| Monday Morning Marketeer, Trade Shows, Put Your Best Food Forward |
| Time: 11/01/2010 11:00 AM EDT Episode Notes: The Bare minimum five things that you need when spending your already strapped budget to attend a trade show. Don't leave home without them or you might as well throw the money you spent on the show out the window of an expressway going seventy miles an hour. |
I continually watch business owners and their staff drag themselves to trade shows thinking they need to be there just because their competitors are. Often they will send in someone, anyone who is expendable at the brick and mortar office that day to take care of their exhibit and their interests. Question, do you send out your least experienced, worst sales people to get the word out about your business and expect them to make sales? I don’t think so!
This is an opportunity to reach a lot of people that you would not normally reach, why wouldn’t you staff your exhibit with the best your company has to offer. The cost? Well you already paid upwards of a minimum of $600.00 to sometimes $5,000.00 or more to exhibit, so why not match your talent with your investment? Even a low end trade show might garner you some phenomenal leads. Remember that those that you send are a snapshot of your business and the only one that prospects may ever see if they don’t like the picture. Get the picture?
Here are some Power Tips for Putting Your Best Foot Forward:
1. Take your best people
Don’t send out the second string if at all possible. Make sure your representatives are well groomed, personable, knowledgeable, sellable and ABLE TO SELL!
2. Have information about your product or service
My flier for Techno Granny, which is part of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates, talks about the difference between new and traditional media and lets prospects know about the free stuff or content that I give away online and also my premium services which they can pay for and why they should.
Always let them know, “what else you do”
Samples of “what else you do”: When we exhibit for NAWBO Greater Pittsburgh, National Association Women Business Owners, we always take programs from our last two signature events, NAWBO Day program and our Make the Connection Awards Program.
Make sure you have an offer, TODAY ONLY, two week deadline, they will forget about you after that. Dan Kennedy, number one marketer in the world says, “If you don’t have an offer on your advertisement or collateral material, you have wasted the paper it’s printed on.”
3. Have something for free to attract people to your booth or table
Demonstration: blood pressure scan, how to use quickbooks, 5 minute massage, galvanic spa treatment
If you are selling jewelry have another vendor wear it at their booth and direct traffic to you
Candy is okay and you hope you can pitch them but if you can afford it a free ad specialty that will get them thinking about your business. Some great items that I have recommended to my clients:
· Stress balls
· Computers, screen cleaner or canned air
· Organizer, binder to keep all of your ad stuff in that you got at the conference
· Business card holder for all of their conference cards that has your name on it
· Pens are cheap and great but they often get given away to someone who has no idea why they have it and may never even look at the info on it.
· Create a “How to” Give Away if you have no money, then follow up later, did you use my” how to” white paper? Do you have any questions or is there any way I can help you?
4. Have a way to capture contacts with your giveaway, box or fishbowl.
I like to give away something they will want, could be one of your products, make sure it is something you can upsell later. I often give away an article page on my online magazine. Later as they get the lay of the land and see some results of the article page, I may sell them an inside radio and TV channel.
Make sure you get referrals out of whatever you give away as a major prize from your exhibitor’s table.
5. Always work the front of the table not the back. There is nothing less exciting than someone sitting behind the table waiting for visitors to stop by.
6. Enthusiasm and excitement is a must, as a matter of fact this will be an entire segment in this series on Power Tips for Trade Shows.
This blog post can be reproduced in its entirety with the following information:
© Joanne Quinn-Smith 2010, Monday Morning Marketeer™ 412-628-5048
Listen at: http://tinyurl.com/MondayMorningMarketeer
Or on its unique radio channel at:
Joanne Quinn-Smith is the Creative Energy Officer of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania
Joanne has also been designated by the 2009 U.S. Small Business Administration as the Small Business Journalist of the Year for her work with information relevant to and advocacy of small businesses.
Follow at: https://twitter.com/monmornmarketer
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joannequinnsmith
Phone: 412-628-5048
No comments:
Post a Comment