How I meet my first “Big” customer
We always remember our first time and yet this is my first “Big” customer.
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It all starts at Google Cloud Conference back in 2018. As usual, every year Google will host a Cloud Conference in of the finest hotel in Hong Kong through a 3-days event. It is my first time participating in these events and I feel especially pumped and excited as I am being in part of this industry. It definitely makes me feel like living in a movie scene!
I am one of the helpers in my company’s booth (My ex-company is a famous Google Partner company in HK) and while I am there early, I heard from my colleagues regarding these events.
“There are three types of people in such conference event”
- The collector — The one who collects all the freebies as much as possible
- The escape artist — The one who escapes from work
- The Deal Maker — The one who actually gets a project on his/her hands and looking for the right party to help out.
The colleague keeps on talking that almost 95% of people belong to 1st and 2nd type whereas the rest are don’t know what are they actually doing in the event. The 3rd type is City Myths. It just simply doesn’t exist!
I carry this message and starts my booth job. It starts to have people come and ask what we do and what are our specialities. (The typical check-in questions) And there, of course, there is always that question “Can I get that freebie?” From initially there are just a few people asking for it, to then almost everyone is asking the same thing and no follow-up or what so ever, my colleague’s saying has been ever that loud in my head. Literally, everyone is just here for the freebies.
Therefore, I changed my strategy, since my expectations are no longer aligned to actually pitch and get projects onto my hands. I basically proactively ask people if they would like these freebies. Hell, I didn’t even pay for any of these freebies and I just literally toss them away to whoever waved their hands.
