Tuesday, August 28, 2007

4 Tips for Tradeshow Marketing

Ever stood at a trade show booth and wonder how to increase your return?

Selling at trade shows is particularly challenging because you have little time to assess the potential of a visitor and act on that assessment. In small markets you probably also know many of the visitors who are just there to browse around (and not to buy anything). This provides an additional challenge.

Here are some tips, assuming for a moment that you and your colleagues have already:

  • Determined that the show is a good place to get prospects and serious leads
  • Determined the expected ROI for your participation at the show and based your decision to participate on that
  • Have an attractive booth
  • Know the basics (no eating in the booth, no badmouthing the competitor, and ideally no sitting in the booth)

Now, how do you start a conversation and raise the chances that you do so with someone who is really looking to buy?

  1. Make eye-contact, introduce yourself and ask the prospects’ name
  2. Make your opening question a provocative and open one. Asking questions that can be answered with “yes” or “no” is a no-no. Some good questions: “What has attracted you to our booth today?” , or “What specifically are you looking for at the show?” If the answer is “nothing”, then you know right away that she is not a hot prospect.
  3. Determine how much the prospect knows about your product so you don’t risk boring him with information he already knows. You can ask: “What do you already know about our product?”
  4. Have your talking points ready, so you know which to mention when it’s your turn to speak. Try to mention three. Remember that your talking points should be phrased as a benefit to the customer. Remember also that all your colleagues should have the same talking points in their arsenal. By the way, talking points are also known as “brand attributes” or “your brand’s promise” or “your brand’s unique selling points

The above is an excerpt of a workshop we do on “Trade Show Marketing”.

No comments:

Post a Comment