📍 📍 I've got an amazing guest for you today. His name is Anders and he is. Well, he's a speaker, an author, and a magician, and a founder of Engageified, if I say that correctly.
I, I'm going to butcher the rest of it, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to allow Anders to give you his background, his bio, and we'll move on from there. Welcome to the show, Anders. Oh, thanks for having me, Michael. When you said butcher, usually it's my last name that gets butchered, which is, is French is, is Boulanger, it's French for baker, but it looks like Boulanger, that's right.
So, and I have a Swedish first name. And a French last name. So one of them usually gets messed up. So you nailed the first name. So that's great. So yeah, Michael, I, you're right. I, I, I'm a magician of originally that's how I got started. I get when I was five years old, I got a little Fisher price magic set for Christmas and started doing magic at show and tell and at school and got to be 12 years old, started doing birthday parties.
Then I, I ended up doing you know, Bears and festivals as I grew older, paid my way through university. I got a four year degree in physics and then never really used that degree. I just kept on with the magic doing conferences and corporate events. I put a suit on that kind of thing. So that the same, you know, my magic evolved.
And then I got back in 2007. Now I got trained by Man named Joel Bauer, who was, you know, kind of the best who ever lived at trade show infotaining, meaning you're, you're performing as an entertainer in a trade show booth. But the whole time you're actually communicating a message about the company to entice visitors to stop, to listen, and hopefully take action and go on a deeper booth journey you know, at that particular, particular client's booth.
Right. So I started doing that more and more and built up our business. So we were not just me, but other. Certified infotainers that work for Engageify are working for companies like Microsoft, Siemens, ABB, Fortinet, you know, billion dollar technology companies that we work for. And then there's something that came out of this where we noticed there were some people maybe not as comfortable connecting with people, maybe not as comfortable working at trade show booth.
And there's so many parallels, Michael, of, of, you know, being at a trade show and networking, right? Like in a lot of ways, they're the same one in the same. And, and so what we found is we needed a training to make sure that the booth staff were taking full advantage of the crowds that we were attracting to the booth.
Right. Sometimes we'd get a big crowd of people and we'd turn them over to the. The booth staff and they'd go any questions, you know, and they would just walk away. They wouldn't, they wouldn't engage. So we started creating different trainings, whether it's for the, the engineer doing the demos, whether it's for the subject matter experts doing the presentations, whether it's just, you know, general booth staff, how to work a booth and how to stop people in the aisles, talk with them and, and, and qualify them.
And, and then even during the pandemic, there was a shift too, because of course there were no events. So we were teaching virtual engagement, meaning how do we attract someone's attention and keep their focus on you through a virtual meeting, whether you're, you're selling, whether you are, you know, just meeting, maybe it's, maybe it's engaging your team, that sort of thing.
So Everything we do, it really, really does revolve around engagement. And that's what Engageify does. Engageify does, that's right. It's a good name for it. Okay. So, so how can businesses maximize their networking potential at trade shows and, and industry events? Well, I think for one, a lot of people need to, and even including myself, need to give yourself permission to be more of yourself at a, at a show like that.
And for some, it's easier than others, right? How people are wired, what people are comfortable in doing. But I find myself. You know, I kind of flick a switch where I know this is what is required in this environment and it does require a great amount of energy. So I think there's something about, you know, finding we call it an engaging personality, but finding that sweet spot of yourself.
Even if you are, you know, the, the, the classic joke about engineers is how do you tell an extroverted engineer from an introverted engineer? Well, the extroverted engineer will actually look at your feet as they speak to you instead of their own, of course. Right. So but is there a way we can just get a little bit more out of you, right.
To be able to make these connections. Cause sometimes we have to take some chances. We have to you know, one of the things that we see in trade shows. As people are walking by just trying to stop someone you're dealing with rejection on. Multiple times in a minute, potentially, right? Like if you tried to actually stop someone walking by and you know, if we take that personally, that's people will just like go hide in the closet of the, the trade show booth, right?
We, we kind of can't do that. So it's that idea of. What is this, you know, kind of part of you that you can bring to the show that is a little bit bigger than you are normally are. And because of that, it's not really you, right? We can kind of almost protect ourself. And so like, hey, some will, some won't. So what, who's next, right?
