Trade Showmanship
Friday, June 12, 2009
Before you start spending all the money you’re going to collect from your successful trade show experience your going to have to start planning. Trade shows over the years have developed into a positive platform to market products and services. The problem is that most businesses have no strategy going into the process and when the show is over the disappointment sets in. There are three important areas that participants neglect that will kill sales at a trade show. Participants neglect to set specific objectives, neglect to separate suspects from prospects, and neglect to plan for follow up after the show. If these issues are addressed, prepared, for and handled correctly your spending will be justified.
Instead of focusing all your time and money on planning and designing an elaborate display, spend some time on defining specific objectives you want to achieve during the show. Common trade show participants are looking to sell, gather leads, qualify leads, and to expose their product, service and/or the company. Prioritizing on what’s important to the company will set a clear goal and define what has to be done. Some businesses go as far as making that objective quantifiable and placing it for everyone to see at their booth. If your goal is to do sell more products than last year, post last years number up big enough for everyone to see. This keeps the objective in the workers heads and gives prospects walking in something to be curious about.
As the prospects that walk into your booth qualify you, you must qualify them. Separating the suspects from the prospects allows you to sift through the people who are just kicking tires to the people who will actually spend money. After your engagement question the next should be a question that starts to qualify the prospect. Each participant running your booth should develop their own qualifying question. They can be as simple as, “what made you stop by?” to “I am sure there are a lot of exhibits you would like to visit, can I give you a broad brush stroke of what I do but only if your really interested” but a qualifying question is necessary to make the most out of your time. After their response you know which path to take them down, either a disengagement statement or a next step question.
When the trade show ends is when the real work begins. No matter how much information, business cards, and person to person contact your company made during the trade show; without the sales call for follow up, don’t expect the phone to ring. Reaching out once isn’t enough; the more you make contact the more likely you will get the business. Everyone involved in the show should allot some time directly after the event to focus on sales calls the sooner the better. You still want the trade show experience to be fresh because prospects spoil fast like bananas.
Resolving these three common neglects into your next trade show experience will set you apart from the competition. Set and prioritize specific objectives that pertain specifically to your company, filter the suspects from the prospects that enter your area, and set time aside after the show to call your prospects to get the relationship to the next level. One last tip, have the biggest bag at the trade show, all the smaller bags will be placed inside yours and you will get the most exposure.
Paul Lushin
Lushin & Associates
at 12:28 PM Link to this Article 0 Comments
Comments:
Instead of focusing all your time and money on planning and designing an elaborate display, spend some time on defining specific objectives you want to achieve during the show. Common trade show participants are looking to sell, gather leads, qualify leads, and to expose their product, service and/or the company. Prioritizing on what’s important to the company will set a clear goal and define what has to be done. Some businesses go as far as making that objective quantifiable and placing it for everyone to see at their booth. If your goal is to do sell more products than last year, post last years number up big enough for everyone to see. This keeps the objective in the workers heads and gives prospects walking in something to be curious about.
As the prospects that walk into your booth qualify you, you must qualify them. Separating the suspects from the prospects allows you to sift through the people who are just kicking tires to the people who will actually spend money. After your engagement question the next should be a question that starts to qualify the prospect. Each participant running your booth should develop their own qualifying question. They can be as simple as, “what made you stop by?” to “I am sure there are a lot of exhibits you would like to visit, can I give you a broad brush stroke of what I do but only if your really interested” but a qualifying question is necessary to make the most out of your time. After their response you know which path to take them down, either a disengagement statement or a next step question.
When the trade show ends is when the real work begins. No matter how much information, business cards, and person to person contact your company made during the trade show; without the sales call for follow up, don’t expect the phone to ring. Reaching out once isn’t enough; the more you make contact the more likely you will get the business. Everyone involved in the show should allot some time directly after the event to focus on sales calls the sooner the better. You still want the trade show experience to be fresh because prospects spoil fast like bananas.
Resolving these three common neglects into your next trade show experience will set you apart from the competition. Set and prioritize specific objectives that pertain specifically to your company, filter the suspects from the prospects that enter your area, and set time aside after the show to call your prospects to get the relationship to the next level. One last tip, have the biggest bag at the trade show, all the smaller bags will be placed inside yours and you will get the most exposure.
Paul Lushin
Lushin & Associates
at 12:28 PM Link to this Article
Comments:
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