Did you know…
- 95% of trade show attendees have not seen a salesperson in a year?
- 80% of trade show attendees are decision makers/influencers?
- 50% of the leads you follow-up after a trade show will result in a sale?
- 1% of attendees will actually buy at the show itself?
- running a booth can cost between $9-38 per minute?
(These figures are specific to the software industry–other industry averages vary.)
Trade shows can be profitable. Very profitable. But if you aren’t focused and prepared, you will lose a lot of potential customers. To maximize your investment as an exhibitor, you must: 1) target the right audience, 2) know your objectives, and 3) have a plan to achieve those objectives.
Start early. As with other forms of marketing, target your audience, not the whole world. One of the biggest mistakes people make is exhibiting at shows that do not draw their potential customers. Determine all of the costs involved. This includes staff time, per diem, travel, materials, etc. Then find out how much business you must generate to profit from the show. Trade shows keep statistics on the backgrounds of the attendees. Use those numbers to project whether enough qualified people will attend to make the investment worthwhile. The Small Business Council, the Department of Commerce, and your state government can help you locate trade shows.
After you have found the best show(s) for you, start promoting. Send letters to your current customers inviting them to see you at your booth. Include free exhibit tickets if possible. If you are introducing a new product, be sure to send press releases to magazines that publicize the show. Also, promote your booth in your advertisements.
Based on your break-even analysis, define your objectives. Ed Rosen of Data Bank Associates, Inc., Germantown, Maryland, a developer of software products for Data General computers, set these goals for his booth at the North American Data General Users’ Group show:
- obtain 50 solid leads,
- close $30,000 in sales within one week following the show,
- close $70,000-100,000 in sales within six months,
- obtain 3-4 foreign reseller contacts.
Without concrete goals, Data Bank would not be able to determine whether the trade show investment will be profitable or whether it paid off.
Once you are at the show, your job is to obtain qualified leads for your products and/or services. This means that you have to weed out the unqualified prospects and make sure that those in the “ready to buy” category walk away “ready to buy yours.” How do you separate the “qualified” from the “unqualified?” Start with a qualifying question. For example, local area network product resellers might ask “Do you use Novell?” Be approachable and never let someone who is already in your booth walk away without qualifying them. Ask questions that probe for their needs, interests, purchasing time frame, and budget (to see if they can afford what you are selling). Trade your give-away for their business card. Try to encourage non- prospects to leave so you can focus on finding prospects. Do not waste that $9-38 per minute! Do not eat or smoke in your booth; ask your staff to cover for you while you step away. Lastly, never leave your booth unattended.
After the show, follow-up every qualified lead. Send them a personal “thank you” letter for stopping by your booth immediately since 90% of the handouts end up in the trash. Rosen notes that on average it takes six calls to close a sale, but as few as two calls from a trade show lead. The more qualified leads you find, the more money you will make.