Like just embrace that sort of motto so that because there's so many people. to meet, right? We can't we can't take it personally. So that's one of the things that I like to see is just people kind of bringing it in and bringing that bigger version of themselves. Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?
I'm definitely extroverted in, in, in a way like I've, I've two kids, one takes after my wife, one takes after me and it's very apparent, you know, that seeing the difference I've always wanted to be on stage and perform. So I would pretty much say I'm an extrovert in that way. So. In some ways, I feel like, you know, I'm, I don't know what it's like for an introvert.
So I always have to remind myself that, you know, it's not as easy, you know, for people who aren't wired that way, or don't prefer to engage that way. Okay. You know, You're talking about the booths and attracting attention and, and getting the, engage the customers or clients, potential clients. And there's a plethora of booths and there's so many to choose from.
What do you have that you really have that, that extra little thing to get their attention? Well, one of the things that, you know, dopamine is one of these neurotransmitters, you know, what, what captures our attention is, is norepinephrine and dopamine. So norepinephrine is the stress neurotransmitter, right?
Like this idea that we're, we're we don't want to put our potential clients under stress. Even though, you know, if there was danger, it would take our full attention, right? Like that's how that works from a biological evolutionary point of view. Typically, we don't want to do that, right? So the other side is what's in it for me?
What is that? What is that? You know, the, the, you focused. benefits. Are there things that we want to eat, right? The things that, you know, that idea going back again, evolutionary. So dopamine spikes are typically rewards. So this is where you go back to the giveaways at a trade show. Why are there giveaways?
Because getting things free makes us woo for me, right? Special. We feel good. And so typically giving something, whether that is an experience, maybe, you know, some booths that you got the classic massage, you know thing happening of course, different giveaway items or gifts. I never liked to call them like, you know I like to call them a gift.
As opposed to sometimes people call them, you know, trinkets and trash, like let's not diminish their value. Let's let's support their value. Right. Like right these days, they call them, call them swag a lot. Right. As, as the gifts. So that's one of the things that's going to possibly capture that attention, but unless you upsell their time and attention.
Into a deeper richer booth experience, you know, they're just gonna go. Hey, thanks. I'm out of here, right? So how you use your interpersonal skills? You know, when you meet that person and connect with those people you know, if you're able to start a conversation and, and, and find out maybe where they're from, find some commonalities, find some things that can unite the two of you.
That person is probably just going to take it and run. So that's where, you know, the, the, that's where our trainings come in, where we're bringing the, this attention to these. Skills that come naturally to some and some not so much, right? But the more we're able to raise the bar in the booth to create meaningful interactions, the better the chance we're going to have booth visitors listen to what it is that differentiates the company.
It's going to, you know, find out why they should, they should buy. What's, what is that, that marketing message? So that's really, you know, a big part of it is the dopamine. I do have a another kind of framework, if you like, Michael, about how to make. What you talk about more engaging. Would that be okay to share?
Absolutely. Okay. So we we use it as it's a it's an acronym save you so the word save and then they'll just the letter you and save you is Helpful because if you ever find yourself losing the attention of an audience or a group of people or a one person even this will Save you Okay. So I'm going to walk through each of the letters.
So the first S is simple. Okay. You got to make things simple and easy in terms of the language, in terms of your vocabulary in terms of making things, I, my original, my original acronym was much longer and, and I was like, okay, I got to like, listen to my own advice here. So like, you know, this is only five letters, so you know, it's, it's better than it was before.
Right. So how can we simplify using. Again, acronyms, alliterations, rhymes, you know, making, making your messaging pithy and, and interesting, right? So that's, that's one thing all too often we're working in an industry where we have the curse of knowledge and we tend to lose people because we assume everyone knows what we know, right?
That's right. And so that's that's a dangerous place. So making sure everything's simple. The A is for authority. And that authority is not just like I'm important, but the idea that this information is coming from a place that maybe you're an expert. Perhaps it's how you talk about this information, and I'll give you a quick example, Michael.
If I were, if I was talking about what I'm talking about now, Michael, and I was going up in my intonation all the time, I wouldn't sound very credible, would I? Like it would, it would sound like, are you asking me a question or are you telling me, Anders? I'm not sure. Right? So how you carry yourself, how you're dressed lends to that authority.
