Tradeshow Coaching

Great Opportunity For You Tonight (January 21)

Things are starting to get a lot more
intense and I wanted to give you the heads up
that something is about to happen.

Some people are openly talking about it.

Others are staying quiet and are keeping
their best guess to themselves.

Either way, I think you should at least find
out for yourself tonight.

Talk to you soon.

Susan

P.S  Apparently there is going to be some
kind of exciting announcement at 9pm EST /
6pm PST.

Invest in Your Exhibiting Goals

We all know that setting clear goals and objectives is a critical part of achieving tradeshow success. Having goals and objectives in place lets your booth staffers know what they're expected to do, what benchmarks they should strive for, and what rewards and incentives are in place should they be successful.

Yet simply setting goals and objectives is not enough. You -- and your team -- need to not only know your goals and objectives but be invested in them, believing that they are attainable. 

Athletes will tell you they visualize themselves winning the race or pulling off the perfect ski jump. Artists look at a block of granite and see the sculpture lurking within. The world's most successful financiers start out by envisioning themselves fantastically wealthy. 

This visualization-- the mental 'picture' one has of a successful outcome -- helps make your list of goals and objectives real and important to your booth staffers. It also makes attaining those goals and objectives much more likely.

You can introduce the visualization concept very easily. One simple way is to have your team members write their individual goals down and read them out loud. For example:

"During the regional show, I'm going to talk to 200 fabulous people. Over half of them are going to be interested in our products and services. I'm going to start new, profitable relationships with at least 50 people, and close $200,000 in sales before the day is done." 

Using positive, upbeat language helps generate enthusiasm and build excitement about tradeshow participation. Listing specific numbers reinforces the goals and objectives you've set, helping the individual take ownership of what they're expected to do during their time on the floor.

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Pre-Show Marketing: Are You an 80 or 20 Percenter?

Fewer than one in five exhibitors engage in any type of pre-show marketing. Yet those exhibitors who take the time to reach out to attendees before the show even starts consistently report greater satisfaction with their trade show participation: increased sales, larger number of quality leads, and improved ROI. 

What are they doing? Every exhibitor has a slightly different approach, but here are three unifying traits:

1. Have an irresistible offer

What can you use to lure hot prospects and valuable customers to your tradeshow booth? Is it a chance to be the first to see the new prototype -- and enjoy 'invitation only' savings? Is it an exclusive educational seminar with an industry superstar? Find an attraction that your target audience will find irresistible. 

2. Send out invitations

Send invitations to those prospects you really want to see. Make sure you include the following information: what show you're talking about, what booth you'll be exhibiting in, the irresistible lure you're offering them, and how much you'd really like to spend some time with them during the show.

3. Follow up

Always call to follow up on invitations. You can use this time to schedule appointments -- or to simply spur further interest in your booth. It's always better to speak to someone in person, but if you can't, leave an enticing voice mail message.

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Spies Among Us - Are You Prepared?

“Something just wasn’t right,” Fred*, a veteran booth staffer said.  She’s describing an incident from her company’s most recent show, a large regional event with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of attendees. “I knew that Mary* knows her stuff, but she just couldn’t answer all of this guy’s questions.  When she asked me for our head engineer’s e-mail address, all the red flags went up and alarm bells were ringing furiously.”    

The attendee had been peppering Mary, a relatively new employee and novice exhibitor, with increasingly technical questions about their new prototype. “Supposedly his company was expanding,” Fred said, “But when I started asking him questions -- where was the plant, what type of capacity where they looking for, and why he needed that level of detailed information from us, he suddenly lost interest in the conversation.” The inquisitive visitor turned and walked away, melting into the crowd.   

“I couldn’t figure it out,” Fred said, “Until later, when I was walking the show floor.  I walked by our largest competitor, and guess who was working the booth?  You’ll never believe it -- our nosy attendee!”   

Fred and Mary’s experience was by no means unique. The tradeshow floor offers the most overt industrial espionage environment going -- and increasing numbers of companies are taking advantage of that fact to learn everything they can about their competition.   

This places exhibitors in a delicate position.  Obviously, you want to present your new products and services in a way that engages your target audience’s interest and drives sales.  However, it’s critical that you also protect your company’s intellectual property.  There’s no sense sinking years of time and countless dollars into research and development if an over-eager exhibitor is going to spill the beans to the competition the first time they’re asked.   

