EDITORIAL FEATURE
How to Maximize
Trade Show Exposure
By Hank Moore, Corporate Strategist™
T
he number of companies participating in
trade shows increases each year. While
sales objectives are most common, trade
shows may also be behavior, product, distribution, or marketing oriented. Booth exhibitions at trade shows are viable and cost-effective sales tools to:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Achieve new customers, in order to grow
and increase profits.
Introduce new products.
Target a select group of visitors.
Allow your staff to interface with the public.
Perform informal market research.
Educate the public about what your company and your industry does.
Enhance your company’s image.
Assess competition and the overall business climate.
Trade shows generate sales leads at a lower
cost per contact than a typical sales call. Research shows that industrial sales calls cost
$252 to reach a prospect with 4.6 follow-up calls
necessary to book an order that amounts to
$1,158. At a trade show, you might spend $133
to reach a prospect with .8 follow-up calls necessary to book an order that amounts to $334.
These pointers are offered to prospective
exhibitors before the show:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Exhibits can be designed to appeal to all the
senses: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste.
Research shows that 75% of what show visitors
recall after expos is what company representatives told them.
Exhibiting in business-to-business shows requires different skills and approaches. The objective should be qualifying prospects rather than
selling. One meets more business prospects in a
faster period of time at a trade show. Today’s customers are becoming increasingly complex and
more difficult to identify. They are knowledgeable, sophisticated, and have increased expectations about what they want. Customers are now
under more pressure to act immediately.
16 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ JUNE / JULY 2015 ]
•
Determine your correct mission for participating.
Evaluate each trade show for what it contributes to your sales objective
Determine who you want as key prospects.
Delineate other categories of visitors and
develop a strategy for maximizing your
time with key prospects.
Develop action plans for accomplishing
your goals and getting the right people to
visit with your company at the show.
Be sure that booth personnel understand
what they are responsible for and what they
are selling. Untrained staff can lose qualified prospects and leads.
Employ professional counsel to format your
exhibit, thus maximizing your investment.
Keep labor costs to a minimum.
Be sure that every member of your company is aware of the exhibit. Encourage all to
invite prospects and to attend themselves
even if not involved in exhibiting.
Market your presence at the show in advance via mailings, distribution of VIP
tickets, and inclusion of your booth in
advertising. Invite your current clients to
visit your booth. Most attendees go to the
shows in response to invitations to visit
specific exhibitors. Notify your trade media of your participation. Engage public
relations professionals to publicize your
involvement.
Work closely with the show’s management.
They too are interested in the same audiences as you. Invite the board of the sponsoring organization to visit your booth.
These pointers are offered in order to maximize the
way in which you should exhibit the product-service:
•
•
Graphically describe and show what you
do. Don’t expect the product to show itself.
Don’t expect people to know about you already or what you do.