Right? We, it's, it's like we, a doctor who's not wearing a white coat, who's wearing, doctor is wearing a t shirt and sweatpants. We're going to go, ugh. Right? Like, we're not going to want to listen to them. Right? So that authority piece is, you know, setting yourself up for success in that way. So, so that's simple, simple, A is the authority.
V is for varying the senses. Or visual, auditory, kinesthetic Michael, I know you've probably, I've seen all kinds of personality assessments and ways of slicing and dicing how people operate. One of the ways, the learning styles is the visual, seeing, auditory, hearing, kinesthetic feeling. And so when we actually, when we talk about something, talk about something, that's an auditory term, right?
One might be able to see the differences in how others speak. See the differences, visual, others speak, auditory again, right? And, and then so the feeling that someone's words give. Again, feeling kiss tech. So mixing those up allows you to almost shotgun blast being relatable to more of your audience.
We talked for a while, Michael, and you were on my podcast. We'd be able to pick up on each other's typically with their preferred modality, which is a highfalutin way of saying, you know, what is your preferred sense? And I, you're, you're watching me. We're on this virtual call. You see my hands moving all over the place and I talk pretty fast.
That is a hint that I'm a visual person. So you would probably talk about things being crystal clear or how does this look to you to engage me? But because. We're at a trade show and we're talking to so many people. If you use multiple senses in your language, you're going to engage, you know, everyone basically.
We're kind of getting everyone on board. So it makes it more engageable, if you will, if that's, if that's, that's not a real word, but I'm going to use it in this case. Okay. That's right. So, so that's the S, the A, the V. Okay. The E is emotional. For in save you and emotional meaning. Not we're trying to make people cry, but we want to involve their emotions so that they remember the moment, right?
Whenever we have, yeah, yeah. So, and, and we can do that by the way that we are with the rapport that we have with that person, right? If someone's in tune with you. They're going to feel your feelings as well, right? So perfect example is one of the things I do in my trade show presentation. I'll have a picture of a frustrated man pulling, like pulling his hair out kind of idea, right?
And I'll say, how many people feel like this in your current role? Right. And then people raise their hands and we haven't even talked about why, but he's got this problem. He's got a problem, B problem and C problem. How many of you saying people can relate? Yeah. And I'm seeing all these nods of heads. I'm saying it like, Oh, what a pain, right?
Here's this frustrated guy. You got this happen and everyone's going, yeah. So they're, they're with me. And I'm meeting them where they're at, right? So we're kind of, we're, we're feeling the pain together. And then as the presentation progresses, then it becomes this, but what if there was a way that we could X, Y, and Z, how would that change?
How you operate your company, right? And now we're getting into a little bit more of an optimistic or this asking this question or, or getting into this place in their minds that they're thinking about, what would it be like if they didn't have these problems? And now we're able to kind of take them on this emotional journey to like, now we've got this happening, this happening, you're going to be able to see it all on one single.
And of glass on the dashboard, you're gonna be able to measure all this. And now I can kind of ramp up, I get excited about it and they can get excited with me. So when I say emotions, it's like let people feel things. And in business, we're so, you know hesitant, get emotional about it. Everything's all clear cut data.
Right. And so getting emotional with people, you can sweep people away with your energy, Michael. Right. Like in, in, in a personal interaction, people like, you know, people who are enthusiastic about something, right. Enthusiasm is contagious. And I think there's something magical about, about that. Okay. So, so that's what, what the emotion is about.
And then the last one, the U, just the letter U is for you focused. And we kind of covered that a little bit, right. Talking about what's in it for them. Everybody's favorite radio station. That's the classic cliche, right? WII FM. What's in it for me. And so making sure that it is focused on their outcomes, right?
And so everyone's goes through life wondering, you know, what can I, you know, what can I eat? What can I, you know, like evolutionary, you want to mate with something, you want to eat something and you want to avoid being eaten yourself and being killed, right? So we're always getting away from the danger and going towards what we want.
