Five Rules For Successful Trade Shows

Five Rules For Successful Trade Shows

1. Be There. Just sitting in your booth won't help advance your goals. You have to remember why you are at this event, and think about what would make attendees remember you. To help you Be There, try these:
Talking Points. Much like a script, everyone manning your booth will know what to say regarding your company's brand, service offerings, and new products' benefits. Have everyone practice in advance of the trade show.
"Tell Me More." Use open-ended questions to illicit an attendee's needs or desires. Again, you can practice these ahead of time, focusing on the needs of your current clients' most pressing concerns about their work, the industry, or something else of importance. Thus begins the "free consultation" that you provide rather than a hard-sell pitch.
Get Interactive. To help make your exhibit one that a prospect will tell others about, do something fun and interactive. A survey is one thing to try. A game or a special give-away work, too.
Trade-Show Buddy. Don't go alone to a trade show. At least one person on your team should walk the show, network, attend conference sessions, and gather ideas for next year's show.

2. Have an Offer. Give prospects a reason to visit your exhibit that will help you begin to build relationships. This might include a demonstration, a drawing, or a free white paper on a topic of interest. If you offer a valuable give-away item, your name and message won't end up in the trashcan outside the exhibit hall.

3. Let Prospects and Media Know You Are Coming in Advance. Two or three weeks in advance of your next show, e-mail your existing clients and prospects that you are going to be attending a trade show in their area. Only use e-mail addresses from people who have provided permission to use them. Send snail-mail to anyone who hasn't given you permission to e-mail, or to prospects on your B-list. Consider offering a promotion to pre-registered attendees, like an early-bird special that is designed to draw people to your booth and track responses with a show-specific Web page.

4. Say Thank You. Since you're going to track visitors who stop by your booth, you have addresses (you are collecting business cards and e-mail addresses, aren't you?). Send some form of appreciation to booth visitors who showed their interest and spent time with you. Assign a priority to each visitor to remind yourself of their level of interest in your company when you get back to the office so you can invest properly in showing your appreciation. Hot leads get more money and time than casual passers-by, but everyone who stopped by your booth deserves at least a "thank-you-for-coming" e-mail or hand-written note. Extend an offer to send educational material or your e-newsletter, as well, to keep that wheel greased.

5. Assess, Measure, Success. Once you return to your office, analyze everything about the trade show you've just attended. Ask your trade-show team for feedback about the visitors who stopped by, the questions that were asked, and the responses that were given. For those attendees willing to participate, consider sending a short (five to ten items) survey, asking them about their thoughts on your current exhibit and their ideas for ways to improve the interaction.