Booth Buddy

While it was humbling to Host an interactive booth at a conference at which the majority of attendees had no idea who I am, some also didn’t know who Wayne Gretzky is either. I’m not comparing my fandom with the “Great One”; I’m just saying.

At OpenText Enterprise World 2017 I met people from India, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, France, Czech Republic, Scotland, U.K., Nigeria and Costa Rica. I’m not talking about people who are originally from those countries and now live in the USA, or Canada. Thousands of tech and related industry delegates came to Toronto for #OTEW from around the world! There were, of course, also many people I met who were visiting TO from across the USA and Canada.

I’d guess that 80% of the people I interacted with didn’t have any reference point to my role as Host of the TV show, Cash Cab Canada. Yet, there I was, taking them for an imaginary ride in the “CXCab” (Customer Experience Cab) asking them fun, custom questions for a chance to win chocolate cash!

It was a powerful reminder that being a “celebrity” draw to attract people to a booth, or exhibit is just a small piece of the puzzle when helping my clients build relationships with their customers. The short conversations I had with booth visitors were truly as a brand ambassador, because they had to be! I couldn’t rely solely on being the guy signing his autograph on a polaroid.

Even when there was a cultural, or language barrier, (which made the nuances of my popculture references and humour in the questions a little tricky and sometimes even funnier), the people I spent time with were engaged and energized to continue the conversation about their OpenText product experiences with the exceptional Customer Care experts on hand.

More rewarding (for me and the brand) were the many intriguing conversations I had with people about life goals, social justice, marketing startups, parenting, viral videos, relationships, travelling, bucket lists, regulatory pros and cons, and even love.

One of the tech startup company owners I spoke with said, “would you rather have $1 million in the bank and 10 customers, or 100 customers and $10 in the bank?”. The prospect of having many customers in the pipeline bodes well for the longevity of a tech startup.

By the same logic, it may seem that it would be better to have throngs of people lined up at your conference booth to meet a celebrity, or get your cool, free swag. On the other hand, if you lack the time to have any sort of real, (albeit short), conversation with these customers, have you advanced the quality of your relationship with them in a way that bodes well for the longevity of your company?

From where I sit in the driver’s seat of the CXCab, having the time and skill to speak about things that are meaningful to customers on a professional AND personal level is money in the bank.

www.adamgrowe.com