And so that's the idea of the other piece is making sure whatever topic content you have. Make it about what, what they want or make it about what they don't want to to happen to them too. Like avoiding these pitfalls, right? That'll get their attention as well. And so that's, that's our little save you acronym.
And that's wonderful. I'm trying to, to place everything that you just said with the save you acronym within the networking world. And it's so close. It's so you, you'd be authentic. You'd be present. You listen to the other person, you see their, their reactions. Everything is parallel to somebody networking in an event when a trade show is in an event.
So it's just, it's remarkable how you have different fields, different career fields here, but you're doing the same things because it works. Yeah, actually, it actually works. So that's why I was very. Intent on listening to each one of these letters and what they meant and every time you said another letter Correlates to something regarding networking.
So it's it's all it's all great. It's all wonderful and you did an outstanding job You know explaining all that one thing Okay, so you've told us about the engagement. You told us about how you get them in at the tables and everything. What about prior to the event? What about prior to the, the trade show?
How would you advise your? Client how to network properly to get the most out of the trade show well, you know trade show marketing typically is split up into before During and after the show, right? So you're trying to make these connections Find these people who would be qualified leads, you know, and one one thing before I go further michael one of the delineations I made in my mind when we were talking about the world of networking and the world of trade shows.
I think in trade shows, it's a little bit more sales forward, meaning we know why we're here, let's cut to the chase. Let's see if there's a fit right where in networking you don't even know who if whether you might do business with them or you might be able to connect them with someone else and it's a little bit more I feel like relationship first, you know, and trade shows sometimes has a little bit more of a pointed you know, focus, you know, when you, when you network, you're always looking to give not receive.
Okay, so with that thought of giving, you're constantly giving at a networking event, but at the trade show, aren't you giving also and not really receiving, not receiving until afterwards, when you get them in, then you get a little interaction. Yes. You know, you're looking to, you're looking to connect with them, to give them something, to make them aware so they can have that relationship with you.
Yeah. I, I, the reason is we are always working for companies at the show who want more leads. Right. They want more or less. So, so when I think about giving first, well, maybe they're giving a giveaway, but then they're taking a scan, right. They're getting that person's information. So that's where, I mean, it's a little bit more transactional at a trade show, but you know, it's still important.
Like the, I mean, if you want to establish a longterm. Clients or customers. I think, you know, relationship is, it needs to be formed. And, and I really think that comes out of giving first you're right. As far as the, the kind of the before, what I was going to say is that before the event, during the event, after the event, you know, before the event, there can be.
There's email marketing, there's people, you know, trying to invite people to special events. These might be off sites. These might be places where you can get people in a place where their guard is down a little bit more. And so we see this too, where there's more and more of these kind of executive round tables happening because if you're selling to the C suite, you get them in a room with a bunch of other executives and they feel safe.
That in that environment because they're with their peers and they also feel more safe sharing because they're with their peers. Well, you have that higher level of trust. Yeah. You that, that, that trust factor is so important. You know, know you, like you, trust you. They'll do business with you at the C-suite.
level, they already have that trust level built. And so you don't have to really think about that. You can go on to the next level. So trust is so crucial in everything that we do, but you've, it's kind of like a known entity. Once you get involved with the C suite executives, with the networking, with what I do.
It starts with the C suite, but then it trickles down. What you're doing is that it trickles over, you know, it's not trickling down. So what you're doing as such is such a higher level than what I'm doing because It's, you're, you're getting that instantaneous reaction to the person and you're, and you actually are getting something.
So you're covering all these different things when I'm just doing this one, but I'm sorry, go ahead. Well, no, I, I, I, I totally see your point. And in some ways, I think to trade shows just because so much money is invested in these events, it's kind of like. You, you're pushing the agenda harder than you would because we need ROI, right?
And so everything is accelerated. Everything is so much higher stakes. And because of that, we just kind of get you know, the hurry up offense happening on all these interactions and relationships, right? Right, right. Very good. Okay, so let's take you and your clients. Okay, your client being the owner of the trade show table.
How has technology, digital displays, social media, everything together. How's it changed the way that you connect with them at trade shows and your clients at trade shows? Yeah, well, definitely when you talk about connecting you know, the, the LED screens and the, the, the, the eye candy that can be done, you know, and, and you, you'd mentioned a trade show table.
