This week I attended the AME Conference held in Covington, KY. I have to say it was one of the best conferences that I have attended in a long time, with a great mix of workshops, seminars and plant tours. They also paid particular attention to their vendors making sure all their needs were met. It was very impressive how the AME Staff and even the President of AME stopped by the booth daily to check on how things were going and if there was anything needed.
My favorite workshop was presented by Dan Fayer of PAS Technologies. He spelled out a formula for Lean Implementation Success that PAS used in the turnaround of that company. Bob Weiner, CEO of PAS and Tom Deforge of Lean Value Solutions have been on my podcast recently so I knew the general story before attending. Dan, however, put some real meat to the Lean Transformation and filled in the X’s and Y’s. If AME makes any part of this seminar, slidedeck or audio available, grab it!
The most interesting sideline to the conference was the masterful job that AME did in marketing their next convention. What a lesson for others. John Jantsch explains the Duct Tape Marketing Hourglass:
Many marketers have been taught the concept of the marketing funnel. The idea being that you bring leads into the top of the large opening in a funnel and push the ones that become customers through the small end. The problem I’ve always had with that is all the focus is on the chase. I happen to think that real payoff in marketing comes from expanding and focusing your thinking on how to turn a lead into an advocate for your business. Long ago I started using the concept of the marketing hourglass. The top half indeed resembles the funnel concept, but the expanding bottom half, to my way of thinking, adds the necessary focus on the total customer experience that ultimately leads to referrals and marketing momentum.
The relationship to that concept was demonstrated at the AME Conference. The attendees and exhibitors have been thru the hourglass and now in the bottom half. Not to sound too clinical but they were the Buyers of the program. The next step in the funnel is the Repeat stage. AME started marketing the next conference in Baltimore immediately after you signed up for this one. In fact, they offered steep discounts before and during the show if you would commit before this convention ended for both attendees and exhibitors. During the show, there was a booth for information about Baltimore, numerous promotions and AME personnel wore Baltimore Oriole jerseys for most of the show. It was simply one of the best jobs of managing the Repeat stage in the hourglass that I have seen. The AME personnel understand the cost of gaining a new attendee and passed that savings on to their “Repeat” buyers.
The next part of the Marketing Hourglass is the Referral phase. I have not seen how AME will be handling all of that. However, I did see them, collecting and asking for referrals. I can’t wait to see it!
P.S. I was there as a result of an invitation from Systems2win.
Related Information:
The Duct Tape Marketing Hourglass makes up The Pillars of the Lean Marketing House.
E-books: Discussion of A Lean Transformation & Lean Value Solutions
Category: Marketing Funnel
Podcast:
PAS Technologies CEO, Bob Weiner discusses a Lean Transformation
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