Monday, December 2, 2013

23 Things to Know Before Attending Or Having a Display at Another Tradeshow

Here are some simple tradeshow do's and don'ts that you may or may not know, but you might want to review them every time to decide to attend or become a vendor at one. I've compiled these from years of doing different tradeshows, biz expos, kid's expos, health fairs, community festivals and more while working at various jobs and with my own marketing business as well.Learn how to work the room OR be the vendor everyone wants to stop at with my 23 tradeshow techniques!Here are the 14 Things Every Vendor Should Know:1. Bring your friendliest employees or friends to work the booth with you, at least one other person so you're not managing it by yourself. You want high-energy, happy people in your booth that know about your business but most of all ones that know how to talk to people.2. Try not to stand or sit behind your booth, sometimes it's more appropriate to put your table behind you while you stand out in the aisle pulling people into your booth with a great "hook" or catch phrase. In fact you can put the chairs they give you away you shouldn't really ever sit down in your booth. Those who sit at their booth are not as inviting or seem less interested in getting people to stop.3. Do not talk on your phone or to other workers in your booth; always have your attention focused on the attendees passing by. If you look busy, people won't stop.4. Practice your hook, a quick attention getting phrase to get people interested and to stop. You might say something like "Want to know how to lose 10 pounds in 10 days?", "Find out how to save $100 on your next _____", "Having trouble figuring out how much to save for retirement?" or something like these.5. Do not try to spend too much time trying to 'sell' anyone that day or you'll be spending WAY too much time with that one person. You'll want to meet and collect info on as many people as possible; you can always follow up with them later. Try to make a note or check mark those bus cards of those who might be hot prospects so you'll remember later. Having a booth at a tradeshow is like an instant database boosting venue; you want to be focused on getting the name, address, phone and emails of everyone you possibly can at all times.6. Bring a clever giveaway of some type of promotion item, pens tend to be overused. Think of something people will not only keep or use but that will also have some type of correlation with your type of business. I've seen letter openers, flashlights, plastic water bottles, computer dusting brushes, mousepads, coffee cups, sticky notes and I use little books to put business cards in with my logo and website on it so they always have it on hand.7. Hold a drawing for a free gift - not a discount off your services, but something anyone would want. Not everyone will want your services. Have a big bowl or basket for people to drop their cards into AND have a drawing slip in case they don't have cards and make sure to collect all info including email addresses - this obviously builds your database which should be the MAIN REASON you are there.8. Offer incentives if they sign up now with you or purchase today, a discount or throw in a gift certificate just for taking the time for a consultation (Ex: Give them $10 to Starbucks or something when they show up for the appointment?).9. Make your booth interactive, think up some way for the attendees to "get involved" in your booth so they take the time to stop. I've seen real popcorn machines that give off a great smell, big spin wheels with corresponding prizes, puzzles to figure out right on the spot, questionnaire to fill out (bonus, it gets you more info too), video playing on a television, chair massage person giving free massages in your booth, card game or magic trick.10. Have a large (3'x8' average size for booths) full color banner for trade shows with your business name or logo, tagline or catchy phrase/headline on top, phone & website in big bold letters too. You want as much signage as will fit in or around your booth that people can spot across the room. Don't get fancy with lettering; remember the goal should be to get people to stop at your booth and for you to capture their info.11. Make your booth stand out with balloons, music or larger signs if possible. Many tradeshows that are inside allow you to hang signs or such from the ceiling and often times you can get electrical to your booth so you can have fun, energetic music - everyone loves music. Just make sure the music isn't too loud so you can't hear people or they can't hear you when they stop by.12. Bring goodies, candies or some kind of original food if possible, not just the normal Hershey's Kisses or hard candy; the more original you get with this, the more people want to find your booth (I've seen someone with a popcorn machine at their booth for example with cute red and white stripped popcorn bags). If you can get something with your logo on it or name too, that's a plus but it's not necessary unless it's your only giveaway because people will just eat the food/candy and throw away the wrapper. I used to give away individually wrapped fortune cookies and stuck a label with my info on the outside but you can get fortune cookies for example with your unique phrase, name, logo or even a discount offer on the inside fortune part!13. Bring a small ice chest with bottled waters, sodas and quick, easy snacks in case you can't get a break, however step out and eat quickly and don't leave your food and drinks on your tables in plain sight. This is why you want at least one other person with you so you can break each other.14. Don't let your leads get cold! Immediately contact leads and thank them for dropping by your booth. You'll want to set aside the whole next day after a good size show to do your follow up - enter names into a spreadsheet, mail merge them to labels if you want or handwrite them on a quick note with your business card in it or preprinted card or letter written specifically to them as a thank you for stopping by your booth, etc. You could also have preprinted follow up postcards ready to go. If your leads get cold, one of your competitors will beat you to them and if you don't do your follow up YOU'VE WASTED YOUR TIME AND YOUR MONEY at the show!Here are the 9 Tips Tradeshow Attendees Should Follow:1. Have a goal in mind - How many people you want to meet? How many cards you want to pass out or collect? Do you want to make at least 2 good contacts? Are you targeting the vendors or other attendees? Know who you're targeting so you don't go off track and you make the most of your time while you're there; some of these can take some time to get through and you want to be efficient.2. First of all, please, for goodness sakes bring enough business cards (3 times as many as you think you will need). You can even have more in your car.3. Allow enough time to walk the whole show without being rushed. For a larger business expo you'd want to allow at least 4 hours. For a small community event you can usually allow about 1.5 - 2 hours.4. Rather than carrying around heavy brochures, collect the cards of serious prospects and follow up with them later; you can always mail anyone there some follow up information about you or your company. They won't have time to talk to you too much anyway since they are there to make contacts for their own business, so don't be pushy with your stuff. Remember, they paid to be there, you didn't.5. Wear a nametag and possibly a shirt with your logo on it as well so people recognize you and see your logo and make that connection - this is branding for small businesses. Plus it allows those who might need your product or service to see what you do easily when you're walking around.6. Wear comfortable clothes with pockets and/or carry a large bag to put all the info in that you pick up. Pick up everyone's business cards that you talk to so you can follow up with them afterwards. Even if they're not a hot target prospect, they might make a good referral source for you if you built a good rapport with them. In fact, you might pick up all the vendors' cards as well as any attendees you meet - the more the merrier for your database!7. Don't try to sell your product or service to someone who has a booth. This just says that you were too cheap to pay for a booth yourself so you thought you'd go and try to sell everyone while you were there. If the vendors are good prospects, then get their cards and contact info and say hello, but then go back and call or write to them later to introduce your business to them - if they're prospects today, they'll be prospects tomorrow.8. Enter all drawings given at all booths - for the simple reason to see how they follow up. Many of them won't follow up with you, which means they are wasting their tradeshow dollars but that's ok, notice which ones DO follow up with you and how they do it. Those companies will be more likely to do business with you simply because 'they get it'. Plus you might discover some cool ideas for your own follow up strategies.9. Be outgoing and have lots of fun! If you look like you're having fun, more people will want to meet you and talk to you - hence, you build a bigger database!Do you realize how many contacts you can make at the appropriate type of expo or show for your business and target market - TONS!Most of you probably know all of this, but are you doing it? Are you having booths at trade shows for your industry? There are so many out there that you may not even be aware of.To find tradeshows in your area the best places to look are the local venues' websites who hold such events regularly - the community centers, convention centers, concert halls, etc.Have fun!**** Scroll Below for a SPECIAL BONUS! *****************************BONUS!***************************List of Items Any Vendor Should Bring to a Trade Show:

