What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 16 February 2015

Welcome to another week and its certainly true that exhibition season is upon us in the Events Industry.

Paula was off at Coventa a few weeks ago, Giles has just returned from Convene and Rubina has only just recovered from Love Business East Midlands where she was in major network mode.

As this week sees Confex, the Event Production Show, Office and BNC all take place in London, we thought we’d bring you a little guide to making the most of exhibiting. 

Not Reading the Exhibitor Manual is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Ensure you read and digest every piece of information the exhibition organiser sends to you and don’t just presume that everything will be provided – check the specifics. Electricity? Chairs? Furniture?

Also make sure you return all the paperwork by the deadline, last minute panics help no one!

Also be pretty clear about just what you are trying to achieve by exhibiting. You won’t know if you’ve been successful until you can quantify just how well you did. New Business? Number of Leads? Set a target!

If you manning a stand then this is not the time to be shy. You need shiny happy people that are happy talking to strangers and comfortable drawing people to your stand in a cheerful, friendly manner. Whoever you have, remember that they are representing your brand so make sure they have good people skills as well as good knowledge of what you are all about as an organisation.

There is little point in having a raft of beautiful people if they know nothing about your products or what you are trying to achieve so make sure everyone is up to speed in advance.

If you have invested in the show, then it’s also time to think carefully about your stand design and graphics to ensure it effectively communicates what you do. Pictures really do tell ‘a thousand words so make them big, bold and brand related.

On a busy exhibition floor it is vital that you make a good first impression and research shows you have about 7 seconds to engage with someone – remember the old adage, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression!

So stand out, look inviting and interesting and who knows where it might lead!

But just why should people visit your stand? If you have a huge budget it’s easy to make your stand really inviting and ensure an audience, but even if you are on a budget, there are lots of simple ideas which can really make a difference.  Have a candy buffet, offer refreshments or cupcakes or run a fun competition.

Please do remember, that no matter how long the day has been, exhibition staff should smile and make eye contact at all times.  If you are chatting away or playing games on your mobile phone, sitting down with your arms crossed, yawning, stuffing your face or looking grumpy, then you could be missing that all important new client…

It can be difficult to gauge how many staff you need at an exhibition, but do remember that people will only wait a limited amount of time to speak to someone before they move on and in all likelihood won’t come back. On the other side of this is having too much staff, who are all clamouring your attention. Try and get the balance right and do remember that exhibiting can be exhausting so make sure all of your team get regular breaks to eat, drink, check their phones, and even pop to the loo!

As with all Sales environments, as well as asking questions, make sure you listen. Only by listening can we understand just what our customers have to say and how we can help them.

We’ve all seen the obsessive bag carriers at shows, those who have little or no interest in your product, but want a free carrier bag or pen. So get the balance right, have information for potential customers to take away, but don’t overload them. And limit the nice give always to those who matter the most!

Additionally, do make sure you are happy to answer questions about price if asked. Even a bespoke service needs to be clear about what it is, and what it costs. Get to the point, and make sure you are understood and just what the benefits are.

Not everyone can afford a scanner, which is perhaps one the best ways to capture data, but most visitors will be loath to fill out a form or complete a questionnaire, so data capture needs to be short and sweet and if you can a fun experience.

A business card draw is a good way of getting lots of new contacts easily, and for the sake a bottle of bubbles, well worth the investment!

It’s always great to connect with industry colleagues and suppliers, but don’t waste valuable time when you could be targeting visitors. Save the chat for later at the bar and reserve your energy for the potential new customers. And what ever you do, never bad mouth a competitor or supplier, gossip spreads and it will do you more harm than good.

Tweet and be tantalising with your tweets, entice them to your stand. Just because you continually tell people to come and visit you using the exhibition hash tag that doesn’t mean it will happen! Give your social media messages some thought, and give them a great reason to maximise engagement.

Packing up Early is one of the deadly sins of exhibiting and normally you are specifically instructed about set down times, but if you have made the investment to be there then surely, you should get every last minute out of exhibiting that you can. You never know when that last great customer will appear!

And lastly, if you don’t follow up your leads after the show, then what a complete waste of time it was.  Follow up, and send a personal mail, not a mass one. Show that you have understood the customer, and even if you have to look them up, get a sense of who they are, and how you can work together. And then call them. Be Persistent.

We know everyone is overwhelmed with communication these days, so stand out and follow up.  It just might pay off!

Have a great week!