Oliva is general manager of Berlin manufacturer Organomation.
Updated: May 16, 2022
Advice
10 Things I know about ... Successful trade show participation
By David Oliva
10) Commit early. Some trade shows provide a discount for early registration. The lower your costs, the lower your hurdle for reaching profitability.
9) Define staffing needs. You want to right size your booth’s headcount. Consider factors such as the ease of setup and breakdown and the anticipated foot traffic based on expected attendees.
8) Remember Murphy’s Law. Especially in the current environment, lead times are not guaranteed. Provide a buffer for your event materials so you can avoid rush shipments, or worse, missing out on the goods entirely.
7) Engage with attendees. While you might see other staffers sitting at their booths and checking their email, go against the grain and initiate conversation with the attendees who pass by. Standing next to or in front of your area, greeting people, and smiling are all easy ways to boost interactions.
6) Capture leads. Determine the best approach for collecting visitors’ contact information. Some shows offer paid services where you can scan an attendee’s badge for streamlined data recording. However, more affordable options include exchanging old fashioned business cards or taking a picture of an attendee’s badge to manually add them to your customer relationship management software.
5) Take notes. For visitors you want to follow up with post show, scoring them based on their interest while recording what was discussed will only bolster your efforts to continue the conversation.
4) Site visits. Especially if you incur high travel costs by attending a show far from your office, consider trying to visit customers in the area to boost the value of the trip. While generating a new sale or receiving a glowing customer testimonial are great, you will always learn something.
3) Debrief. Discuss and record what worked and what could have gone better. Parlay this into future success by keeping proven strategies and improving on the missteps.
2) Post-show strategy. Just because the show is over does not mean the necessary work is. Promptly contacting leads with an urgent need, or scheduling the delivery of relevant content in the coming months, are both valuable approaches to forming relationships.
1) Evaluation. While the timing will depend on your specific goals and the customer’s buying cycle, reviewing the ROI of the show is vital to proving the value generated for your organization from a relatively expensive type of outreach.
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