GSM Brian Castleberry

Welcome to the Global Sales Mentor Podcast for conversations that drive growth. When you are ready to grow your international sales, join the conversation with your host, Zach Selch.

Welcome back to another episode of Conversations That Drive Global Sales Growth. I have here a guest who I've known for a few years, mostly from trade shows, Brian Tasselberry. I'm very excited to have him here this month. As you might know, we are talking a little bit about trade shows in general and a specific trade show that's close to my heart, Medica in particular. And Brian and I run into each other pretty much every year at Medica for quite some time. Brian, welcome.

Doc, great to see you. I look forward to seeing you in person at Medica in just a couple months. Always love seeing you. Always love your generosity. You always give us, you know, when companies in the booth, your sales book, everybody loves it, loves to read it. So we're excited to see you in November and excited to be back at Medica.

Fantastic. Thanks a lot for joining us, Brian. Brian has a pretty cool job. Like me, he helps people grow internationally, but he is an employee of the state of Maryland. Actually, I'm saying that, but I'm not positive that exactly the way it works. But because I know, for instance, some of the states, they have set up different organizations and so on. But, but Brian, tell us a little bit about what you do and what you do for exporters from the state of Maryland, and how that sort of differentiates from the other various organizations supported, especially by the federal government, to help support exporters.

Yeah, Zach. So I work for the Maryland Department of Commerce, and our organization's Our main goal is to attract, retain, and grow jobs. That's our mission.

Right.

So within the Maryland Department of Commerce, I work for the Office of International Investment and Trade. What we do to help to attract and grow jobs is we help companies export. So that's the main, our main focus. And we think Maryland companies, especially in the life sciences, have some of the best technology in the world coming out of Johns Hopkins, NIH. Huge cluster of just phenomenal companies. Our mission is to help get those companies—

At Medica, you certainly have a large group of companies with good products. Yeah.

Yes, exactly. We take between 10 and 12 companies a year in our pavilion. We've probably got another 10 Maryland companies scattered throughout the Mesa at Medica. But again, we, in my office, we've got 5 different regional managers who cover the entire globe. I cover the Middle East and Africa, but I've been helping out with the Medica show since 2010. So we do Arab Health, seen each other at Arab Health, but Medica is really our big show. We take, yeah, again, between 10 and 12 Maryland companies there. We help set their B2Bs, B2Cs. While at the show, Zach, you know, the benefit's just enormous.

So Oh yeah.

We wanna try and make it a little more intimate, get a little bit more relevant meetings with our, uh, with our company's potential, uh, partners, distributors, uh, clients.

And that can really drive job growth. I mean, a company that comes to Medica and gets some deals and gets some success, very often they're adding 5, 10, dozens of manufacturing jobs to make up for that international success.

Exactly. That's the goal. So we, you know, we like to take companies that have some success here in the States and they're ready to kind of diversify their markets. So, you know, always a smart move. You know, if something's happening in the US, they have a competitor here or something that is cutting into their revenue, always good to have another revenue stream coming in from an international market. Exactly.

And especially people talk this year, I'm not an economist, I'm not going to talk about if there's a recession coming or not, but people are talking about a recession and there's no better way to be prepared for a recession in one country than to be selling in 10 countries, right?

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So we want to, you know, it's, it's, it's, we want to lower the risk. You know, these companies have all this, this time and energy into creating this technology. And we want to make sure that, yeah, one market, something's going on, you know, they can, they can make sales in another one. And, you know, continue to employ people in Maryland, continue to make revenue and create high, you know, high-paying jobs. Great.

So what else do you do aside? I see you at 2 trade shows typically a year. Sometimes I'll run into a 3rd, but Aside from the trade shows, you also do things like trade missions, right? You help people find distributors. You do various other activities, right?

We do. Yeah. So trade shows are a large part of what we do. Exactly. We love trade shows. You know, that's just, you know, especially after COVID, trying to, you know, do them virtually, it just didn't, didn't work. I mean, it was a good bandaid maybe for a year, but you really need to get these companies into the market. So we love our trade shows, but yeah, there are various other trade missions that we do. You know, and our governor, Governor Hogan, is on a trade mission right now in Korea and Japan. You know, building our, you know, our ties between Maryland and those 2 areas. We've got memos of understanding with different regions of the world. One in particular is the Midlands region of the UK.

Right.

