SOHO Marketing -- Trade Show Savvy=More Progress

Trade Show Savvy=More Progress
by C. Richard Weylman, CSP, The Achievement Group

Nearly all business and professional associations as well as recreational or cultural interest groups have vendor or trade shows. Typically, these shows are a part of a local, state, or national meeting for individuals within your targeted niche. Trade shows are designed to showcase vendors and their products useful to the niche market group. Exhibiting at these targeted shows provides you with excellent opportunities to gain visibility and access to many normally hard-to-reach prospects. Your prospects are gathered in a very access-favorable, relationship-oriented environment. They are there to associate and communicate with one another and with you. Simply put, you get excellent return for the money and time invested because you have a concentration of highly qualified prospects available to you.

As relationship marketing and prospecting tools, targeted shows will build awareness of you and your products and services. If you use them properly, they can help you establish and reinforce your position as a resource to the people in your market.

William E. Smith, chairman of Smith, Bucklin & Associates, one of the largest association management companies in the United States, further emphasizes the value of these shows. He told me that for financial professionals to be effective today, they need to get out of the office and press some flesh. Targeted trade, organizational, club, or cultural shows give you that opportunity.

1. Be sure the show is aligned with your target market and the attendees can use your products and services.
General shows, such as home shows, county fairs, etc., attract very broad audiences. They are not effective for reaching your specific target market groups. If you’re really targeting and want to maximize your efforts and the money you invest, select a show that is specifically designed for the people in your niche. Call your local or state association for the date of these events and inquire as to whom will be attending.

2. Choose your booth space early to locate in the best traffic flow.
Early selection of your booth location ensures maximum visibility and exposure to your target market prospects. When choosing your booth space, start at the entrance to the exhibit area and stay on the main aisles. An ideal location is two or three booths up the main entrance aisle to the hall. If another major aisle intersects this one, choose one of the corner spaces where the two aisles intersect. Also, my experience has shown that the right side of an aisle, when entering from the main doorway is better than the left.

3. Acquire a list of attendees from the sponsoring association or organization and send each person an invitation to visit your booth.
Tie this invitation to the event or the theme of the show. When you pay or trade for your booth space, ask for the attendee list as part of your booth fee. If that’s not possible, buy the list from the association, club, or company. A well-thought-out invitation will make a difference in the traffic you get through your booth.

4. Offer a premium for bringing the invitation to your booth.
Avoid pitching product with this invitation. Instead, emphasize your desire to meet them and to show ideas that have worked for others in their industry, club, etc. A couple of years ago, I developed a mailer in advance of a trade show where I was exhibiting. We sent everyone who was registered a poster of a target sprayed with bullet holes and included a spent .38 caliber shell. The poster said, “If you’re not hitting your target, stop by our booth.” I learned something from that mailer because people came by the booth carrying that spent bullet wanting to find the guy who sent it to them. I should have offered a reward for bringing some part of this invitation to the booth. It was an opportunity to further develop a prospecting relationship—one that I missed. Some valued specialty item or participation in a special drawing would have been very effective. There is a lesson here: Always reward the behavior you want to encourage.

5. Use captivating, descriptive signs and graphics in your booth.
Use the 3.5 seconds you have to make an impression very wisely. Two signs will usually suffice in an 8x10 foot booth. Make sure the message flows in a logical, left-to-right reading order. Your goal is to inform and arouse interest so prospects want to meet you and do business with you. Be sure one sign states that you work with people in the businesses or types of organizations represented at the show. This drives home the message that you know them and can relate to them. Further that message by stating on the same sign the benefits that prospects can obtain from you. Spell out for your market what’s in it for them. Your second sign should spotlight some specific products and services that you offer to them. When you’re placing your signs on the back wall, be sure they are visible from the aisle and that the first sign is on the left side as you look into the booth and the second sign is on the right. People want to see the benefits before your features.

6. Arrange the booth so it encourages prospects and customers to enter.
Booths that are set up in traditional ways with tables across the front get very little traffic. Avoid this by putting the tables down the sides, not across the front of the booth so you can meet and greet people easily.

7. Throw the chairs out of the booth.
We’ve all been to plenty of trade, charitable, and club shows and events where you see salespeople sitting down. If you’re sitting down, decision-makers think, “This person is not really interested in talking to me.” These decision-makers simply wave or nod and keep right on moving.

8. Have a relationship-building checklist that you review each day before the show opens.
For example:

Am I ready to reach out to people?
Am I feeling warm and friendly?
Do I have a breath freshener available?
Are my hands dry?
Am I in a good mood?
Have I reviewed my list of customers and prospects so I can quickly recall names?
Have I practiced greeting people?

9. Avoid taking literature to a show. Mail it instead.
Literature passed out at trade shows usually doesn’t even make it to the office; it goes to the hotel or convention center dumpster. Get a jump on the competition and demonstrate your responsiveness all in one action. Instead of passing out your own literature, prepare your promotional packets in advance and mail them to your prospects when you get back from the show. Some of you might say, “What happens if someone asks if I have any literature? Do I say no?” You say, “I sure do, but I didn’t think you’d want to carry it around with you. Just give me your name and address, and I will send the literature straight to your office.” You can be assured yours will be one of the few pieces of literature they actually read.

Most importantly, as you work your trade show, be creative and not outlandish. Your goal is to increase your visibility, credibility, and relational profile while generating high-quality leads. Work hard to build prospecting relationships to increase a favorable impression. Meet as many people as you can, and promote yourself as someone who is in the marketplace to serve and stay.

C. Richard Weylman serves as President of The Achievement Group, Inc., a Florida-based marketing firm and publishing house. He is the author of Opening Closed Doors, Keys to Reaching Hard-to-Reach People, Endless Prospects : 301 Tactics to Reach Hard-To-Reach People, Unlimited Prospects,
and numerous other sales, relationship marketing and management audio and video programs for entrepreneurs. To receive more ideas and insight on how to market and prospect in today's competitive marketplace hear Richard Weylman live at www.unlimitedprospects.com. To find out how you can have Richard speak at your next meeting or conference, call 1-800-535-4332 or email achieve@theachievementgroup.com. Enroll in Richard Weylman’s free emailed Relationship Marketing Tip of the Week at www.unlimitedprospects.com.

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