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Stopping traffic at your trade show booth Jonesboro GA

You've chosen the trade show. Packed your bags. Set up your booth. Now what?

Local Companies

Capital Awning and Tarpaulin Co
404-761-8431
1401 Willingham Dr
Atlanta, GA

American Systems Inc
404-766-5208
3034 Lakewood Ave SW
Atlanta, GA

Chisel Productions Inc
404-351-8388
1785 Macarthur Blvd NW
Atlanta, GA

Copy Central
404-605-0211
1388 Chattahoochee Ave
Atlanta, GA

The Orchid Group
(770) 210-8884
9117 Fairfield Approach
Jonesboro, GA

The Mission Group
(404) 355-1455
2650 Old Wesley Pl NW
Atlanta, GA

M 2E Inc
(770) 974-6762
3761 Clear Lake Way NW
Acworth, GA

Unlimited Research Corp
(770) 622-1800
7830 Wentworth Dr
Duluth, GA

Img Live
(770) 729-5454
3500 Parkway Ln Ste 300
Norcross, GA

Customer Focused Strategies
(770) 754-6224
810 Smoke House Ct
Alpharetta, GA

You've chosen the trade show. Packed your bags. Set up your booth. Now what? Just because you have a captive audience at a trade show does not mean that you are going to come home with the leads (and that means qualified leads) that you are looking for - unless you do a little advance planning and goal setting.

Make everyone who visits your booth remember your company - favorably!

Key elements to a successful and memorable trade show booth:

You don't have to spend a lot of money or be a Fortune 500 company to make your company stand out from the crowd. Keep in mind these elements:

booth design

staffing

handouts

Know who will be attending the show and WHY they are attending.

this will give you insight into what they want from you and will help you design your handouts and sales pitch.

Set some attainable goals to measure your success.

Make your space open and inviting so that attendees are comfortable to come into your booth to view your displays and to speak with you.

Not everyone stops at every booth.

Believe it or not, you don't even need (or want) every attendee to stop at your booth. The key is getting only those visitors who will be qualified leads to stop and take up your booth staff's valuable time. Design an interesting and appealing exhibit to get people to stop at your booth.

Studies show that 14% of people remember a booth because of its color or design.

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Command attention by making a well designed presentation. Choose color for items that you want to stand out and black or white for text.

Don't go overboard, too much color will look garish and unprofessional. Match your colors to your company image and your product line.

Make sure your area is well lit.

Bob Babine, Sales Manager for Houston's Nomadic Display, a full service exhibit company, says that the key to a show stopping booth is "large-scale graphics that are simple and understandable and that can be easily read from 10-20 feet. As people hurry by, they must be able to catch the gist of your company's message within seconds. Backlighting graphics is another attention grabbing option."

Make sure your signage represents what your company does.

People expect to find (see) your company's name at the top of the booth; so make sure it is there.

Hurried show attendees are less likely to stop at a booth that says "Gantry Services"; so put up a sign that tells what your company can do for that show attendee and your booth's appeal will skyrocket. This will also help cull out the people that are not right for your product or service.

Have a demonstration of how your product works.

Create something the attendee can take back to the office.

If your product or service does not lend itself to demonstrations, try having displays that can be picked up and touched.

Put literature and give-aways near the back wall so that attendees will have to come into your booth.

Make sure that your materials are attractive, concise, easy to read, and benefit laden.

Talk about what your company can do that makes you the right one for the job.

Keep your literature theme similar to that of your booth's visuals so that attendees can tie the two together.

Be sure that information on how to contact you is prominently displayed in your materials.

Close the sale with your literature!

Now that your booth and literature have grabbed their attention, let your sales staff shine.

That old saying about first impressions is true; this may be your only chance to reach show visitors.

Remember, it's often difficult to see all of the booths even once. Don't count on someone coming back to your booth if they couldn't get what they wanted the first time.

Friendly knowledgeable staffers and ample appropriate literature is a must.

Do not skimp on booth staff, most attendees will wait no longer than one minute for a staffer's attention. Remember, attendees are in a hurry.

Insist on your staff practicing the sales pitch.

To consistently cover all of your points, write it down and practice, practice, practice.

Be sure your reps stay enthusiastic.

Your message should be short -- time is of the essence to hurried show visitors.

Make sure that staffers can answer questions beyond the information in the pitch. If they don't have a ready answer, make sure they call upon another staffer or follow up after the show.

In order to stop the swirling sea of show attendees, greet everyone that walks by.

Try to use open-ended questions that require a response other than yes or no and that qualify the attendee's need for your product or service.

Be aggressive, don't sit back and wait for them to come to you. You will have a very long wait!

There is nothing more uninviting than a staffer sitting in a chair behind the table focusing his or her interest on everything but the attendees. Also eating at the booth! Most halls now don't allow any smoking, inside; so schedule your smokers to 'smoke and eat' breaks. Others to 'eat' breaks. AND for all -- 'get off the feet' breaks!

One of the benefits of a show is that it compresses the time it takes to see new prospects.

The negative aspect is that it compresses the amount of time the customer has to spend with you.

Babine notes that "trade shows are a little different than the "usual" one-to-one sales contact. Between distractions and a busy show schedule, you have a limited amount of time to qualify your leads (once you have stopped them) -- typically you have only 3-7 minutes -- to determine their needs and wants and speak to any concerns that they may present."

Even though you want only qualified leads, don't allow your staff to be inattentive.

Someone may not need your product/service, but can recommend you to someone who does. Greet everyone, but spend your time on those who can really use your company.

You need a method of finding out if you are talking to the right person.

Try asking open-ended questions like these: How does your company use our product/service? Questions that start with: "How", "What", "Why", "When".

Take an attendee's business card, and make notes on the back after the prospect leaves.

Some shows will even provide lead forms for your use - use them or create your own.

Follow up promptly after the show; otherwise, you might as well not have even attend. Interest in your product or service will fade quickly as the attendee returns to the fast pace of the corporate business world -- 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Consider using marketing and publicity in advance.

Make sure that potential attendees know that you are going to be at the show.

If you have something special -- talk to the media.

Don't forget the value of attendee lists. Pre-registered, especially.

What interest in your company's booth (before the show even starts) by sending out some interesting morsels about your company. One company even sends a "coupon" with a promise that if the attendee brings it to the booth the day of the show he or she will get a mug or a key chain.

In these times of downsizing and shrinking budgets you must use your resources wisely. Follow these tips and your trade show exhibit will be a "show stopper", both enjoyable and worthwhile.

Remember, you determine the return on your trade show investment!

For more information, go to Conventions.net.

Featured Local Company

Capital Awning and Tarpaulin Co

404-761-8431
1401 Willingham Dr
Atlanta, GA
http://www.capitalawning.com

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Advertising	Family	Home Services	Real Estate Resources
Business Services	Fashion	Industrial Goods & Services	Retail & Consumer Services
Career	Financial Services	Insurance	Software
Cars	Food & Beverage	Internet	Technology
Computer Hardware	Franchise	Legal	Telecommunications
Construction	Health	Miscellaneous	Trade Shows
Education	Holidays	Nightlife	Travel
Entertainment	Home Appliances	Online Database	Weddings
Environmental	Home Electronics	Pets	World History