Trade Show Tips

A good trade show can help you develop qualified leads for your company. Generally it is very cost effective because many people interested in the trade show will attend in order to learn more about the business. Consequently you will get to meet more qualified prospects for your business than you ever could by scheduling appointments and traveling to the offices of all of the prospects. With that being said you have to wonder why about half of the businesses that sign up to attend a trade show will never attend a second trade show. We have only to attend a trade show and walk the aisles and we will see the answer. A surprising number of exhibitors will waste good money paying for exhibit space and show up with only some brochures to spread out on a table.  Some exhibitors will setup a board and tape or pin things onto the board making an amateurish, homemade looking display. With today's affordable, lightweight, portable 8 foot and 10 foot pop up trade show displays there is no reason to go into any trade show looking unprepared.

Many trade show booths are unattended, others have salespeople sitting, chatting with each other and eating. For the trade show attendee it would be uncomfortable to interrupt the sitting, chatting and eating going on as it would appear that the salesperson is on a break. Many salespeople don't seem to understand that these actions give non-verbal communication to the attendees and the message is, "I'm busy so don't bother me".

With proper planning a first time trade show exhibitor can have a successful trade show.

Trade show marketing is an excellent way to generate leads for your business. Here we offer some tips and tricks to make your trade show marketing more effective. It all begins with having the type of trade show displays that get attention. Let's assume that you've already taken care of that and move on to specific tips for exhibitors.

Having a lightweight, easy to setup trade show display makes your job at the exhibit hall easy. It also cuts expenses because you don't have to pay as much for shipping and setup.  With a trade show display like the one in the video below you can be all setup in less than two minutes.  Maybe you can use your free time networking with the other exhibitors before the trade show opens.  Potential clients can be exhibitors and trade show attendees.

IF you've got a great trade show display then now it is time to look at some marketing ideas.

Before you go to the trade show plan ahead for the fact that you will return to find a lot of work accumulated while you were out. Have envelopes with brochures and your business cards ready to send out to the trade show attendees that you will meet.

Decide in advance who from your company should attend the trade show. Pick the people like you are picking a winning football team. You don't want to have someone at the trade show representing your company if they are timid. On the other hand you don't want to send a person who is too young and who likes to party. Out of town away from the boss they can easily be tempted to stay out late and show up at your exhibit space with a hangover.

It is good to send salespeople to the trade show but be sure they have backup support in the office. Your top producing salespeople will be out of the office at the show for several days and when they return they will need help following up on the leads from the show. Otherwise there won't be any followup because they will be inundated with phone calls and emails.

Have everyone wearing custom embroidered shirts with your logo. This makes it obvious to the exhibit attendees who is visiting your booth and who is working there.  It is also good to have some trade show give away items. Some people may take advantage and sometimes it looks like they only attended the show to collect as many free pens as possible but they wouldn't have come to the show just for the pens. So have some promotional products that you can give away because they do attract people. Some people will stop and talk and become clients and that makes up for the few who take a pen and run.

It is NORMAL for salespeople to go to trade shows, get a lot of great leads and never follow up on them again. It is not good but it is normal. Use this to your advantage. The people you meet at the trade shows often get no follow up at all so when you contact them after the trade show is over they are generally pleasantly surprised. They stopped at your booth for a reason; they were interested in your products and services so be sure you call them when the show is over.

Think about any time you have attended a trade show. Most of the time you attend and walk around an exhibit hall your plan is to see what you can see. You don't usually go to a trade show to find one specific vendor you want to see what is new in a specific industry. So without a plan to stop at any particular booth you wander up and down the aisles and only stop if something catches your eye. Maybe you see a unique attention getting trade show booth so you might slow down long enough to look or ask a question about the products or services that are offered there.

Now let's focus on your upcoming trade show where you will be the exhibitor. How can you get people to stop at your booth and ask questions about your products and services?  The thing to keep in mind is that these attendees are just like you during the times you've wondered the exhibit hall as an attendee.  Remember when you were walking down an aisle and someone tried to get your attention?  Sometimes they say "Hi how are you?" and you continue waking and say, "Fine how about you?" and they reply "Great" and now you have passed their booth.

You don't want to make the same mistake now that you know people pass your booth in 3-seconds.  Any conversation has to be right to the point.  Before you go to the trade show think of some qualifying questions.  You can ask whatever may be an appropriate question to slow people down.  For example if you sell health insurance to companies and you only deal with HR Directors then ask, "are you the HR director in your company?" and see what they say.  A negative response gets an "OK thanks anyway" response from you.  A positive response gets a second question from you such as, "Would you like to save 20% on..." or "Would you be interested in..." or something that is appropriate for your business.  The point is that it is the second question that should get them to stop because the answer is too long to be given while they are still walking.  It should also get them to stop because you have caught their interest.

• Find the trade shows that will draw potential clients 
• Set goals for you and your sales staff
• Be sure you have an attention getting display
• Invite clients and potential clients to see you at the trade show in advance
• Train salespeople before you get there on how to work with prospects
• Let customers know you'll be there by email and on your website
• Use qualifying questions to separate lookers from potential clients
• Follow up on all leads as soon as the show ends
  

People often contact us about these topics and we can assist with all of these.  Our office is located in Hollywood Florida very close to I-95 on Hollywood Blvd.  This great South Florida location makes it easy for people to get to us from all over Miami Dade and Broward County.

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