We've got an MOU. The Midlands region's a lot like Maryland. They've got very strong life science companies, very strong cyber companies. So we're trying to, you know, bring our companies there. And then part of what we do with foreign direct investment, Zach, we want to bring foreign companies to Maryland that really can fit into the cluster, add value to that, you know, to the value chain, you know, within Maryland, within those industries. We Greg rolled out something Zach called the Global Gateway Program. So the companies looking to come to Maryland, they can get space within one of our incubators six months free. So they don't get locked into a landlord or you know and doesn't work here for whatever reason. You know they can you know they can you know try try into something else. But it's a good. Soft landing approach for companies looking to come, come to Maryland. So yeah, so Zach, I'd say 70% of my time is spent just helping Maryland companies export. And then 30% is trying to get companies into Maryland. We, we work very closely with the US Department of Commerce, Zach. They've got programs that we reimburse. We have an Export Assistance Center in Baltimore, the USIAC. U.S. Export Assistance Center in Baltimore. Again, we work very closely with them. They've got programs that reimburse like the Gold Key.

Right. Do you do STEP programs? Do you guys work with STEP money from the Small Business Administration?

Exactly. Exactly. So one of the reasons, uh, you know, we're able to take these companies abroad, these smaller companies, is we help pay for some of the costs.

Right.

So that's through the STEP grants. The STEP travel grant that will cover 2/3 of their hotel, airfare, Ubers, taxis, and train fare costs.

Great.

That's up to $5,000. It's a reimbursable grant, 2/3 reimbursable grant. And yeah, really helps a company that's kind of on the bubble, not sure they want to make the investment to go abroad. We help them with a little bit of money from this travel grant. And, and get them over there. And the return on investment, I don't have the exact numbers, Zach, but yeah, the return on investment from companies that have used that grant and then gone on to win exports is phenomenal. So, oh yeah, yeah, we get this grant every year similar to other states. And yeah, it's really worked well for us. It's a—

Yeah, my understanding is virtually all the states use the STEP money. And you can use that for trade shows. You can use that for consulting and for coaching, training, that kind of thing, I believe, depending on what the state approves of. But it's good money to ask for. The different states have that money available. So that's really useful.

Yeah. You can use it for, you know, website utilization.

So if you want to make your website Spanish, for instance, that kind of thing. Yeah.

Exactly. So it's, it's a, it's a wonderful program. We apply for it every year and we use every dollar. It's a wonderful program.

No, that, that's great. Great. So again, we started out by talking a little bit about in general the things you do, but now let's talk a little bit about Medica. So you've been going to Medica now for, for at least 12 years, I guess. Right. Except probably you probably missed the one that I missed, which was 2020, I'm guessing. Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we were there. I had been going, Zach, since 2010. The state of Maryland's been going since 2008. So yeah, we missed 2020. Last year we took the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland to, to Medica. He came for a couple days. It was just great to have him in our booth, set up some meetings with him. Uh, and companies that were looking to come to Maryland. And last year was, I thought, a really good show. There wasn't as many people, Zach, but the people that were there were really focused.

It wasn't that dense. It was like they had made the hallways all bigger, right?

Yeah, no, but we saw that our companies, the people that needed to be there were there. They were very serious.

A lot of them were in practical roles. I think there were less students and less nurses and that kind of thing. But yeah, the meetings were good. The business was really good for me last year. Yeah.

Yeah. We had companies that were still getting deals. And so I think this year it'll be back to its old self. There's going to be some parties again in the, you know, in the pavilions, which I always, I always love. But, but yeah, we're looking forward to getting back this year.

Yeah. Just to let you know, you'll get a formal invitation for you and your booth, but I'm doing a beer safari on Monday night. So the people from the state of Maryland are invited where we go around and hit the 5 breweries in Düsseldorf. So, right.

Yeah. We have a, we have a team, team dinner every Sunday night at one of the old beer halls in the old city. So Düsseldorf, we love that city. It does a wonderful job putting on Medica. And they really do.

It's very comfortable. Very nice. Yeah. Medica is just an enormous show for people who don't know it. I, every year it sort of surprises me when they add another hall to it. Now we're up to, I think, 17 halls.

Yeah.

And each hall is pretty enormous. So it's not the type of show, like I live near McCormick Place in Chicago and people think McCormick Place is big, but you could fit, you know, 5 McCormick Places into into Medica, you know?

Yeah, no, I think Düsseldorf is really probably one of the only cities that can house that, maybe Hanover. But yeah, Düsseldorf and the Messe there is— yeah, it's the only, only place that I think that can really handle a show of that size and do it very well.

