Planning to exhibit at a trade show soon? If so, you're not alone. Many
businesses find that trade shows can be one of their best sources of new
business as well as a good way to attract media attention.
But exhibiting at trade shows doesn't come cheap. The cost of booth space, drayage,
product literature, airfare, shipping and hotel costs, and meals can take a
significant toll on a small business' bottom line if they don't get the hoped
for sales from the show.
No single thing you do can guarantee you will have a profitable show.
however, there are a number of things you can do to better your chances for
success. Here are several to consider:
Check Out The Show History
Is it a show that regularly attracts large crowds? Will the show be held in a
place that's easy for attendees to find and reach by car and by public
transportation? Will the show be adequately promoted to your potential
customers? Have vendors who have participated in the show in the past done well?
What has past attendance been?
Prepare A Professional-Looking Display
You don't have to have the biggest, flashiest booth on the trade show floor to
attract attendees. But you do need to have some type of display that lets
passersby know what it is you are selling. Signs, photographs of products or
other elements used in the display should look professionally prepared. Unless
you're working a crowd that's attracted by the possibilities of bargain basement
prices, banners printed with a dot matrix printer on continuous form paper or
homemade posters pinned or propped up against a backdrop will make you look
unprofessional and make prospects leary of your products.
Have Sufficient Literature Ready To Hand Out
Have professionally prepared brochures or other handouts made in quantity to
distribute at the show, and have them prepared well in advance of the show. If
you wait until the last minute to prepare your literature you'll wind up paying
unnecessary rush charges. If you try to prepare it yourself on a laser printer
and photocopier, what you turn out may not do your product justice.
Make Sure You HAVE a Product
If your product doesn't work, or doesn't work properly, you'll lose more
customers than you'll ever gain.
Do Pre-Show Promotion
Experienced trade show exhibitors don't wait for the show to start to try to see
customers and make new contacts. To get the most traffic at your booth, send out
mailings and announcements before the show inviting your customers and prospects
to stop by your booth. Insert announcements in bills you send out, on your web
page, and in ads you run near the show date. A couple of weeks before the event,
call important customers and prospects and set appointments with to meet with
them at the show.
Have A Giveaway Or Gimmick
Your goal is to attract people who would be interested in your product to your
booth. The giveaway or gimmick doesn't have to be big or elaborate. Samples of
your product given away at intervals during the show are ideal. Novelty items
such as key chains, pencils, pads of paper with your company and product name
can
be good too. Even something as simple as a large bowl full of bite-sized
chocolates or hard candies can bring people to you booth. Use your imagination
if there aren't sufficient funds for expensive giveaways.
Take Notes
You will have conversations with dozens of people during a trade show. Many of
them will give you their name or a business card. Make sure you remember what
you talked about and why you saved their card by jotting a note about what you
talked about on the back of their business card or on a note pad while you're at
the show.
Train Booth Personnel
Choose your booth staff carefully and be sure they know how to deal with the
public Among the faux pas to avoid (all seen at recent trade shows), are booth
personnel who:
Pick their nose while talking to prospects
Look unkempt and/or unwashed
Bad-mouth competitors
Don't speak the language of the country well enough to be understood or to
understand questions
Talk to each other instead of to people passing by the booth
Delight in garlic-laden lunches (or breakfasts)
Sit at the back of the booth and wait to be approached
Play to the Crowd
Plan demos so more than one prospect at a time can view them. If booth personnel
are tied up giving a demo to one or two people, and that demo can't be seen by
other passersby, you limit the numbers of potential leads and customers you will
attract. If at all possible, use movie screens or projection screens, or large
screen computers and have demos done with the demonstrator facing the any
audience or the aisle of the trade show.
Follow up!
Have a plan in place for following up on leads as soon as you get home from the
show. Don't wait a month or two to get around to sending information to those
who stopped by your booth. By then, the hot prospects are likely to have become
good customers for one of your competitors.
The information compiled on this site is
Copyright 1999-2009 by Attard Communications, Inc. and by the individual authors.
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Phone: 631-467-8883.
