Get Outside Your Box

I didn’t have a great reason for attending Supply Side East. I had no specific objectives or goals. By comparison to other events in the industry this show is on the smaller side but sometimes good things come out of smaller events.

The way I approach a smaller trade show is to do a quick walkthrough and get a sense of what types of companies are present. Attending a large event like Natural Products Expo West means a walkthrough could take days. For those bigger shows you need a better game plan, which includes researching the companies that will be exhibiting.

I walked the aisles of Supply Side East and realized a lot of the booths didn’t really apply to me. As a marketing coach for small businesses my clients are B2C not B2B.

In order to make it a successful event and not waste my time, I needed to shift gears. I took off my coaching hat and put on my entrepreneurial hat. Instead of looking for clients; I was now looking for opportunities.

One perfect opportunity is in CBD (Cannabidiol). CBD is gaining significant recognition in the American psyche. It’s hard to turn on the news and not hear something about CBD. It seems like every magazine in America has a full article or is featuring a product containing CBD.

Now my objective was clear: Approach CBD companies and find out how we could work together. There were only a handful of booths specific to the retail side of CBD. I wasn’t interested in bulk hemp. So the list was short, which meant I could spend as much time speaking to them in order to learn about their businesses.

The secret to getting the most out of a conversation is to play dumb. It puts the onus on the other person to provide you an education. If you already know a lot about the subject then playing dumb is a great way to find out if your talking to someone knowledgeable.

My first stop was to Medical Mary’s booth. Playing dumb, I said I’d heard a lot about CBD and wanted to understand how I could work with them. Of course, the sales representative’s response was to ask what I do. I explained that I have several clients whom I coach that are interested in selling CBD and I was at the trade show gathering intel.

At that point, it would be very easy for a sales rep to sideline me as I didn’t pose a valuable connection. So I threw into the conversation that my clients were interested in white labeling. That opened the conversation to include information on white labeling as well as how to become a distributor.

I then spoke to the Better Hemp Company, Elixinol and Factory 6. Each conversation solidified ideas in my head. Maybe I could work with these companies as a distributor. Maybe I could white label their products and start my own brand. Maybe I could open a CBD store and sell their products.

I had gone from not knowing why I was attending to quickly formulating a business plan to launch other side businesses.

Then a crazy accident happened. While I was on the lookout for CBD booths I stumbled upon the AstroNova QuickLabel booth. I didn’t completely understand what I was looking at so I asked the sales person. Come to find out they sell sticker printers.

Hmm...that’s interesting. Cause I own yet another business that requires a lot of snickers to be printed. I also know a lot of other companies that need stickers made for their brands. We talked pricing and guess what...I’m going into the sticker printing business.

The Moral of the Story

I want you to reach beyond your industry. There was no real reason for me to attend Supply Side East. Yet, because I did, I’m now looking to startup both a CBD business as well as a sticker printing business.

I had to search for objectives and goals and it ultimately lead to creative ideas that will make money and be successful.

Whatever industry you are in I advise you to go and attend an industry event outside your industry. Get outside your box. Find out how their doing business. What are they doing to market or produce product. You never know when there’s going to be cross fertilization of ideas.

You never know who you are going to meet and how that person may relate to what you’re doing in the future. You may meet a contact from one of these outside industry events whose business card sits on your desk for years and one day someone says they need those services. You're now in a perfect position to connect with that contact and supply value.

Never pass up an opportunity to visit another industry and try to have one take away from that experience.