing strategy.
Performance-based salary strategy
is another under-developed area in
our sector, when compared to the
methodology used by other high-
performing industries.
Although German organisers may
seem to be taking a little longer to
adapt to change, and to consider new,
commercial ways to attract business,
they are still a strong team within the
exhibition industry ‘Premier League’.
Although they have lost some ground,
they are still a force to be reckoned
with, and we will continue to consider
them leaders in setting standards, in
driving quality and delivery.
From our research, it is also clear
that while German organisers need
to play a bit of commercial catch-up,
other regions also need to consider
which triggers are important for
their own industry growth, which
of these are already ingrained in
their company
culture and KPIs,
and which they
need to consider
implementing in
the near future.
baur@mbb-
consultinggroup.
com
50
Issue 3 2019
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk