By Louis Malcmacher, DDS, MAGD

he California Dental Association puts on two outstanding meetings every single year — one in Anaheim and one in San Francisco. I am always impressed with these meetings because the exhibit halls are busy and the attendance in the lecture rooms is at capacity or beyond. Since I routinely train sales and marketing teams for dental companies, one of my favorite things to do is walk the exhibit hall floor. Besides the many products that I work with and consult about from a clinical point of view, I silently rate the booth space and sales teams at these meetings.

To the dismay of many companies, I describe most sales teams working the big dental shows as the reactionary type. What I mean by that is that they sit behind their booths, which are normally one to two tables that block direct access to dentists and dental team members, and wait for something to happen. People stroll by, and some of these salespeople may try a weak attempt at connecting with dentists, but for the most part they use the reactionary method. If a dentist or team member walks up to the booth, then the dental salesperson may get out of the chair and engage the customer. No offense, but that reactionary method of selling at trade shows stinks!

Let me share two shining examples of how sales should take place at trade shows, and how to engage the dental customer walking by. I was walking down the aisle in an exhibit hall and met a young woman standing across the aisle from her booth. As people walked by, she stuck her hand out and introduced herself, “I’m Jennifer Spellman. How are you today?” People didn’t know who she was or what she was doing there. She explained that she was with a new Internet marketing group called Yodle, and she invited people to stop by the booth so they could get more information about what Yodle could offer their practice. The entire connection probably took one minute or less. Her approach was so friendly, refreshing, and overwhelmingly positive that I saw many people stop by this one little booth while many booths around it were empty. I passed by, she introduced herself to me, I told her that I thought she had tremendous energy, and I asked her how long she had been a salesperson. She said, “You know, this is really my first meeting.”

Now here some of you seasoned dental sales people may roll your eyes and talk about how naïve she is and how she’ll learn over time. That may be true, but I have to tell you that she was beating the pants off every dental salesperson around her. We can learn a lot from this young lady in terms of energy, enthusiasm, and instantly connecting with the dental customer.

The second shining example I witnessed at this meeting was at the Hu-Friedy booth. Everyone knows that there is a hierarchy in most companies, with either the director of sales or national sales director leading the team. There are two kinds of people that are directors of sales companies that I have found. One type takes the hands-off approach and lets his or her sales team do its thing while he or she lays low. The kind I prefer is the one that sells side by side with the sales teams and leads by example. These types make sure every single dental professional who walks up to their booth is taken care of instantly, and they are not afraid to stop whatever they’re doing to help a customer who is standing right in front of them.

Dental trade shows are tremendous opportunities to spend face time with customer dentists. With some training, your sales team can have a much better approach to trade shows, with a greater increase in sales and their own satisfaction in how well they deal with people.

Dr. Louis Malcmacher is a general and cosmetic dentist located in Bay Village, Ohio. He is also an evaluator for Clinical Research Associates as well as a consultant to the dental industry. Dr. Malcmacher speaks to thousands of dental professionals every year, so he has very unique insight into the dental market and how to interact with the dental customer. For the last 25 years, he has intensively trained sales teams and done marketing consulting with dental companies. Dr. Malcmacher can be reached at (440) 892-1810 or dryowza@mail.com. He offers a free e-mail newsletter for dental company representatives, which you can sign up for at his Web site, www.commonsensedentistry.com.

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