We’re less than one month from the CT XPO at the Connecticut Convention Center. Many of you will be exhibiting, and hopefully thousands more attending. If you are exhibiting, here are some proven tips to maximize the return on your show investment.
Set goals, and measure them. Don’t go to the show to merely make some contacts. Rather, be specific on what you want your results to be. These can be sales leads, closed pieces of business, new partners, or re-established relationships with existing customers. Build a working P&L for the show and measure how you do. For example, the total cost for the show might be $10,000. Your average sale is worth $2,500. You need four sales to break even, You need 10 leads to get one sale. Your goal for leads at the show should be a minimum of 40 to break even.
Fill up your booth calendar with pre-invited appointments. Too many exhibitors view trade shows as mass “cattle calls” where you see lots of people in a short time frame. Smart exhibitors benefit the most from trade shows by taking the opposite tack. They consider the trade show to be 1:1 selling, only very intense and in a compressed time frame. Each day is a series of get-togethers with pre-selected target customers, prospects, other exhibitors and influencers, all in an environment where the focus is, by nature of the show, on what they are offering. Exhibitors who are very good at trade shows treat the booth walk-by business as a bonus.
Be sure you are noticed and enticing to the walk-by business. Have some type of attraction to generate interest besides the smiling personalities. Consider demos or interactions with your products, either real-time or online. Hold a raffle with an attractive prize. Be kind to the show attendees by offering massages or some other item that provides a moment of respite for them.
Develop ambassadors, not placeholders. For every employee who will staff the booth, take the time to go over what you would like them to cover with visitors. It’s not necessary for staff to memorize a script and repeat it back to you. Rather, have them paraphrase, in their own words, why working with your company is the best decision a customer or prospect could make. If staff internalize and understand why the company is unique and valuable to customers, then they can communicate it with enthusiasm.
Develop relationships with visitors. Don’t deliver sales pitches. Visitors to trades shows know that the people staffing the booths are there to sell to them. So, they naturally put up their guard as soon as they enter the door of the exhibit hall. Employees staffing the booth should engage the visitor, ask questions, and develop some level of rapport first. Learning about someone enables conversation and the beginning of a relationship. Selling someone raises barriers and shuts down interaction.
Capture each moment as it happens. This begins with notes immediately after a conversation is over. Write down salient points from the discussion, and any promises or commitments made. Note any insights or observations that could help with the customer relationship. After a full day of greeting people, conversations will blend. The notes will be valuable.
Be generous and diligent with your follow-up. After the show, reconnect as promised, in a timely manner. Offer something of value related to the conversation you had with someone. What you offer does not have to be tied to your product or service. It needs to be relevant to the prospect or customer. They’ll remember that a lot longer than anything else.
And coming full circle, measure your results. A trade show is the same as any other marketing tactic. Its purpose is to generate results. Don’t guess as to whether the show is successful. Know for sure.
Ken Cook is managing director of Peer to Peer Advisors, an organization that facilitates business leaders helping each other. You can reach him at kcook@peertopeeradvisors.com.