It's like, these are, these are boosts that are, you know, 1600 square feet, or they could be much bigger. I've worked in many million dollar plus boosts. You know, built and then the whole trade show becomes like a mini city, right? For, for three days. But yeah, definitely the led screens are getting cheaper and cheaper.
So you're seeing bigger and bigger screens and what's interesting. And I've taken some pictures of this is that now the technology is almost dwarfing the people. So you can have such a big screen, but such a small presenter that is. literally overshadowed because it's so bright, they're backlit and now they look like they're in shadow that we're not connecting with the human as much.
So we have to be careful that we don't overpower the actual people because bottom line, no matter how much you click from place to place, you'll never replace face to face. Right. So, so you need to, we need to remember it's still about the humans. It's still about the people. So that's one of the things, I mean, another thing that it used to be such a pain in the butt to collect lead information.
They used to have to fill out a form or whatever. And now it's just a, a bad scanner and it's so quick you put it on. So there's some things that have streamlined that so that you don't have to You know, either write down the stuff for them and take yourself out of the conversation. You know, you're able to kind of, or, or people are doing a voice recordings of the, of either notes afterwards.
So after you met the person, instead of you were a head down in your phone trying to type notes while you were talking, you were able to keep face to face eye to eye with that person. As soon as they leave, you hit the record button that automatically transcribed your notes and you. Do a data dump of everything you just remembered about this person so that they're in your notes.
So when the follow up happens, it can be so much more personal, so much more relevant. Right. So so that definitely, you know, is, is unique technology. There is also technology. We have something that we call it crowd metrics, and this is analytics on the booth. So we put sensors in the booth and what ends up happening is afterwards, you're able to then look at where were the best areas of the booth or what was drawing people in and being able to then optimize your booth further for your next show, right?
What are the lessons learned from this? You know, how many impressions do we make? How many walkbys were there? How many engaged visitors did we have? And so from that, it's not really helping the interactions of this show. But you may be able to take those learnings in the next show. No, we need more boost staff on this edge because there was so many more people there, right?
Maybe we're missing out on the people walking by. Right. So technology continues to evolve. And of course it gets applied to business and in all areas. Yeah, that's that's great. I had no idea about those matrix and things like that. And I apologize for saying table. I am well aware of booths, you know, and, and, and the small cities that they've become.
But you mentioned follow up. How do you follow up with your clients? For me follow up, I use a lot of email and I use a lot of email. I use a lot of video. So you, you can see me right now. Yeah. And, and so I have, I've kind of like a little studio here and I'll make one off videos for a person. So they are personalized.
So I have a little whiteboard that I hold up and I'll, I'd be, I would write, hi Michael, you know press play or something like that. And so they know that I made this video just for them. And because I'm always that do that to clients that do that. Yep. Absolutely. So, so that's probably how I, I follow up.
Most of the time we do have you know, different things we'll, we'll, we also use a service called handwritten, which is, are you familiar with that, Michael? Handywritten. Yes. I'm a big one for writing thank you notes. Yeah. And instead of hand, if I'm in a rush, I'm not going to handwrite the thank you notes.
I'll go online and use handywritten. So yes, it's a very good website. Absolutely. Yeah, I really like that. And so that has that personal touch, although it is faster and more scalable. And so it's kind of, you know, it's, it's one of those things where we, we keep trying to scale authenticity, right? Like, but, you know, can you really do that?
Right? Like, or is that becoming an authentic if it's just going out to the masses? But this is one of those ways where it kind of walks the line. Of something that is, you know, convenient, easy to do, but appreciated on the other end, you know, so, okay, well, let me ask you a question. All of this has been wonderful.
It tells me how well you're doing, but I'm sure you didn't get here without making any mistakes. So what, what mistakes generally have you made and how could you avoid them? Wow. Okay. Almost I, we, at my company, I have a chief strategy officer who works with me all the time and we're, we're always looking at learnings.
You know, and then what, what did we learn this quarter? What did we learn this quarter? And I kind of wish I had my learning library up right now. Cause there's all kinds of things that they would come up. One of the ones that, that comes to mind, and this is just because we have different certified infotainer.
