As trade shows and conferences continue in virtual forms for the foreseeable future, manufacturers must identify ways to optimize relationship selling. In this week’s episode of The Kula Ring, Ryan Carley, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Mason Controls, talks about how relationship selling has changed for his team during the pandemic, how they are adapting the sales process with new remote tactics, and where he thinks relationship selling is going as virtual connections continue to be the norm.

Marketing plans developed last year for 2020 look drastically different now because of the pandemic—not just in the tradeshow arena, but also how new markets are identified. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jaclyn Wallace, Director of Marketing for Nederman Division North America, covers a variety of topics including how the pandemic is forcing marketing and sales to effectively adapt into the digital space, how customers are driving new business, and the importance of knowledge extraction.

While some manufacturing organizations are reeling from trade show and conference cancellations, others are finding new ways to connect exhibitors, peers, and prospects. This week on The Kula Ring, Michelle Edmonson, Senior Director, Exhibitions Operations and Marketing at The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), talks about transforming The International Manufacturing Technology Show’s (IMTS) 6-day, in-person trade show into a 7-month virtual destination. She talks about bringing new content to the IMTS audience, including live broadcasts, and why the IMTS created a digital platform instead of a virtual trade show booth.

Manufacturing marketers rely on trade shows, but many have been cancelled since the pandemic began. How can marketers replace an in-person trade show presence, at least in the short term, and connect with prospects remotely? Jim Cermak, host of the Trade Show University podcast, talks to Jeff and Carman about how manufacturers are adapting to trade show cancellations and how to translate the elements of a good trade show booth into other kinds of wins.

With trade shows and conventions postponed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), what can manufacturers do to showcase new products and services they had lined up for 2020? In this special episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman talk about how manufacturing marketers and other internal stakeholders can adapt to this new reality by moving parts of their business online and serving customers digitally.