Top Thirteen Tips for Exhibiting Success at Trade Shows

As someone who has participated in umpteen trade shows exhibiting services with the goal of generating sales leads, my keen eye has observed trade show booths that seem to be flush with attendees, whereas in others you could shoot a cannon and not hit a sole. Working a trade show booth is hard work. If you don’t think so, you’re probably not doing it right.

Regardless of the size of your company, a trade show exhibit can be a cost-effective way to introduce yourself to the greatest number of potential customers who are interested in the types of products or services you offer. Your role at the trade show or exhibition is to engage those attendees to garner sales leads for immediate purchase and to plant the top-of-mind seed for future contact. But if you wait for customers to come to you, you might as well pack up and head home because you are wasting your company’s time and money. It could even be argued that you are harming your employer’s image by sitting back and watching the world go by.

Here are my Top Thirteen Tips for Exhibiting Success at Trade Shows…

Be Ready. Ensure your booth is set up, neatly arranged, attractive to the eye, and that you have sufficient quantities of sales literature (collateral material) available. Take the time to ensure your pen works, as well as those you are using at the booth. Test the writing surface so you can mitigate any issues with customers filling out entry ballots, etc. If you are using visual presentations, test the Wi-Fi to ensure you are signed on and can receive a signal. Make sure everything works. Ease up on your cologne/perfume, make sure your hygiene is in check, and wear comfortable shoes. Remember, this may be your very first impression with a buyer. Make sure you appear like you deserve their business.

Get Rid of Your Chair. No matter what you think, nobody likes approaching a trade show booth where people are sitting down. You look lazy and uninterested. Being on your feet for an entire trade show is exhausting, but you are there to hype your products and services. Working in tandem with your colleagues can provide ample opportunity for rest breaks, but sitting down on the job sends the wrong message.

Stay Off Your Phone. I’ve heard every excuse in the book as to why someone needed to answer a Tweet or text or call. Treat your shift on the trade show floor as an important meeting with a VIP client. When you are focused on that smartphone, you look obviously preoccupied and distracted. You can’t help your potential customer when you are in that mode. Treat this time as if you were with another customer back at the office, or wherever you conduct your business.

No Eating at the Trade Show Booth. The worst case I have ever personally witnessed was a trade show exhibitor who happened to be representing a restaurant chain openly eating food obviously obtained from a competitor. I was gobsmacked. Even if you do not represent a food and beverage company, eating in your booth while working not only is rude and makes you seem unapproachable, it is rife with the dangers of spilling on yourself or getting some little bit stuck in your teeth, etc. Just don’t do it.

Arrange Your Booth to Draw Attendees In. Having an attendee step into your trade show booth is like getting your first YES in the sales process. The attendee is obviously curious enough in whatever you’re flogging to commit extra time to learn more about your company. It also removes this potential customer out of the traffic flow where his attention will be diverted by passers-by bumping into him or other attendees rifling around near him. Accordingly, do not place a table blocking the widest end of your exhibit. Better that any table you may need be off to the side to avoid it being a barrier.

Be Professional. Act With Integrity. At many trade shows and conventions, you are likely to be exhibiting alongside your competitors. No matter what a potential customer says or does, never ever use this forum to put down or in any way disparage your competitor or another exhibitor. Take the high ground or else this will come back to bite you on the derriere. This is your opportunity to promote your products and services, not compare them to others.

Introduce Yourself to Neighboring Booths. I have often picked up a direct referral from a neighboring exhibitor as they engage an attendee who asked a question or made a comment to that booth. The referral you get in such a situation sounds to the potential customer like a ringing endorsement, even if the other exhibitor knows little of you. Having that kind of segue into a conversation with a potential customer means you are this close to a sale. Do not overlook your neighboring booths.

Hello. Eye Contact. Smile. No matter if you have to say it ten thousand times in a day, make eye contact, smile, and say a genuine hello, even if they are passing you by. Do not judge the attendee on how they are dressed. Every attendee is either a potential customer, or a potential influencer. If they respond, you can gauge their interest through body language and set in motion your sales pitch accordingly. If not, you have lost nothing. Be real.

Move It. Keep moving slowly around and outside your booth. It gives the impression of activity. And as you know from frequenting your favorite hangout, people want to be where other people are. Standing idle makes you look bored. So does having your hands in your pockets, so avoid that too. Besides, if you are moving around, even during a lull in the general trade show activity, you are more likely to avoid the negative images of boredom and disinterest.

Actively Engage Attendees. You must be active in reeling in attendees. Chances are they have only limited time to spend at the trade show, so engage attendees to invest their time with you. You don’t have to act like a carnival game operator, but you do have to initiate the first contact. Do so with enough gusto without seeming creepy.

Invite Attendees to Interact. After you have engaged an attendee, invite them to interact with your booth. There are plenty of examples in which this can occur. Invite them to enter a draw. Offer wrapped candies or promotional giveaways. If you wish to get more elaborate, offer an attendee a complimentary photo against your backdrop. Maybe you have a complimentary 5 minute massage by a professional masseur. Inevitably, while the attendee is interacting with your booth, they are chatting with their colleague, or asking you questions about your product, or maybe only subconsciously imprinting your company in their memory bank. Like any sales process, the more time that attendee spends with your company and its products, the more likely they are to consider purchasing from you.

Own Your Real Estate. This is by far my most important piece of advice. Your booth may only be 10x10 feet, but there is no law that says you need to be imprisoned in that invisible gate. I always step in front of my booth space with brochures in hand so attendees must encounter me. Be omnipresent around your booth actively moving about greeting attendees and inviting them to interact with your booth. This is uber effective when you are working your trade show booth with colleagues. I am usually the wrangler due to my outgoing personality. I spend 3 seconds with anybody coming my way. I am unavoidable but not interfering or pushy. Think of the wrangler as a resume. Its job is to get you to the interview. Same holds true for the wrangler. His or her job is to get an attendee to interact with the booth where the real sales process can begin. Your reach during your trade show presence is increased significantly by utilizing this tactic. I spend zero time inside my trade show booth and sales leads quantity and quality skyrocket.

Follow Up After the Show. No company can afford to send you and your colleagues to a trade show or convention just because. You are there to promote your products and services. If you have taken a sales-oriented approach, you will have captured some follow-up data from attendees you have engaged. Use it wisely. Sift through to separate those attendees into categories. I like to use three divisions. The urgent pile represents potential customers most likely to buy immediately and those who have asked you to send additional information on a specific product or service. Next, is what I like to refer to as lookers, or shoppers. These seemed interested in your company and what it has to offer, but are in no immediate rush to buy. Then there are those who perhaps just stopped by your booth to enter your free draw or did not demonstrate much interest in your company. While all are worthy of a follow-up, spend your immediate time with the keeners, then the lookers, then the ballotters, in that order. If you do this correctly, your entire list should be appropriately addressed within two weeks.

Each trade show and convention poses a myriad of challenges and opportunities. Booth sizes may differ. Placement on the show floor can impact the traffic you experience. However, regardless of what you sell, or where you exhibit, or how large your company is, employing these tips will deliver a profound influence on your next trade show exhibition.