Guest Blog: How does VSN get ready for NAB 2022?

Roberto Duif started his path on VSN nine years ago. He was appointed as Americas Sales Director in 2015, after different international roles within the sales department. Since then, his team has overseen the expansion of VSN in the North American market and LATAM. After two years without on-site tradeshows, Roberto told us how VSN's sales team is preparing NAB 2022's return and the future actions for the company in this continent.

Question: It's been two years of wait, but on-site tradeshows are back with NAB 2022. What are VSN's expectations for this show?

Roberto: We have many expectations. We've exhibited at NAB Show for more than 20 years, but we understand we are in a new phase after the changes of these last two years. First, we must check the audience and see how our customers react and if we go back to the previous figures or if the professionals will be more selective with their travels.

In addition, we want to reconnect with our partners, both integrators and product dealers worldwide. They have been powerful allies during this period when we were pulled off from physical markets. We are willing to meet again and review the strategies for the following years.

An essential part of the tradeshow is face-to-face contact. We can talk via Teams, but these events strengthen the previous bonds differently. The social element and spending time with our customers and partners allow us to establish and reinforce the connection between us and make our daily work easier.

Q: How does the sales team prepare for a tradeshow like NAB? What are the previous actions?

R: I would divide this process into three parts, as NAB has three big groups of visitors for us: Commercial partners, technological partners and clients.

Regarding the clients, it's an excellent chance for them to check our products and meet the sales team, the company and set a base for a professional contact that will last for years in case the project goes on. Previously, we must define who attends these meetings and bring to the table the most interesting profiles for each project, allowing our clients to get the best of the experience.

On the other hand, we have to prepare how we are communicating our updates to our partners. Therefore, we use specific sessions during the tradeshow. Also, we do it for our technological partners, which helps us complement our products. These actions are useful to create synergies and to offer complete integrated solutions to different clients. The previous work is focused on setting up these meetings and deciding what we want to communicate to our visitors.

Q: How is a normal day at NAB?

R: Long. The team gets up early and we have breakfast together. We review the actions we need to take during the day and if there is any change required, something that is common. Afterward, we go to the hall and drink another coffee and maybe five or six more before the show starts. Basically, the day is a series of meetings, one after another. In the end, we collect the information and check if we need to get something done immediately for the next day or some project, as we need to exploit the face-to-face opportunity of the tradeshow.

Once we are out of the hall, we have a busy schedule, usually for the sales team. We have appointments with clients and partners. It's always positive to see each other outside the tradeshow and talk calmly. We meet with them and, usually, we organize some event or dinner with them. We go to bed late and get up early, but the effort is worthy.

Q: What actions did you take to substitute NAB during these two years?

R: Obviously, we had to develop remote and digital actions. A successful example was VSN Spotlight virtual events as an alternative to the tradeshow. We will maintain it for this edition as a parallel action on April 21st. We used this window to show all our updates and news and it was also an opportunity for the industry to see the faces that work on VSN.

We kept in touch with our partners through digital commercial missions during this break. We've visited our clients remotely and we tried not to lose the link and connection with them. We've achieved some valuable corporate actions that involved all the sales team.

Q: Let's move to your working field, from your position you are working in the VSN's expansion to North America. How is the company working in this market?

R: We've been working for a while in North America, but the last year was a turning point. We've achieved some important projects. For example, we closed a deal with a news corporation part of a big European group in Washington D.C. Also, we earned the trust of a relevant Canadian public TV channel in Toronto. Here, we are installing a complete media workflow with VSNCrea, VSNExplorer MAM, VSNExplorer BPM, VSNExplorer BI and VSNOne TV.

Therefore, it's not only that we have more projects. These sales are milestones for us, and we hope we can keep on this path. We tripled our sales goal and it's a market with huge potential in which we are obtaining good results. It's a big market for us and we'll continue with our efforts here.

Q: I want to ask you about LATAM market, what is the position of VSN in this market?

R: We've been working in the LATAM market for eighteen years, so we are above the adult legal age in this market. We've installed projects in all the region, from Mexico to Argentina or Chile. In addition, we rely on an active partner network, which assists us and guarantees a significant level of sales, independently of the lows and highs of a region that is particularly sensitive to macroeconomic events.

We achieved some interesting projects during the last year. We've amplified installations in traditional customers like Telecom Argentina, TV+ in Chile, and several TV Channe

LINK:	https://www.vsn-tv.com/en/guest-blog-vsn-nab-2022-roberto-duif/...
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