Preparation is essential.  Work with your team to recognize the red flags -- sure signs that a simple attendee is anything but.  They need to learn how to handle overly inquisitive visitors and fend off camera-happy types that want to examine the prototype up close and personal. 

Half the battle is making your team aware of the problem. The other half is providing them with the right preparation to handle situations as -- or, ideally, before! -- they arise.

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Putting Your Products to the Test

How much do you know about your products and services?  Ask your booth staffers, and you’d probably get a very confident response.  After all, they work with these products every single day. There’s not a feature they don’t know, nor a design element they can’t describe in their sleep.

Put them to the test.  Try hitting them with these questions:

• Are your products produced in an environmentally sensitive fashion? 

• Where are your products produced?   

• What type of conditions do the workers encounter?   

• Is this product made using renewable resources? 

• What safeguards does your company have in place to ensure no child labor is used or sweatshop conditions exist?

Increasingly, these are the type of questions that consumers are asking retailers -- which means, in turn, that these are the types of questions you’re going to be asked.  The trend is slowly but surely working its way into every show.  No matter what industry you’re in, you need to be prepared. 

Some exhibitors provide flyers or literature speaking directly to these concerns, while others prepare a list of talking points for their booth staffers to use. No matter what strategy you decide on, it is imperative to have all of your team on board and informed.

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Expect the Unexpected

It’s April -- and usually on the East Coast, that means spring.  But no!  A late nor’easter has walloped this part of the world, burying highways and delaying flights.  The Boston Marathon took place-- despite a predicted five inches of rain.  Those marathon runners are in a situation not unfamiliar to tradeshow exhibitors: circumstances aren’t exactly as planned, yet they need to perform well anyway.

This is where the value of training becomes clear.  When marathon runners train, they don’t just practice during ideal conditions.  They go out in the rain, in the snow, in the heat, in the fog -- no matter what mother nature throws at them, they learn how to deal with it and win the race.

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The same is true for successful exhibitors.  They’ve spent time learning how to handle all sorts of conditions -- not just the ideal.  Sure, it’s great to know how to talk to an attendee who wants your products and services.  But what do you do when you’re faced with an irate attendee intent upon making a scene and attracting negative attention to your booth?  What happens if half of your booth staff is sitting on a plane in Chicago and the show is in LA? What happens if the home office drop ships all the sales literature to the show -- and it’s in Chinese?

Practiced, trained booth staffers will know what to do.  They’ve dealt with irate attendees before -- or they at least know what to do when one crops up.  They’re all confident in their skills, and devoted to team success, that they’ll be able to pinch hit for missing team members until the next flight comes in.  They’re prepared enough to have brought a back up CD of sales literature with them -- and empowered to have a super rush print job done to ensure that attendees leave with the information they need to make good purchasing decisions.

I wish you all nothing but sunny skies and ideal conditions for all of your shows.  However, more than that, I want you to be prepared for stormy skies and unexpected events. Training is the key: training is what will separate the marathon winners from the also-rans.

Is Insanity Part of Your Marketing Plan?

Insanity, the saying goes, is repeating the same actions time and again while expecting different results.  Well, I’m here to report that particular brand of insanity is running rampant in the tradeshow arena!

Are you pleased with the results of your tradeshow participation? Are you generating the types of sales numbers you want to see? Do you collect a good number of qualified leads? Are you connecting with the people you want to connect with?

If you can answer all of these questions with a YES, congratulations!  However, if you’ve answered NO to at least one, I’ve got another question for you: 

What are you going to change to improve the situation?

Failing to make necessary changes is the main reason tradeshow exhibitors fail to improve.  Continuing with the same-old, same-old routine in the hopes that this time it will work is the worst sort of insanity: an irrational belief that your exhibit will improve without any effort from you. 

People don’t like change, which is why we cling to ineffectual exhibiting routines.  If you’re committed to making tradeshows work as part of your marketing campaign, you might need to stretch your wings a bit and leave your comfort zone.   

Here are three ways to make change easier for you and your team:

• Start Small:  Change is often easier to accept in small doses. Rather than revamping the entire exhibiting process from A-Z, pick one or two items to change per season.

