Trade Shows - All you need to know to have a successful show
Show it Off!
We always get calls around this time of year from lots of clients
getting ready for the new year of marketing.
With all of them, they'll be more worried about how much the giveaways
will cost than the real issues of a show. I've attended hundreds of
shows, and taken a number of clients to shows. We've planned and built
displays, made all the arrangements, even trained booth personnel for
the job. What many fail to understand is that getting to the show is
only part of the picture. If you're getting ready for a show, please
read the following and take heed. Your success will be greatly enhanced
if you keep these things in mind:
1. Make sure booth personnel know how to deal with the public.
This is of paramount importance. You've spent thousands of bucks to get
there. Don't blow it on the show floor.
2. Dress for success! No one wants to chat with a booth person
who looks unkempt and/or unwashed. Yes, the show can run you down. But
plan a good break for all involved to return to the hotel room and
freshen up. If this includes a change of clothes, then so be it. Make
sure they're fresh and inviting.
3. Speak the Language. Nothing is worse than trying to get
information from a booth person who can't speak English. Actually talk
to your personnel before entering the show. If you are from foreign
soils, that's great... but hire personnel who can fluently speak and
understand the language of the local nationality.
4. Always positive. Never bad-mouth the quality of products from
other companies. It's not only rude and in poor taste, it will turn off
many important visitors.
5. Reach out. Always talk to show goers. Most visitors will keep
on walking when your booth personnel are talking to each other instead
of the visitor.
6. One to one. The best results are obtained when you display and
demo your product to no more than one prospect at a time. Each prospect
has specific interests and questions. If another horns in on the
conversation, and gets attention, the original prospect feels less
important.
7. Be visible. If booth personnel are busy giving a demo to one
or two people, make sure the demo can be seen by other passersby as
well. Elevate the demo and speaker so they can be seen. Make sure your
demonstrator faces the audience or the aisle of the trade show. No one
wants to see the back of the presenter.
8. Know your stuff. Make sure your presenters know their stuff.
They should be able to run the demo without looking at a monitor or
projection screen. Nothing is worse than having a presenter admit they
don't know something about the product.
9. Take enough. It's far better to haul literature, samples or
freebies home after the show than to have to apologize that you ran out.
Bad business. The one prospect who gets this lame excuse will turn out
to be the head buyer from Wal-Mart who intended to buy 60-gross of the
product!
10. Make Contact. This is most important all through the process.
Booth personnel should make eye contact with the prospectives. If
possible they should make physical contact. (Be careful!) Shaking their
hand is best. Once you've made this contact you have their attention,
and you've made a link from person to person. Get the contact... get
their card and contact information. Then follow up on that contact.
Showing it off is good business. From the local fair or Chamber function
to the big-time national consumer shows, it's an ideal opportunity to
meet the consumers who use your product or service. Take it seriously,
and you'll reap serious benefits.
Fred Showker is director of The Design & Publishing Center on the web
at http://www.graphic-design.com/, and is a co-founder of both The User
Group Forum on America Online, and The User Group Network at
http://www.user-groups.net/. He has been a user group activist and
supporter since 1984.
