How Run Your Trade Show Booth

How to prepare for a tradeshow BHenderson.com

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Here is one of your best opportunities to come face-to-face with existing and potential customers. Trade shows can be very effective, or of little use; it all depends on how you run your booth. Most companies simply do not make maximum use of this opportunity. A trade show is not a singular event where you set up a display. It is a microcosm of the entire marketing process. Part of an intricate, coordinated effort that begins weeks before the show, and ends a couple of weeks after the show. It involves direct mail, advertising specialties, print ads, and telemarketing . . . plus the booth itself . . . plus how the individuals working the booth conduct themselves. There are three distinct phases: Pre-show marketing, At the show marketing, and Post-show marketing.

Phase I: Pre-Show Marketing

1. Most shows put out a special edition trade magazine for the show, purchase at least a 1/4 page ad so you will be easily seen, give your booth number, and booth location.

2. Four to six weeks before the show, send a letter to every conceivable attendee inviting them to stop by your booth and see what you have to offer. In the letter include some sort of ad specialty. The best gimmick I have heard of is a company that sent out a work glove - the left hand - and told the recipient that to receive the mate - the right hand - they needed to stop by their booth and pick it up. You could also have a scratch-off game card for them to bring by the booth to see what prize they had won.

3. About 10 days before the show, identify the top companies/individuals you want to talk to and personally call each one and invite them to stop by and introduce themselves. This personal touch adds a lot, and leaves a very positive impression on the prospect.

Phase II: At The Show Marketing

1. Have an attractive booth area with lots of eye-appeal. Visually draw them into your booth. They won't stop if you blend in with everyone else, and they can't see you

. 2. Have a drawing offering some appropriate and nice prize. It could be luggage, or free product, or something else of value that would be appreciated by the typical attendee. To register to win all they need do is drop a business card into a bowl or box; you now have an instant data base of at least some of the attendees.

3. Hand out an ad specialty with your company name imprinted on it, or possibly even product information. For example a note pad that has a color picture of product "A" on page one, product "B" on page two, and product "C" on page three; then the "A", "B", & "C" products are repeated on succeeding pages.

4. Employees working the booth:

a. Have at least two knowledgeable workers at the show at all times, this way one can go eat without leaving the booth unattended. Notice that the booth workers should be knowledgeable. I have been to shows where the booth workers were the company secretary and her two daughters -- they couldn't do much more than talk in vague generalities and hand out promotional items and product samples. Send your front line sales force, the V.P. of Marketing, and the President of the company; let the attendees know that you are so interested in meeting them and in finding out what they want, that your top company people are there.

b. Workers should dress appropriately. If they arrive in a coat and tie it should never come off during the show. c. No chairs in the booth, booth workers should always be standing. Do provide a carpeted and comfortable exhibit floor for them to stand on; long hours of standing on a concrete show floor is hard on the legs and could potentially distract them from their presentation.

d. No food or drinks in the booth for the workers, attendees may of course bring in anything they want.

e. Workers should get the business card of every individual they talk with, and make notes about the individual either on the back of the card or on a note card that is stapled to the attendees business card.

f. When not talking with a specific attendee, workers should be smiling and greeting passing attendees, not engaged in conversation between themselves.

5. Keep the booth area accessible, allowing attendees to come into the display area. By having a booth with a table on the aisle you are encouraging people to simply walk by picking up literature as they go. By keeping the area open it draws attendees in and gets them to stop. That way you can answer questions, provide information, and maybe even close a sale -- or at least set the stage for providing a proposal.

Phase III: Post-Show Marketing All of these steps must be taken immediately after the show is over, don't allow more than 10 work days to pass between the end of the show and these last contacts.

1. To every attendee that dropped off a card to register for your free prize, send a thank-you note with the winners name and company.

2. Send the winner their prize along with a letter of congratulations and appreciation for stopping by your booth. 3. To every individual that you talked with, (getting their business card and taking notes), send a follow-up letter. Summarize what was talked about, keep the door open for future communication and business.

4. Consider sending each attendee you talked with a modest, but nice gift. Either a pen or folder could be personalized with the individuals name for substantial added impact. By doing all this you have hit the individual with your name up to 11 times: pre-show letter ad specialty in pre-show letter personal telephone call ad in trade show magazine booth display literature taken with them ad specialty given at show talked with them at show thank-you card announcing winner of drawing personal thank-you letter follow-up gift Eleven exposures of your company in about a two month time frame.

