10 Ways to Save Money at Your Next Show
Read Your Exhibitor Manual in Advance
To save yourself time and aggravation at the show, invest one hour reading your Exhibitor Manual.. The tools, checklists and strategies they contain will help reduce your company's costs.
Find your show's advance-order-discount deadlines in your "Exhibitor Action Checklist,".
TIP: Order only the services and equipment you need. If you have any questions, call the contractor or the L&FGE Logistics manager.
Build Your Own "Services Ordering Checklist" and Bring it to the Show
Fill in the appropriate parts of this "Services Ordering Checklist" (found on page 10 of First Timer’s Handbook). As you send in your forms, remember to record the on-site telephone numbers of your key contacts. Bring this Checklist (and copies of your completed orders) with you to the show.
ave Money on Shipping and Material-Handling/Drayage
TIP: Consolidate your shipments into as few as possible. Remember to remove old labels and put new ones on everything. Labels should include your company name, show name and booth number.
TIP: Build your pre-show marketing plan on and around your company's overall marketing plan.
Tips to Strategies to Sell More at the Show: How to Select and Train your Booth Staff
Determine Number of Exhibit Staff Needed
Tip: A rule of thumb is one staff person per 50 square feet of open exhibit space.
Exhibit Surveys developed a formula for calculating a more exact estimate. Sixteen percent of the typical trade-show audience comes in search of your type of product, and of this 16 percent, 45 percent actually enter your booth.
Here’s how the formula works: Let’s say a 20-hour show has an attendance of 7,500. Multiply 7,500 by 0.16 and you get 1,200 attendees interested in your product; 1,200 times 0.45 equals 540 visitors to your exhibit. If you divide these 540 visitors by 20 show hours, you’ll get 27 visitors per hour.
Based on the length of your interactions, determine the number of attendees per hour that each of your staff can handle. Then divide the number of visitors per hour by the number of visitors your staff can handle per hour. Your answer is the optimum number of staff for your booth.
Train Your Exhibit Staff
TIP: It is recommended that each engagement with an attendee last less than 5 minutes and follow the format below:
- . Start with eye contact and a handshake and introduce yourself with an ice-breaking statement.
- If the attendee doesn’t know about your company, offer your rehearsed 30-second presentation.
- Ask several open-ended questions to learn the attendee’s needs, problems, role in the purchasing process, timeframe and budget.
- Demonstrate your product.
- Record accurate and complete data about your prospect.
Successful Tradeshow Sales Techniques
TIP: “People convey more than half of their message non-verbally,” . That’s why it is important to communicate these non-verbal messages to attendees:
- You’re approachable
- You’d like them to enter your exhibit
- You’d like to speak to them
To learn more ways to increase traffic at your booth, please click here and read "Tips for Engaging Attendees and Opening the Conversation."
TIP: Your booth staff must engage attendees within 15 seconds of their presence in your booth or lose them.
Bonus Tips:
- Emphasise to your exhibit staff the importance of a complete and accurate lead card by pointing out how much new business each lead represents to your company
- Prepare show-specific business cards for your staff. Include websites attendees can go to for more information about the products/services they saw at the show
- Give your exhibit staff something to hold — like a lead card or flyer — so they don't stand there with their hands clasped in a rigid and unfriendly posture
