In many organizations, when the subject of an upcoming trade show is broached during a sales or marketing meeting, people begin to shrink in their seats and silently hope that they neither have to coordinate it nor attend it.  The leadership looks around for volunteers and all too often, when no experience steps forward, they assign the task to to either the "new person" or the unsuspecting employee who either called in sick that day or chose to skip the planning session.  However, most organizations see the true potential and purpose of trade shows and instead of simply picking folk at random, they send their best people to the show and choose their most most organized and creative person to coordinate it. 

Let's face it, many companies spend thousands of dollars to attend trade shows. Yet, even after this significant financial investment, they still fail to see it's true potential. I have always felt that anytime you get your customers under one roof, at the same time, with a buying mentality, THAT'S A GOOD THING! A few years back, I was at a trade show in Chicago and I heard a Senior VP of Sales lament, "these things are such a waste of time." When I heard him say this, I initially wondered, with such an attitude, how he became a senior sales person with our company. Then, I made a promise to myself to show him that true salespeople never, ever, came to a trade show with anything but success on their minds. And how did I know this? I planned before I came.

 When I was told that I would be attending the show, I decided to put a list together of my current customers and my prospects.  Once I had assembled my list, I needed to put together a compelling sales letter and reason for them to come by the booth and listen to my sales presentation.  While I planned to stand out in the aisle and attract all the folk that I could into our booth, I was also aware that most buyers, when attending shows, make a list of the booths that they are going to visit before they come.  That list alone makes up most of the contacts that they will have.  So, I needed to find way to get on those buyers lists.  And what better way than an unique promotional product backed by a creative way to execute the idea.    

 My idea was simple.  I put together a simple sales letter and working with my promotional products representative, we came up with an idea of a lottery type of scratch off.  In actuality, all the scratch-offs were winners and simply encouraged my prospects to come by the booth and pick up their free gift.  However, they had to RSVP, via our web site.  Out of the 100 letters that I sent, I received an RSVP back on 69 of them.  For a three day trade show, those 69 prospects were enough to keep me more than busy.  As their gift, I purchased an imprinted pen and roller ball set that they could use to sign my purchase orders!

 The fact that I chose to pre plan assured my success in a number of ways.  For one, I had a clear idea of who would be visiting.  And while some my prospects came by the booth just to get their free gifts, others, I was able to engage in an actual sales presentation.  Secondly, I didn't have to spend most of my time standing near our booth, trying to attract prospects.  They were coming to me.  Thirdly, my decision to use a imprinted promotional product as an incentive yielded above average results.  This made my sales manager extremely happy. 

 So, the point here is that if you find yourself in the position of having to coordinate your next trade show or attend, don't let the naysayers get to you.  You can come home the hero, by stepping forward, putting a solid pre-show plan together and then executing that plan in advance of the show.  Let others believe that it is some form of punishment.  Keep in your mind that trade shows still present one of the best opportunities that we have to sell our products, goods, or services to an interested audience.  For more tips and resources on trade shows, simply go here and be sure to download your copy of the the free eBook - "Supercharge Your Trade Show" and at your next trade show, you'll come home the hero.