Are You Standing in the Way of Your Trade Show Marketing Success?

Believe it or not, there are still some businesses out there that just don’t understand why they should spend the money to send their staff to a trade show. What the CEO’s of those firms are missing is that working trade shows is a highly effective way to get the word out there about your business. In fact, sending your sales staff to a trade show is one of the most cost-effective methods available to any company for selling your products and services.

Did you know: It’s more than 20% less expensive to contact a client through a trade show appearance than it is using traditional advertising channels? But, you have to handle selecting your staff for these shows the right way. It may be that you want to send only your own employees to trade shows, or you may want to field a mixed staff that combines veterans from your sales staff with models or other attractive faces to help draw in customers. But, whomever you send, you need to be sure that they’ll make the right impression on your customers.

If your firm hasn’t done a lot of trade shows, you may be unaware of a few important facts about trade shows. For one thing, according to the authoritative Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR):

·         Almost 90% of the attendees of any given trade show will have had no personal contact from a member of your company’s sales staff in the previous 12 months.

·         70% of the people attending the trade show have some plans to purchase some type of product.

·         More than three-quarters of the people attending the trade show will ask for sales quotes, and more than one quarter of the people there will actually order something.

·         Almost three-quarters of the trade show’s attendees say afterwards that things they witnessed or experienced at the show influenced their decisions for future purchases.

So, based on those statistics alone, you don’t have to be some kind of marketing genius to understand that it is crucial to your company’s continued success to have a presence at trade shows. Plus, in addition to the direct effect trade shows can have on your sales in the short run, there are other positive effects from exhibiting your wares in that type of venue. More than 60% of the people who visit your trade show booths or display will tell at least 6 other people about what they saw.

Most people attending a trade show will only go to one a year, so it’s vital to your business to have a presence at as many trade shows as possible. You have to have the right staff manning the booth, the right exhibition stands and you need something to make your business stand out from the herd. When it comes to trade shows, the standard sales techniques will probably not work, so the sales professionals you use must be flexible, quick-witted, and able to think on their feet. You only get one chance to make a first impression on potential clients, so you must get it right.

Don’t get me wrong: beautiful, cool-looking, or high-tech banner stands, display stands and booths are important too, but it’s also the people manning the booth at the trade show who will have a big impact on potential customers. Based on CEIR’s most recent research, up to 85% of that impression will be made by the people that you have in that booth. It is their personalities, professionalism and knowledgeability that will have a serious impact on your sales and future profitability through the contacts they make and the leads that they generate at trade shows. So, if you’re going to all of the expense and bother of sending sales staff to a trade show, be sure that the people you’re sending are the ones who know how to make a difference.