Discipline #1 – Engage and screen

Tradeshows are about bringing a group of people together around a common interest. If the people attending the show had no interest in the broader theme, they would not waste time coming to it. If you are working a show, it is your job to find out which of the attendees are your potential customers. You know they have some level of interest. You have to find out how interested they are in your products. You have to engage them in conversation. That may start with a simple handshake and an introduction. However, pretty quickly you need to ask the question, "do you have an interest in (whatever you are selling)” or to put it another way, "do you ever use (whatever you are selling) in your situation?” This is a simple screening process and it cuts to the chase. At a tradeshow, there are lots of people to see. You don’t have time to waste on someone who is not a potential customer. If they have no interest, politely thank them for coming by your booth and move on to the next person. However, if they do have an interest, your next job is to find out what their specific interest is and introduce your product to them. Make sure if you get them talking, that you listen intently. Don’t try to solve a problem they don’t have. Try to speak to their specific needs.

Discipline #2 – Close the deal in the booth

One of the worst mistakes I have seen tradeshow vendors make is not moving to close the deal with an interested potential customer. Before the person leaves your booth, you should gather some sort of information so you can follow up with them, like getting name, phone, email and making a note about what they need from you. I’ll talk more about this later. However, there are times where a potential customer asks for more – many times the price. Be prepared to give them the price and ask for the business. You have the advantage while they are in your booth and you are standing in front of them. If they ask you for a price, they are signaling to you that they are ready to deal. Be prepared to take the order right there. If you tell them you have to call them back later, you more than likely have lost the sale.

Discipline #3 – Follow up quickly after the show

If you think you can take a week off after a trade show before you follow up with the people you talked to, you have wasted an opportunity. The more time that separates the customer from meeting you in your booth, the less likely they are to buy from you. I know sales staff who always schedule one extra day after a trade show ends to divvy up the leads and put in a call to them before they leave town. I cannot emphasize enough that the follow up call is more important than the show itself. Why would I say this? At the show, there are two things that typically happen. First, there is a fair amount of posturing that is simply fluff. People promise things they may not be able to fulfill. After the show, reality sets in and promises of orders don’t always pull through. It is important that you keep contact with the customer to gain an edge on those who could not fulfill the expectations of the customer. The second thing is tradeshows are high energy events – much like going to the carnival. There are demonstrations and all kinds of gadgets to buy. In truth, the high of going to a trade show wears off in about 24 hours. You must make contact with your leads before this feeling goes away. It is not uncommon for an attendee to be very excited about a product they see at a trade show and a week later forget everything they heard from the salesperson in the booth. Follow up is an essential discipline to making trade shows work for you.

The seven deadly sins of tradeshows

Here is my list of deadly sins that will kill your tradeshow effectiveness.

1. Come unprepared – Don’t ever be without business cards, literature, and critical information to market your wares.

2. Sitting down in a booth. It doesn’t look good when you sit back and expect the customer to come to you. Always stand and approach the customer, don’t wait for them to approach you. If you need to sit down, leave your booth.

3. Play on your computer or your phone. This is another way to totally disengage with the customer. It sends a message that they are not important.

4. Eating or drinking in your booth. Go eat lunch somewhere other than your booth space. Keep a bottle of something to drink behind the scenes. It is rude to be eating in front of people who are not. True story: I once attended a tradeshow where they had a beer cart. The guy working the booth with me could not wait until the end of his shift before he had a drink, which he sipped as he attempted to get customers into the booth; beer breath and all. Do I need to say that he was highly ineffective in his approach?

5. Expecting that showing up is all you need to do to make a sale. With all of the booths at a tradeshow, you need to do something to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

6. Not knowing your products or services well enough to answer questions. I do not recommend a rent-a-salesman approach to tradeshows. You need your experts to work the booth.

7. Not following up in a timely manner – or not at all. You are wasting your time and marketing dollars if you don’t follow up with the leads you generate.

Tradeshows are certainly worth the marketing effort if you go about working them in the right way. They are a great way to generate leads and stay in contact with your target market.