The COMEX 2008 28th-31st Aug

COMEX 2008 Singapore
Originally uploaded by mysilentkaopei

$900 in 4 days! (well... at least that's what I calculated)

It was a gruesome weekend for me as I worked at the recent COMEX promoting SONY Handycams and Alphas to some thousands of visitors. Of course, it's not my first time doing so at a major exhibition but every show feels like the first as we never know what kind of situation we could get into.

Possibly due to the inflation, there was a noticeable drop in sales and customers alike. I, for one, have seen the entire Handycam booth empty for the first time in my years of promoting.

Unfortunately, the fact that I've experience with SONY products didn't help me one bit, as I was appointed to the 4th level of the Suntec Convention building, which halls the competitor brands. On the other hand, the younger and greener promoters were assigned to the 3rd level which consisted purely of SONY products.

Well, the situations and prices can change over the years but the customers certainly don't. After so long of promotion, I've learnt to differentiate customers into different kinds.

A. Woodblocks
They don't talk, they don't move, they don't even respond to you. All they do is stand in front of your booth and stare at your products. Some eventually buy, but most of them just walk away after you let off a fart. Waste of customer space and oxygen to top it up. Woodblock them and ask your customer to squeeze at the woodblocks, it usually pisses them off.

B. Chatterbox
Similarly to the woodblocks, they're a waste of promotion space. Other than the fact that they will not buy anything, they have a super-mouth to get even the most experienced of promoters into trouble. These lonely beings are simply there for a chat, and telling them to buzz off would end up with a complaint to your superior even though they weren't potential customers to begin with. Avoid by engaging a real customer while he is thinking of words to blurt out!

C. Clueless
They have a lot of cash, they have a lot of time, but they have ZERO knowledge of the product. Although they are willing to make a purchase, be prepared to spend at least half an hour explaining the functions and operations to them. Engage only if the product they're interested in commissions well. Otherwise try a hit-and-run strategy and only answer questions they ask.

D. Bargain Freaks
They're looking at cheap, cheap and nothing but cheap. They don't care what freebies are coming together with the product, they just want it cheap. Even if it means buying it elsewhere at $100 cheaper and losing $300 of freebies, they'd do it. They are unavoidable as this nature only surface halfway through a sales talk. What's more, the TV retailers are corrupting the market so much with their 'last day promotions' that these bargain freaks often appear only on the last day before walking off upon hearing that nothing has changed!

E. Self-Opinionated Surveyors
They already have a brand in mind, but they just want to walk to the other brands to trash them just so they feel better about their purchase. If you need to do that to make your purchase a more enjoyable one, perhaps you need to be looking at what I'm selling???

F. Durians
Like how these beauties are harvested, the durians drop out of the blue and presents to you the greatest surprise of all - a finger pointing at a high end model accompanied by the sweet melody of ''GIMME ONE!''... How I love thee, if only more customers learn from these durians and do their homework before going out to try out the cameras.

Of course, customers are always customers, and the customer is always right. Being in the service industry has taught me to learn to be humble and understand that I am not always the man at the top of the hill.

Now, on to healing my throat from all that yelling... aaaaaAAAAA~~~~