• Communicate: Let your team know what you’re trying to accomplish with these changes. This eliminates the distraction of people attempting to guess at your goals. 

• Lead by Example: From dress code to booth behavior to question techniques, you’ve got to walk the walk you want your team to walk.  If you won’t be at the show yourself, make sure you have key staffers committed to implementing the changes in place!

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Tradeshow Specials: What You Need To Know

Love them or hate them, show special discounts are an established part of the tradeshow culture.  Buyers come to the show expecting to save money, sometimes lots of money, by placing large orders at this time.  This is a good thing, right?

Not necessarily!  Remember that attendees are smart people.  They know that you’ll be offering good deals at this time so they:

• hold off buying from you before the show
• buy large quantities at discounted prices during the show
• hold off buying after the show until the newly acquired stock is depleted

While this may make for great show numbers, it isn’t necessarily great for your company. An artificial order spike is not nearly as valuable to you as steadily increasing sales numbers. How can you use show special discounts to help both even out and grow your overall sales numbers?

Consider the following:

• Offer pre-order options to your best customers, allowing them to purchase new merchandise before the show
• Offer tiered discounts: one level of savings for orders placed at the show, another for orders paid for at the show. 
• Enroll customers in a buyer’s club or other program, offering discounts on subsequent purchases, made within a time frame

One innovative manufacturer even offered a calendar of savings, spelling out to attendees how much they could save on their purchases, depending on when they made them.  This proved to be a valuable planning tool, allowing customers of every size to coordinate their purchases at times that offered maximum savings with times that their cash flow allowed.

What can you do to get the most return on your show specials? Remember, sometimes giving a little can get you a lot!

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How Do I Know What Show Is Right For Me

As I write this, I’ve just finished teaching module 1 in my six-part teleseminar series, “Exhibiting Secrets.”  There’s nothing like meeting with a group of exhibitors -- some totally new to the field, some ‘old pros’ who know their way around the show floor -- to make me realize how crucial planning is to ensuring a successful tradeshow experience.

One of the questions that came up during the seminar was “How do I know what show’s right for my company?”  I know that if they’re asking this question during the teleseminar, it’s a question that’s on the minds of my readership, so let’s look at that very topic this week.

The cut and dried answer is that you want to exhibit at those shows that attract a large number of attendees from your target audience.  How do you find what those shows are?

Here are the top three places you can look:

• Tradeshow Websites: Online directories such as those on TSNN.com are the ideal place to find a comprehensive guide to shows that might appeal to your target audience

• Your customers: Ask your clients where they go and what shows they attend.  This can be your best indicator of where your target audience is. 

• Your competitor’s websites: More than a few companies list the tradeshows they’ll be attending on their websites.  Give them a glance to see where they think the target audience is -- and then decide if you need to be there too!

Remember: research is not a last-minute task.  Keep your eyes and ears open year round!  That way you’ll be sure to have the most current information and be prepared to make the best decisions for you and your company!

Don't Tell Them, Show Them

If you want people to know you’re funny, the saying goes, you don’t tell them that you’re hysterical.  You tell them a joke. 

There’s some wisdom in that, wisdom that could come in handy when you’re planning your next tradeshow exhibit.  We spend a lot of time focusing on what we should tell attendees: how to point out the many benefits of our goods and services, what differentiates us from the other companies in the same market.

What we fail to do, often, is show them. One of the real beauties of the tradeshow environment is it’s the only place to do direct face-to-face marketing.  Your customers don’t have to take your word on the fact that your product is amazing, more efficient, stronger, or better in any number of ways.  You can show them.

Three of the best ways to showcase your products:

• Hands-on demonstrations: Especially popular as the demographic of attendees skews younger, hands-on demonstrations allow attendees to try out products for themselves.  Making a tangible connection with your product is an integral part of the buying process for more than a few people. 

• Samples: Too often we see inch sized squares of fabric or miniscule paint chips given away as samples at shows.  If you’re going to give away a sample, make it large enough that people can interact with it and make a valid judgement based upon it.  Be realistic: having two sizes (one larger, one traditional) can allow you to offer the larger sized samples only to those prospects who truly seem interested in your products. 

• Spontaneous Demos: Every member of your booth staff should be able to spontaneously present your products to the attendees.  There’s nothing worse than telling an interested buyer to come back “later this afternoon” if they want to see the product in action.