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.
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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. 