And they do, they do a very good job. You know, you might have to wait a little bit, you know, some— if you don't have reservations, I know You're like me, you make your reservations early, but because you're experienced, I've— but, you know, if you don't make dinner reservations, you might end up waiting a little bit to get seated. But aside from that, the city does handle— there are enough restaurants, enough hotel rooms, it works out pretty nicely.

So yeah, people come in from all over, Zach. We have— oh yeah, they stay in Bonn or Cologne. And, you know, just train it in. So that's the beauty about, you know, Germany and, you know, from my hotel, I think I can get to the Messe 3 different ways of using public transportation. So very easy to get to.

Yeah. The last 2 or 3 times I've come, I've stayed at the train station in Cologne, like right at the train station. And I found it was almost faster than being in a remote neighborhood of Düsseldorf. This year I'm going to be right in downtown Düsseldorf because I just wanted to, you know, a little bit more sleep every night.

So yeah. But yeah, so we're looking forward to that, to getting back. You know, we again have 12 companies that'll be there. We work with Thirsta Hyland from Hyland Global. She's been building our booth for—

We had a really sharp booth last year.

We did. Yeah, no, we updated it. We'll put some new graphics on there, some new color. But yeah, Thersa, she's great. She handles all of our registration, makes sure the companies know what they're doing, where they're going. So she's been a great partner to the state of Maryland for 12 years and just makes the show so much easier on our end.

That's fantastic. Great. So you must have a couple of funny Medica stories.

Funny medical stories.

Yeah.

So what's what rating are we doing?

P-20, or I don't know that I have that many children listening to my my podcast. So let's put it that way.

No, it's just you know I mean the parties are you know what I try to explain to people how great the show is. You know the the parties at night at the different countries really make it special. You go to Brazil and there's Brazilian dancers and. You know, you go to, you know, we, our partnership with the UK, we go to their pavilion and, you know, it's just a great melting pot of great people at this show. And it's just some of the best technology in the world. That's what I love. Walk around, you're seeing the latest and greatest technology.

Yeah. Yeah. I remember it used to be, it's now a little bit harder to get away with, but it used to be that when they closed up at about 3 o'clock on the last day, I would always sit in my booth with and fire up a cigar because I knew that nobody would, you know, it wasn't quite, it wasn't, you know, it was against the rules, but nobody was going to say anything if it was the end of the last day.

That's right.

That we'd sit there with beers and cigars and just sort of celebrate the end of the show now. But they, it is very, very common for people to have beer, you know, beer on their booths. And even the American Pavilion after about 2 in the afternoon, the coffee shop the American Pavilion starts giving out beer. So yeah, it can be a very relaxed place, a little bit different from the US.

Yeah. Yeah. No, uh, you know, we, uh, uh, go out to lunch outside the, uh, the Mesa and you get the big, the beer bratwurst, the whole beer bratwurst and goulash.

Either that, you basically get the bratwurst or the goulash or the schnitzel. Those are pretty much your options, right? Yeah.

Yeah. No, it's, uh, it's by far, uh, you know, the funnest show that we do.

Oh yeah. When I, speaking about it used to be the only food option there, you could get a schnitzel sandwich and black coffee.

Right.

And when you bought the coffee, they gave you the mug with the understanding that most probably you would leave the mug lying around someplace and then they'd pick it up and reuse it. But you paid for the mug anyway.

Yeah.

And I used to, when I was young, when I was in my 20s, I'd, every year I'd come and I'd take home my mugs because I figured I paid for them. I might as well use them. So when I got married, the only cups I had in my house were mugs from, from Medica.

Wow.

I had about 30 Medica mugs in my house and my wife threw them all out. So yeah.

No, we, we, we, we go into the whole stop and we'll have a nice big dinner. Then we go to the window where they sell the Phil Suptich.

Right.

Yep. So I've got a bunch of little, little suffrage, uh, uh, glasses too that I packed throughout the day. And then, you know, I don't know if we had the Christmas market last year, but that would really make it fun.

Half the time it overlaps because it depends on what— this year might be early. I didn't check, but, but Metzger's a little early this year, so it might not overlap this year.

Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, but that always makes it fun. And, uh, it is great.

Christmas market in Düsseldorf is beautiful.

Yeah.

