Creating Demand from Engineers, Real-Time

Spring is known throughout distribution as the time to get together with customers.

For many it is an excuse to pull together a golf outing or, if you are a lighting agent, an opportunity to take customers to a factory (ideally in California for wine-tasting.) With sports playoffs, tickets are in demand.

One-on-one entertainment is great for strengthening relationships which inevitably are the “gifts that keep on giving”, however, springtime is also the time for more enterprising distributors and manufacturer representatives to gather groups of customers, prospects and suppliers for demand generation group activities.

Why refer to these as “demand generation?”

Simple. These gatherings create opportunities for suppliers to present products and training to prospective customers and thereby influence or create future demand. The key, and some do this much better than others, is the follow-up post-show.

Here’s examples of a recent event conducted by a manufacturer representative.

Yusen holds first Engineer Open House

At the NEMRA ’23 conference, Yusen was challenged to add focus and resources to the Engineering community.  The feeling was that, as Infrastructure funds started coming out, the company needed to ensure its Manufacturers’ products and services were listed in Electrical Specifications.

After a year, and only a few completed Lunch and Learns at Engineering firms, Yusen decided it needed to host an Open House.

On March 14^th, Yusen hosted its first Engineer Open House. With the help of its sister company Illuminate, a specification lighting agency, they had over 50 Electrical Engineers join them.  The focus was to educate the greater Boston Electrical Engineering community on the products of its Premier Manufacturers.

Yusen’s entire line card was represented with each Manufacturer having products on display and literature to hand out.  The first floor showcased ABB Installation Products, as well as Picoma and Western Tube.  Robert Fralicker, ABB Product Manager, said “I felt the event was a great opportunity for ABB to engage with a large number of engineers, all in one place.  Our team was able to meet engineers representing numerous companies working on a large number of projects across the Northeast.”

On the second floor Maxlite, Kidde, Panasonic, EZ-Crete, Austin Enclosures, TPD, ICI, C-Port, Prime Conduit, EvoCharge, and Warmup highlighted specification products.  Jim Austin, Austin Enclosures shared: “We have never before had the chance to interact with so many product specifiers at one event. The structure of the show, unlike most trade shows, allowed for discussions with each and every participant.”

Southwire, a Platinum sponsor, took over the entire 3^rd floor.  Attendees were able to spend time with vertical managers from Transit, Renewables, Factory Automation, VDE and EP&ES.  Highlighted products included Cable In Conduit (CIC), Medium Voltage, and MCAP, temp lighting and temp power.  One Firm’s Senior Vice President was most fascinated by the VFD cable presentation.  They’ve recently moved VFD’s to the Electrical spec from the Mechanical, and had no idea there were so many benefits to using VFD cable vs THHN and conduit. Also on the Southwire floor was a representative from their Cable Services team.  Engineers were able to ask technical questions and get answers on the spot.  Southwire’s CableTechSupport™ Services team, comprised of elite Engineers with expertise in power, electrical, mechanical, civil, chemical, polymer science, industrial, and nuclear engineering, has the depth of skill and the ability to respond with innovative solutions for most complex and mission-critical wire and cable challenges.

As Engineers and Manufacturer finished their conversations, they made their way up to the 5^th floor reception area where Lutron was located.  For the next hour, Engineers, Manufacturers, Illuminate, and the Yusen team engaged in conversations about the night and formed some great new relationships.  Also on the 5^th floor, Jeff Rogers, Yusen’s Learning and Development Manager, meet with each attendee after they went through the show to ensure that Yusen knew which products each Engineer was most interested in learning more about, as well as to determine the best way to provide them with additional information.

Since the event, Yusen’s Engineer & Construction team has conducted five Lunch and Learns, multiple virtual meetings, and fielded numerous calls from Engineers wanting assistance on upcoming projects.  Yusen reached out to every firm that attended and to those that signed up but were unable to attend.

Was the Engineer Show a success? A resounding yes as Yusen has already scheduled its next Engineer Open House on September 9^th, in the CT/Western Mass area. Per participant feedback, the format will be revised. Yusen will offer CEU and training opportunities during the day, followed by a “trade show” layout and networking in the evening. Due to the success and interest within the Specifier community, this is planned to be an annual event.

Joe LiPuma, Yusen’s President shared, “our business scope must increase from not only calling on Distributor branch locations but adding proactive sales calls to the end user and specifier communities. We must create demand at that level to stay relevant as a Manufacturer Representative.”

Next week we’ll share examples of distributor demand generation via events.