Making Trade Shows Work

• Target market - Is it worth paying money for a trade show stand? Yes, if the sort of people that are going to be there are the sort of people you want for your product. You have to have the right target market. But if you don't get the message across in the right way, you're going to waste your time.
  
  
• Stand location - Importantly, you have to make sure that where your stand is to be sited is where the people are going to be. You've only got a very short time to grab their attention, so you need to be amongst them. You've got to find out from the organisers exactly and precisely where they're going to serve coffee, where they're going to serve lunch and then work out where the people will be.
  
  One of the best selling opportunities you get is after people are registered and whilst they're hanging about waiting to get into the auditorium. Ask yourself, "What are they going to do then, and where are they going to be?". Because they don't know anybody, they're standing around; they're looking for something to do. That's where I'd get my stand.
  
  
• Purpose - You've got to decide what you want to do, what you want to achieve, and have a singular focus on that. Do you want to sell them something, do you want to get their names and addresses, do you want to just say hello to people? What is it you want to do? 
  
  Always to get contact details and their permission to follow them up by offering to send them some exciting information. Trying to sell from the stand means that you may sell to somebody who turns out to be a tyre kicker and, meantime, you miss the opportunity to talk to lots of other people who would have bought. So, what are you going to do with the stand you've got?
  
  
• Attendance attraction - Although you might be in a good traffic area, how do you attract them to your stand? What are you going to do that makes them come across and want to talk to you? Are you going to use action, information or exhibits that will seize their attention and have them come to you?
  
  You might have a juggler juggling, you might have a piece of machinery running, or attractive people demonstrating products, or lights and bells and whistles, or a spinning wheel to give away prizes, or giveaways that they lust for - but make sure you think about what it is that will get them to your stand.
  
  
• Action - "What do you want them to do?" You want them to give you a business card so that you can follow-up, but you don't want them to give you the business card unless they are really interested in your product or service. If they give it to you just in case they win a prize, then when you follow them up, there won't be any interest. Whatever you're doing at your stand must qualify them, and only have those people that have some interest in what you've got, give you a business card.
  
  
• How to inspire action - "How will we get those people to do that?" If we've made the attraction sufficient, they'll willingly give us their business card, but if not, we've got to go to our next point which is "Script what you want your people to say". Never, ever let any team member on the stand just say whatever comes into their head. What you've got to do is write the script, from the approach to the person, right through to when they depart the stand. Everything must be carefully scripted to give you the best possible result.
  
  
• PRD - That's practise, rehearse and drill. Don't wait until people get to the stand to try out what you're going to say - you've only got limited time. So, get the team together and role play until the presentations are perfect. Perfect practice makes for perfect delivery.
  
  
• Follow up! - Assuming you've been successful and got the information you need, follow up pronto. If you get their business card today, it would be great to have the information on their desk the very next day, because people are going to say, "Wow, look at that. These people are really on the ball". And, of course, if you leave it too long, by the time they get the information, they've forgotten who you are, where they met you and why they wanted the information. So, follow up quickly.
  
  
• Don't expect them to buy immediately - Stay in touch. It may take a little time, but you need to carefully build and nurture the relationship by staying in touch those six to eleven times a year. Ultimately, those people will do business with you. And when they do business as a result of your stand at an event, you'll reap rich rewards.

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