Thanks a lot, Brian, for joining us. I'm looking forward to seeing you at, at Medica, and I'm looking forward to seeing your, your great companies from Maryland. And I just want to reiterate, not every state has an organization as good as Maryland.

Thank God.

But I believe that 48 states have some type of organization that supports exporters. So you can work with the federal government, but you could also work with your state. And they sort of overlap. The state also, they're just, you know, just to be clear, I don't know that the federal government actually gives you any money for this. The federal government, the Small Business Administration gives money to the states. Which then gives it to companies to help support. And sometimes the company can spend that on services provided by the federal government. So it's a little bit, it's a little bit of a confusing system, but it works pretty well. So if you are working with people from the federal government, you should also find the people from your state government to help. But if you're not working with anybody, you should find both the state and the federal government who are tasked with supporting you, because you don't want to do this alone when there are good people out there with experience whose job it is to help you. And they're always very happy to help you if you reach out to them. So if you're, if you're in Maryland, find Brian, but if you're in one of the other states, Virtually all of them, well, 48 of them have similar organizations and you should find those organizations.

Yeah, Zach, every, every state has a U.S. Export Assistance Center, right? Usually in their major cities. And then, yeah, depending on the state, their economic development state office will have some, some trade stuff. So Maryland's very strong. Florida, Florida's great. Yeah, everybody in Florida.

California is great.

Yeah.

Michigan is great.

Michigan's great. Yeah.

But even some of the smaller ones, like I've met people from Montana and Nebraska, you know, there are some really good people out there who really care about helping to support exports, right?

Yeah, no, it's, you know, the feds do a good job, but, you know, at the state level, we really know our companies better than anyone.

That's exactly it. The Fed, the feds, what they have for the most, I mean, you guys have, did you, how many foreign offices do you have?

So we've got offices in 15 different countries, but they cover, uh, you know, so my office in Durban, South Africa, it'll cover all of sub-Saharan Africa.

Right.

You know, my office in Dubai will cover Qatar, Saudi Arabia, uh, You know, can do a little bit of work there. So yeah, there are 15 different locations, but we truly can cover the globe.

Right. So the states also have offices, but the federal government will have probably greater bandwidth, right? The federal government has maybe 50 commercial people in Sub-Saharan Africa, whereas your state will have 1 or 2. But they're doing different things, right? So they both, working with both of them is very, very helpful. Um, you know, Illinois has people, Maryland has, you know, I'm not sure if I could say most states, but probably 20 states have offices internationally, right? The federal government has people and they'll work with you.

Yep.

But typically, you know, if you go to somebody from the federal government, They might say, look, we're very, very busy. We can help you in 2 months.

Right. And, and Zach, they're, they're running the embassies. So, you know, the people are there, you know, every 3 or 4 years and they leave. So they're very helpful. But my, my, my person in Africa, he's been there for 33 years. He knows everything.

That's a good point, Brian. That's a good point.

And he's a subcontractor. So. He doesn't do his job, we can find somebody else who can. That's a little bit different of an animal, but, uh, right. Um, but yeah, no, they're, they're both good. We like to use them together, uh, to help the company get the most, uh, you know, most bang for their buck.

That's great.

Great. All right.

Well, thank you very much for your time, Brian. This has been very helpful. I hope—

Zach, I'm sorry. The neighbor just decided to mow his lawn right when we started. So I'm sorry if you're hearing, uh, You know, I have a lawnmower.

I'm absolutely hot. That's fine.

And my dog going crazy in the back, but Zach, I can't wait to see you in a couple of months. Be safe traveling over here.

Thank you very much, Brian. Thank you all for listening. If you need anything— oh, Brian, you want to just mention to people how they can find you? Yeah.

Best way to get ahold of me is through my email, but Brian with an I, B-R-I-A-N dot, last name is Castleberry, C-A-S-T-L-E-B-E-R-R-Y. T-L-E-B-E-R-R-Y, and then it's @maryland.gov. But yeah, we would love to talk to you about your export strategy, help you design a strategy if you don't have one, help you find out which markets might be best for your technology or service. You know, Medicon is my favorite trade show, but it's not the only trade show we do. And it's not the only industry— life science is the only industry we focus on. So yeah, please give us a call. I'm welcome to help you out. Great.

All right. Thanks a lot, Brian. Thank you all for listening. We will have several more podcasts in the month of October specifically talking about preparations for MEDICA, but I think you can use this information for just about any exporting you're doing. Thanks a lot. Have a great day. Thanks a lot, Brian.