No Booth? No Problem.
For some of us, working a trade show without a booth is like walking a tightrope without a net-exciting and scary at the same time.
A client who is making the leap-at least for one show at the end of this month-asked us to help train his people who were going to attend. The truth is that in some ways taking on a trade show without taking a booth can be better. After all, no booth to set up or take down, no schedules to maintain for “manning” the booth, no cost to sponsor a booth. It all depends on your objectives for the show.
Focusing on the upside , then, trade shows are still the best way to connect with prospects, vendors, and competitors face to face. Since you’re not anchored to your booth, you’re free to roam the show at will whenever and wherever you please. But how do you make the most of this newfound freedom?
Here are a few of the basics we shared with our client during a pre-show training session.
Plan Ahead. And we mean before you go to the show, not on the plane. Do it as a group and then as individuals or vice versa. Think it through, write it down, and share it with everyone from your company who will be there. Check out the show’s program and create a schedule with assigned tasks and responsibilities.
Key Point: What is your objective for the show? What do you expect to accomplish that will make the time, money, and effort pay off? That should drive at least some of your activities. Figure out how to know if you’ve achieved it: “Count Your Success.”
People Your Plan. Which customers will be there? Which prospects? Which competitors? “Name names”–both of individuals and of companies. While not always easy to do, try to schedule meetings at the show with key contacts ahead of time. Know what you want to accomplish at each meeting. “Improving customer relationships” isn’t good enough. Be specific: “Bring John up to date on our newest service and what it will do for his company.”
Prepare a Brief Elevator Speech. No more than 30 seconds or so. Your name, your company’s name, what your company does, and what problems it solves for its customers are really all that’s needed. Pause and then ask a question. The idea of an elevator speech, at least in part, is to keep us from talking about ourselves so that we can let prospects, vendors, and competitors talk about themselves. That’s the only way we’ll discover information that will help our company and our careers.
Know Before You Go–and Before You Get Back. Determine exactly what you’re going to do the first morning you come back to work. Otherwise, all the “stuff” that’s piled up while you were gone will grab you by the throat and drag you down. Get support from your colleagues and coordinate your efforts. Will you follow up with e-mails within a week, for example, and then phone calls within two weeks?
Don’t spend all of your time with your colleagues. Your company’s spending money on air fares, hotels, rental cars, and good eats not so you can chit-chat with people you see every day for free. You need to meet with people you don’t have a chance to see face to face every day-people who will make your company’s investment in a trade show pay off.
Key Point: Table Manners. Sit at different tables at lunch or dinner events. Or, at least sit across the table from each other. Why? So you will talk to people you don’t know. And don’t pressure yourself to have a conversation with everyone at the table. We recommend taking this valuable time to learn all you can about the individuals on either side of you. This approach is better than simply collecting as many business cards as you can.
Do you have trade show stories you’d like to share? Just let us know at spemberton@productivestrategies.com.
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