bus cards, brochures
sales or special offer flyers
plastic (or other) holders for bus cards, brochures, flyers, etc.
promo items and basket to display them in
fish bowl to collect cards in
signup sheet for email
drawing slips for those without bus cards to enter drawing
drawing prize
sign and holder to show FREE DRAWING
risers for table display
extra tablecloths, colored napkins and or tooling to match theme
banner or large sign
balloons, matching colors to theme
Office supplies: regular pens & large fat pens, extra paper for handwritten signs, regular tape and packing/duck tape, tablecloth clips/holders, paperclips, safety pins, velcro stickers, metal banner hooks, clipboard (s), dice for game, rubber bands, name badge holders or nametags
basket of candy or some edible goodie either with bus card attached or not
flowers, candy and/or decor for table
portfolio to show
brag book to show
bio sheets
list of services and fees
new client packets
rope or hooks for signage and banners
ice chest with waters, snacks (for the vendor!)


(c) Copyright 2010 K. Sawa Marketing International. To publish this article in your ezine or website please include the following blurb: Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Author, Speaker and International JumpStart Your Biz Coach who's helped hundreds of small business owners take dramatic steps in their businesses to get them to the next level in business, revenues and their personal life. She offers one-on-one coaching, group coaching and do-it-yourself business-building products. She's been featured on various news talk shows and radio shows including Oprah and Friends XM Radio. Go online now to get started with her Free Entrepreneur's Success Kit at http://www.JumpStartY

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