Planning for Success at Trade Shows

The annual SEA-to-SEA trade show is a one-of-a-kind business networking, educational and promotional opportunity! Here are some tips to help you in your preparation:

Decide on what you want to achieve, such as: display a new product, enhance public relations, create market awareness, find distribution channels, network with fellow entrepreneurs or to obtain leads for actual business. Remember the S.M.A.R.T. principle for goal setting? Apply that to your trade show planning with the objective you set.

Determine all that is required, such as business cards, brochures, samples, demonstration materials and booth design. Then set time lines to make certain that each will ready on time. Plan your promotion or offer. Construct or order booth, promo material, etc. Arrange to arrive and set up early!

Tips to Attract Attention With Your Booth Design
Designed around goals for the show
Keep it simple - less than 3 seconds to attract attention to your booth
Don't use too much text - use headlines
Have lots of open space - don't clutter
Use colour and lighting to emphasize
Appeal to the senses
Have hands-on Demonstrations
Videos, action
Use Story Boards - 4 or 5 photos
Safety first!
Emphasize benefits of your product
Draw attention to your logo
Consider other exhibitors
Keep it dignified - not a 'Carnival' atmosphere.

As a new business, realistically you may not be in a position to apply all of these suggestions; however, you can employ some of the principle to offer a professional presentation! Remember, this is "Trade Show on training wheels", an opportunity to work with your peers to hone your skills. Be creative! Maximize the benefits!

Work Your Plan

You've submitted your business plan. Now what? Successful business people know the value of working their plan. Even if you initially resist the idea, when you discipline yourself to do so, you will become a 'true believer' as you reap the benefits. You will end up accomplishing much more, earning significantly improved income. If you were going on a trip somewhere you had never been before, you wouldn't just get in the car and start driving; you would get a map or consult MapQuest to plan your route. You would then follow that plan, allowing for necessary divergence, such as construction, heavy traffice, etc. Your plan to obtain clients should be very similar.

To create sales goals, you first need to acknowledge the relationship between personal attitude and sales production. If you dislike this necessary aspect of your business, it will be an even greater challenge. Many self-employed business people do just enough sales activity to hate it! Then, of course, the results will be minimal. Therefore, work it into your weekly schedule of essential activities; work at it, and eventually (believe it or not!) what used to be a challenge could become a real source of satisfaction. Creat measurable milestones to track your sales success.

Some of the important things to include in your sales plan should be:
- A list of target customers, and your strategy for securing their business
- Your sales goals (S.M.A.R.T.)
- A plan to set up an initial meeting with each targeted prospect
- How you will schedule your time each week for sales activities

Establish overall goals by the year, month, week and day. Your sales goals might include: Number of new customers per month; more frequent sales to existing customers; create more sales leads; increase the closing ratio of prospects. Categorize by product, customer type, etc. What are your goals?

In summary, understand that planning your sales activities is a top priority. Put together a simple plan, then follow your map, and track the connection between your activities and sales results.

When They Say 'Tell Me About Your Product'

Be ready for this question. Often, very early in your conversation with a prospect, he or she says, "Tell me about your company/products". You might be tempted to actually start telling your story. However, this is usually the exact wrong approach to take. You might even fool yourself into thinking that this is a sign that they are interested in doing business with you. However, at this point you don't know nearly enough about their specific needs in order to identify which particular features and benefits to talk about. It would be like going to your doctor and asking him or her "Tell me about your medical practice". The answer would be far too generalized to do you much good. You don't need to know much about which medical schools he attended, how many degrees he has, how many years he has been helping people, etc. Such things are only a small part of it. What you really need to know is how he can help YOU. The doctor will always ask you something like, "So, what did you come to see me about today?" or "Where does it hurt?"

So, it is critical to find out more about the person's situation before going into an explanation about your company or your 'sales pitch'. I've found that much better results are obtained by responding something like "Thanks for asking. There are a number of facets to my product service. In order to determine how I may best be able to help you, let me ask you a few questions". Then your eventual response will be a customized solution to their unique needs. You will get more credibility through the questions you ask than through the stories you tell.

Regardless of what you sell and to whom, you need to be ready to respond to this question. Develop a response that's appropriate for your particular business and resist the temptation to talk about your products or services!