Even more than that if they walked by your booth more than once, or read your literature. What to Have at Your Booth Especially if the show lasts more than one day here are some excellent items to have at your booth for use by your staff, and the attendees.

(1) Fax - let's say you talk with a prospect, and they have a specific project in mind and would like a quote as soon as possible. If you don't have the needed info there to make a quote, you can fax the client information back to the office, have some one immediately prepare a quote, and fax it back to you. You may have to ask the prospect to come back in an hour or two, but still, they will leave the show with your quote in their hands. Can the competition say that?

(2) Phone - for the same reason as above. Also use it as a courtesy phone so attendees can call their office to check for messages, cut you a purchase order, whatever.

(3) Computer & printer - especially useful if you are making sales at the trade show and use a computer to write the clients order. This could also be directly linked to the home office so the order would be placed in production right away, not in a couple of days when you get back to work. If you use a computer to prepare your quotes, then all you have to do is enter the appropriate information and create a printed quote, eliminating even the slight delay of a fax.

(4) Order forms, referral forms, blank paper, letterhead stationary, pens/pencils, business cards, paperclips, stapler, staple puller, rubber bands, scotch tape, duct tape, ruler, scissors, and aspirin. (I'm not kidding, you can't make a good presentation if your head is throbbing.) Booth Location The earlier you can commit to doing a trade show, the better the location you can select.

Here, in no particular order, are the best locations for a booth: Close to the bathrooms Close to the refreshments Close to the entrance/exit These locations are important because they force attendees to pass your booth a number of times, not just once. The extra name exposure and opportunity to meet could be the difference between an order and nothing. The worst location is anyplace outside the main room. Frequently when a trade show has a large number of exhibitors, the last to sign on end up in the show annex. If you are lucky the annex is easily accessible and will receive a high degree of turnout, odds are you won't be that lucky. If you know in time that you are going to be stuck in the annex, you must beef up your pre-show marketing. Send a map of the exhibit hall to the attendees with clear directions on getting from the entrance to your far away booth. Give verbal directions when you telephone inviting individuals to stop by your booth; in fact, I would even substantially increase the number of individuals you telephone. Final Thoughts When dealing with individual consumers, it is not practical to do the high degree of pre-show marketing that I recommend, but you should always follow the rest of the marketing suggestions.

Pay particular attention to employee behavior in the booth, if they appear "busily" engaged in talking with each other, drinking, eating, sitting, sleeping (yes, I've seen that), reading, or some similar activity, the general public will not want to bother that "busy" representative. In a nutshell here are the three most common mistakes that will guarantee people don't stop at your booth: Representative sitting down Table on aisle, keeping foot traffic outside the booth area Representative doing anything that inhibits eye contact with attendees (reading, talking with anyone, eating, drinking) You exhibit at a trade show for one of two reasons; either to make sales, or to make contacts that will lead to sales. If you aren't going to do a trade show booth to the best of your ability, why do it at all? There are some things to be aware of when signing a contract for exhibit space in a trade show. In particular, what are you getting for the base fee and what charges are going to be added to that.

Every show will be different, but generally for your base charge you can expect to receive: one or two chairs, one trash can, one table, skirt or bunting for the table, and a sign with the company name neatly printed on it. Some will charge for these, and some will not: electrical outlets, telephone line to booth, (though not phone hook-up or long distance usage charges), storage, and some will even provide portage of your supplies into the exhibit hall, though this is rare. In larger facilities in large city's portage charges can be inescapable. Even if you are just rolling in a box of literature and a small pop-up display, you may be billed for portage in, assembly, and portage out . . . even if you do it all yourself.

If you request electricity at your booth site, you may end up paying an electrician a $50 minimum just to hook up an extension cord. All of this financial pain in the pocketbook is because some unions have exceptionally tight contracts with exhibit halls, and you have to pay for it. Period. Read your exhibit contract carefully, and be absolutely clear about what you may and may not do, expect, or be charged for. Once you have arrived it is too late to start clarifying the questions in the contract. Now, go have a great show.

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