Do's and Don'ts of Trade Shows
With Comdex just around the corner it's trade show season again. Shows can be a great opportunity to do some serious selling or just an expensive trip out of town. It's up to you to make it the one and not the other. So here's how to maximize these important marketing events:
- Do pick the right shows.
- It's all about the attendees. The show organizers will send you an expo packet with costs and demographics; do a reality check on what they claim with what you know about the kinds of people who attend. In choosing between IT shows (like Comdex) and vertical market shows (for your targeted industries) think carefully about who will be there. Pitching your product to the wrong person is a big waste of time.
- Quality beats quantity.
- Just showing up as one of the hordes of pipe and drape tables in the back room isn't as productive as picking a few shows and doing a more visible job. Getting a custom booth can be spendy, but a good booth shop can help you construct one that is flexible and can be tailored to different venues. Since the booth can be used at multiple shows and should last a long time, its cost can be amortized over a lot of events. You don't have to spend a fortune, and a custom booth will help you stand out from the unwashed masses.
- Have a killer demo.
- Nothing sells at a tradeshow like a great demo. Keep it short, sweet, and exciting. Remember when people wander up to your booth you have about 30 seconds to grab their attention. Otherwise, they'll move on (hey, it's a TV nation). You need something compelling to keep them around. Make the demo short and run it over and over. That way people can get your basic concepts quickly, then ask for more details if they want to drill down.
- Look professional.
- This is no place for jeans and sneakers. You can get matching embroidered polo shirts for your show team for a reasonable price: some cleaners and tailors can do embroidery from your computer file. Make sure everyone has a spare shirt so they don't have to wear a sweaty one… Chinos in navy or khaki are pretty standard for pants, and in this age both men and women can wear them. Business shoes, please, and no weird hairdos or visible body piercings (unless it makes sense for your audience). Shows aren't the place to make personal statements… Keep lots of Altoids around for the booth personnel and ask them to leave the colognes at home.
- Act professional.
- Prospects should be greeted cheerfully but not invasively. You're there to provide information, not drag people kicking and screaming into your booth. Offer collateral, chatchka if you have it, make any show specials you have running known, and leave them alone. Attendees are likely to open with a question like “Exactly what is Running Dog Software?” and that's your opportunity to gently pull them into a demo.
- Remember you are your company.
- When you're off duty, taking a break, or sitting through a technical session, remember that you're still the face of your company. Staff need to present well, be polite, not attack competing products, and smile.
- Get people to your booth.
- Your goal should be to get every attendee to your booth at least once. This is a golden opportunity to get creative. Trash and trinkets (chatchka), contests, t-shirt giveaways, whatever it takes (but stay within the show rules). For a nominal fee you can hire people to work the expo floor, handing out flyers, making announcements about your contest, anything you need to get people to stop by the booth.
- Be enthusiastic.
- Nothing kills a demo like a bored presenter. Pick your very best people for booth duty, not the junior marketing people because the senior folks have “better” things to do. Nothing—absolutely nothing—is more important than getting in front of customers. If you love your product, show it. If you don't, get another job…
- Get leads.
- Have a reason for people to leave their business cards in the fishbowl at your booth, or, better yet, run their mag stripe through your scanner (at shows where such technology is offered). Anybody who acts interested in your demo, asks intelligent questions about your product, or specifically asks for product literature should be considered a “hot” lead, and should be followed up with right after the show.
- Follow up.
- The reason for the show is sales, and if you don't follow up with all those lovely leads it's unlikely they'll turn into sales on their own. If you (or anyone else) made a promise to a booth visitor, make it a high priority to send them the white paper, brochure, or whatever was promised. Get those business cards into your CRM software ASAP while they're still hot. Plan a follow up campaign for all of them, whether it's just adding them to your mailing list or calling each one individually. Personally, I recommend the latter.
- Clean up.
- Stay till the bitter end, then pack everything up and leave nothing but footprints. Exhibitors who leave garbage at their booth for someone else to pack up should be… well, I dunno, maybe they should get ingrown toenails for life or something.
That's a start, anyway. And I didn't even mention not whacking people in the head when you throw t-shirts…
