The 2018 IMARK Showcase provided attendees with numerous opportunities to network with their electrical industry peers, experience new products and services and learn and share best practices for business success.
Nearly 250 IMARK member companies and more than 100 suppliers and service providers convened at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago from March 20-22 to forge new business relationships and strengthen existing partnerships.
Peer networking is one of the most important benefits of IMARK meetings, providing electrical industry executives with new ideas to improve business. During the two days of Showcase, more than 4,300 one-on-one meetings were conducted. Members and suppliers used these 20-minute meetings to explore mutual opportunities for increased sales and profits.
The IMARK Group welcomed keynote speaker Eli Murphy, senior vice president of Oratium. In his presentation, “Transforming Sales Outcomes by Transforming Sales Messages,” Murphy said that most companies report an inability to communicate their message well, which has a significant negative effect on customers and sales. He said the typical approach companies take when trying to convey their message is dense, confusing, sender-oriented and not suited for re-telling. This disengages customers, results in stalled or lost deals and wastes time, resources and money. The issue, he said, lies in the intellectual structure of the message they are trying to convey about their business.
“It’s all about the brain,” Murphy said. “The human brain wants to consume information in a certain way. When we understand it’s all about the brain, several new rules emerge, all of which are important, but chief of which is that you have to powerfully land a small number of big ideas.”
With the right content, right sequence and right engagement, companies can achieve success with their messaging. The ultimate standard for all communication is that it can be repeated, according to Murphy.
“Retellability is a word people don’t think about but it is critical for communications to be effective,” Murphy said. “How often is a decision made right there in a face-to-face meeting? There’s always some continuation of the message.”
Murphy said 55 percent of information conveyed is lost or forgotten within an hour. Sixty-five percent is lost by the end of day and 90 percent is lost by the end of week. “What’s the likelihood of retellability if they can’t remember it,” Murphy asked.
Companies need to make their messaging re-tellable so it can be conveyed to all of the decision-making stakeholders without the need for a representative actually having to be there to retell it. “Make it easy for someone else to retell your story,” he said.
Quality messaging is crisp, clean and simple. A company’s message should be anchored in the customer’s problem, pivot on a small number of powerful insights, provide insights supported by data and illustration, have a logical sequence and call customers to clear and easy action.
“If you apply a couple of these ideas in your future communications…you will get better results for your team, your organization and yourself,” Murphy said.
The IMARK Group would like to extend thanks to all who attended the 2018 Showcase.
The IMARK Group would also like to thank the following sponsors for their contributions to this year’s event:
- Acuity Brands
- Atkore
- Current Powered by GE
- ERICO Inc.
- General Cable
- Houston Wire & Cable Co.
- Hubbell Lighting
- ILSCO
- Industrial Connections and Solutions LLC
- Legrand
- Leviton Manufacturing Co.
- Littelfuse
- Panasonic Eco Products Division
- Picoma
- RAB Lighting Inc.
- SATCO Products Inc.
- Siemens Industry Inc.
- Southwire Co.
- Topaz Electric
- TPI Corporation
- Universal Lighting Technologies
- Western Tube & Conduit Corp.
- Milbank Manufacturing Co.
- Westinghouse Lighting
Mark your calendar for the 2019 IMARK Showcase, which will take place March 26-28, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago. We hope to see you there.