So I worked for some of the clients and some of our other infotainers worked for other clients. One of the things I do remember learning was that we want to match what people have had in the future. So if you have a. pretty high energy person, whoever they get first, they like, right? And it's kind of this thing that if you need to, that person's busy and you need someone else in their place, make sure you have someone of similar quality, right?
Let's sit not quality, but similar energy and, and whatever, yeah, whatever people have first, they fall in love with. And so, you know, that may not apply to a lot of people, but in our business you know, that was something and another thing that I remember now that you're jogging my memory is giving people too much choice creates that, you know, paralysis by analysis.
Absolutely. And I remember early on, I was selling one of well, two of our infotainers. And I kind of said, this guy's like this and this guy's like this, which one do you want? And they didn't have enough information to make the, and it just stretched it out. And I stopped doing that. I just said, I'm going to pick who I think's best, put them forward and go, this is your guy.
And it just sped up, you know, the, the sales process so much because it was just. So much more clear cut so that there is that famous jams jar jams experiment where they had Like 20 different types of jams and how many did they sell and then they reduced it down to like? Six or eight or something and they sold way more, you know at the the same flea market so Reducing choice does improve on the you know commitment So that would probably be my my big one.
Okay, so let's let's bring this all the way around. Let's just Finish with this one thing, what would you give to my listeners one thing that one takeaway that they can take away from everything you've said they can use today or tomorrow? What would you suggest? So I'm a, I wrote a book and it's called engage first.
It's not going to be out till October, so it's, it's still a ways away. And that title. is really what we're about is that, you know, it's how to capture attention to tell, sell and sway. And so you really can't communicate or sell or do anything you want unless people are actually paying attention. And so making sure that we make an effort to engage, you know, that we actually, there's a willingness.
To, to, to try and, and connect with people because so many people are living in their own world right now. They're head down, shut down on the phone. How do we get them to get, be head up and lit up, right? How do we, you know, bring our more of ourselves to the moment, be present. And, and engage with these people and kind of get back that, that human connection.
So I just want to leave them with these two words, engage first. Fantastic. That was Anders. That was perfect. Now, if somebody wanted to get hold of you, either they want your services or be coached by you, or even just to contact you to say hi, how would they do it? Definitely you can check out our website and it's gify.ai.
I'm gonna spell that. E-N-G-A-G-I-F y.ai. And the AI is not artificial intelligence, by the way. Michael, it's, it stands for Authentic Interactions. That's what our AI stands for. Okay. So you can go on the website, you can reach out that way. On LinkedIn is probably where I hang out socially the most.
So it's LinkedIn slash Anders Bella, all one word. I'll spell it again. Spell this part too. A N D E R S. B as in boy. O U L A N G E R. It looks like Anders Boolanger. Okay. So that's you can reach out to me there. And of course we can DM and set something up in a call or whatever. So yeah, thanks for having me, Michael.
Appreciate it. No problem. And I'm glad to have you. And this has really been entertaining. The first and foremost, I learned so much about what you do and how you do it and the importance of what you do. So thank you very much for coming on and I'll speak to you soon.
Well, hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let me just read a few of our sponsors that we have. Struggling to reach success? Maybe it's time to quit. In Quit Your Way to Success, by Rodney Davis. This reveals 27 steps to breaking bad habits that hold you back. This powerful book helps you rewire your mindset, take control of your actions, and turn setbacks into stepping stones.
With real life examples, motivational quotes and actionable lessons, especially for sales professionals. You'll gain the tools to quit. What's stopping you and start winning. Transform your future today. So Quit Your Way to Success, by Rodney Davis, available now on Amazon. And this is a non profit called Rev'd Up Kids.
This is something I believe in wholeheartedly. Rev'd Up Kids is on a mission to protect children and teens from sexual abuse. Exploitation and trafficking. They provide prevention training programs for children, teens, and adults. To learn more, go to RevUpKids. org That's R E V V E D U P K I D S dot org.
Michael is a business networking expert specializing in enhancing professionals' networking and communication skills to drive profitability. As a leading authority in this field, he is highly sought after for his dynamic presentations and workshops. His extensive experience has consistently led to significant improvements in corporate profitability by empowering individuals and organizations to connect more effectively and efficiently.
Comments