Trade shows are a one to one sales medium, and people want to hear your pitch it's why they're there. 54% of the qualified prospects who hear your pitch at a national trade show will turn into sales.
FIVE STEPS FOR PLANNING A SUCCESSFUL TRADE SHOW
- Review your company marketing. Use them to establish goals and objectives for the show. The audience for each show is different, so make sure your goals take that into account. Make your goals measurable. Do you want to obtain 300 qualified leads, come away with 100 appointments, or write $20,000 in sales? Break the company goals into individual, daily goals for each salesperson on the floor.
- Select show staff carefully and early. Your staff should match the quality of your audience and most trade show audiences are composed of middle managers (51%) and top managers (29%). If you're relying on friends and/or family to help you staff your booth, make sure they understand your product or service thoroughly. If you're the only executive, plan to be on hand as much as possible. Other partners and top management should also spend time in the booth. Decision makers like talking with other decision makers. Develop preshow promotion. Here is where you make use of the skills you've developed in advertising, public relations, and direct mail. Start early, three to four months in advance. One third of your booth traffic will depend directly on how well you pre-promote. Send out letters of invitation, include free tickets to the show, or coupons good for a special gift at the booth. Give people a specific reason to stop by. Call your major clients and invite them to meet with you over breakfast or dinner during the show.
- Rehearse your sales staff. Trade shows are "show biz," so rehearse your actors! Get your people together in the completed booth before it opens. Review the objectives, strategies, and audience profile. If you plan to demonstrate equipment, make sure everyone knows how to operate it. Establish teams and rotate duties. No eating, smoking, drinking or casual conversation for the duration of the show, that booth is your corporate office. Encourage the staff to actively address the audience and invite them into the booth.
- Develop a workable lead system. Some of the best sales pitches in history have been made to competitors from other booths. So make sure your staff qualifies who they're talking with before they begin the pitch. Then, develop a reliable system for recording visitors and their special interests. Don't spend too much time with any one prospect you're there to talk to as many people as possible. Instead, if you have someone who is very interested, make plans to meet during non-exhibit hours to close the sale.
- Your prospects are only as good as your follow-up. Prepare your follow-up materials before the show so that you can kick into action as soon as you get back. Sort your leads into three piles: the "A" group, who are immediate, high potential prospects; the "B" group, who are future, high potential prospects; and the "C" group who are low potential, or unlikely prospects. Each group should receive appropriate followup literature within two weeks of the show. The "A" group should receive a phone call or visit within one week; the "B" group should receive some form of personal contact within two weeks. Send followup literature to Group "C", but you can wait to contact them until after you've gone through groups "A" and "B". On average, 80% of your business from the show will come from Group "A".
THE BOOTH: By following a few basic rules, you can ensure a steady flow of traffic to your exhibit.
- LOCATION: Studies show that people stop or slow down at every fourth exhibit. How can you make sure you're on that list? Study the exhibitor registration map of the exhibit floor. Don't get lost in a path between two anchor exhibits (anchor exhibits are the largest ones). Instead, place your booth on the path going away from one of the anchors.
- LAYOUT: Don't set up barriers between your booth and your audience. Instead, place the tables to allow for easy entry and exit. Make them perpendicular to the aisle, not parallel. Make sure your audience has easy access to your staff, once they're inside the booth.
- LIGHTING & COLOR: A well lit, simple booth will attract more people than an expensive but poorly lit display. On a crowded exhibit floor, everything can begin to look like it runs together. Use a strong concentration of dramatic, eye catching color, especially around headlines and your company name /logo.
- HEADLINES: Keep it simple. Use the word "new" in the banner. Make a promise (one you can keep!). Address the audience by name (e.g., Nurses, Engineers, Teachers, Members of the XYZ). You have only four to six seconds to attract a prospect's attention at a show, so say something that makes people want to come in and ask for more information.
- INTERACTIVES: An interactive kiosk is a computer terminal that provides information access via electronic methods. Integration of technology allows kiosks to perform a wide range of functions that can inform and in gage your booth attendees.
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CHOOSING THE SHOW: How do you decide where to invest your exhibit time and effort? Obtain a profile of attendees from the sponsoring organization. Compare it to your customer profile. Is there a match? Talk to noncompeting exhibitors who attended the show in the past. Did it generate a lot of leads? Was it profitable for them? Choose wisely, and (like the principle of concentration in advertising) create a bigger bang at a few good shows. Don't spread yourself so thin that you have no impact anywhere.
CONCLUSION: Remember, a trade show offers you the opportunity to meet face to face with people who have the authority and the responsibility to buy. It's like a qualified cold call marathon. So don't waste your opportunity. Bring in your best salespeople and train them for the show, put together a preshow promotion package three to four months in advance, and keep your booth well lit and pertinent to the audience.
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