Tips for creating a successful trade show experience

1. Establish your reason for exhibiting at a show.

Your company must ask itself why is it exhibiting at a specific trade show. Write out your trade show objective. Once you have determined the objective, concentrate your booth messages to complement that one show objective. Work hard to create a singular objective. A business that has multiple strategies cannot successfully focus its efforts. Select a single show objective and concentrate your energies to meet that objective. Donƒt dilute your energies.

2. Pick the right show.

Do your homework in advance. Does the show selected attract the correct audience for your products or services? Does it have the proper attendance to justify your anticipated expenditures? Call the trade show sponsor to obtain a list of previous show attendees. Call a small sample (5-10) of your target accounts to see if they will be attending the show. If all the answers are positive, it is probably a good show at which to exhibit.

3. Set your trade show budget and how you will spend it.

Determine how much the company is willing to spend, prepare a written budget, apportion the money properly, and record your expenses for future review. Determine why the budget amount was exceeded for any reason after the show or if you held to the pre-determined budget.

4. Market your trade show exhibition.

Depending on your budget allocations, market to target customers before the trade show. Use a short clear direct mail piece letting target companies know your company will be exhibiting, what the booth number is, where your booth is physically located at the show, at what their benefits will be if they stop by your booth.

5. Create a clean, clear, simple booth.

You don't get much time to make sure a show attendee understands your booth's message. Don't confuse them. Flashy booths with many areas that attract a visitor's visual attention will overpower and confuse. Keeping a booth simple is the key. Ensure your booth visitor receives the information they need to make a decision favorable to your company. That's all they need and that's all you want.

6. Grab the trade show visitors' attention.

Attendees at any trade show pass by hundreds of booths, sometimes thousands depending on the show. Your company will have only a few seconds, sometimes as little as 5 seconds, to catch the attention of a show attendee. Make sure your booth is designed to create a single focal point using easy to read text with clean simple graphics so trade show visitors will understand your message quickly and correctly.

7. Create a booth that makes visitors feel comfortable.

Remove physical barriers to visitor exchange. Too often booth designers create a boot that they believe "looks cool." While it may, it doesn't encourage visitors to your booth stop and want to talk to you because they don't feel comfortable. Make it easy for booth visitors to enter your space and obtain the information they desire. Many booths are designed as barriers with tables between you and your potential customers. A U-shaped trade show space removes the barriers between booth operator and visitor and encourages exchange. If visitors are comfortable and want to enter your booth, it is more likely they'll listen to your sales pitch and your show will generate better success.

8. Visit your booth before the show.

Put your creative ego in check and "visit" your booth just like the trade show attendee will do. Take an objective look at your booth and ask yourself if you would be attracted to the display and would you actually remember your booth. If you have selected the correct trade show and know the audience for that show, you should be able to create a display that will motivate visitors to stop at your booth. Understand the reasons they are attending this show. Give them a reason, a real benefit to them, to stop at your booth. Do a little pre-show research on your target audiences' show motivations.

9. Record visitor interest and key contact data.

If you have successfully attracted visitors to your booth, you need to record their key contact information and what they were individually interested in — whether it is one of your products or services your company offers. Most large shows offer easy ways to scan in key contact data, but they don't provide a means to record individual interest. Use a dictating machine, a prepared spreadsheet, or simple lined paper to record what the visitor was interested in so you can properly follow up with those that are real targets.

10. Don't forget proper show follow-up.

Just because you created a great booth doesn't mean you'll attract good traffic at your booth. Our fourth tip discussed limited pre-show marketing. Not only do you need to market your attendance before the show, but you must follow up after the show on all the leads generated during the show to effectively ensure your trade show investment will be optimized. Those show leads cost you a lot of money. Make sure you translate some into sales for your company.

 

Reference at

http://www.kochgroup.com/tradeshow.html

Please get yourself a diary with pen and digital cam!

Take the Nickcard and their booth number

and staple them in your diary with a special mark

how important each supplier into your regards!

so you can be easier to re visit some booth

or renegotiate something with them again with right contact!

 

Do prepare your own biz namecard,

They are good tips to work on trade show, but the problem is after you do all above how can you grab the client after you done all these thing. Mainwhile you are saying how to presenting the goods on the shows, but maintain and tracing the buyer is a difficult operate.

Replying to [jo8chinaetyahoocom]:
really a good topic and detailed suggestion for those exhibitors. Besides, I think to have some interpretors is very useful in those internatiional trade shows.

Quoting from [ChurchillUK]:

What about a list of what NOT to do?

Thanks jo8chinaetyahoocom for the Top 10's ... its really helpful. In response to ChurchillUK, I came across these set of "don'ts" the other day ... I like the Top 10's better, but nonetheless, these serves as good reference! I've summarized the points here:


http://www.micedb.com/index.php?/component/option,com_mojo/Itemid,123/

1. Don’t Over Decorate Your Booth!
2. Don’t Manage a Booth with Only One Representative
3. Don’t Eat at the Booth
4. Don’t Overwhelm Visitors with Redundant Questions!
5. Don’t Just Restrict Your Service to the Booth

Hope this helps!

Very helpful tips.

www.mitra-kreasi.com

Indonesia Exhibition Booth & Displays Contractor

Dear Sirs/Madam:

Welcome to guide negotiations GREENING RADIATOR In MOSBUILD2009.
From March 31th to April 3rd 2009,we will be exhibiting at The Expocentre Pavilion3 G225/1 MOSBUILD
We treasure every opportunity to meet with you.
You may click here to find our location.


Best Regards

LuLu

Company Name:Zhejiang Guangying Machinery Co., Ltd. Address:Jinyun Industral Zone,Zhejiang,China 321403 Tel:+86-578-83181111 83185777
E-mail:export@cngreening.com
Website: www.cngreening.com&chinagreening.com
www.radiator-gy.en.alibaba.com

yes excellent info by jo8,

however i agree with varun the most important is the attendant must have full knowledge about their products & past problems etc


thanks

The tipps are very good but.... For booth inside China. Maybe we should add two very important tipps for chinese companys go abroad for fairs. I have seen 2008 Hamburg. Yiwu companys had a common booth with maybe around 30 companys. Great? No not really the booth have been placed outside of the normal fair. Really no one could find and the frequence was near zero. Wasted time and money. Who told them have a place out of the visitors walking line? LIttle China? Also the booth service seems to be tired all day having lunch and dinner on booth. I could find only one can speak German. From most i had the impression they are afraid to talk to customers. So pity. My tipps would be before you go to a foreign fair check the hall plan. Visit the fair one year before. See where the visitors main line is. Got to get a booth there in the middle of the competitors and second find away to exercise your booth service people for a job in a foreign fair. Best find a trainer from the country you go for the fair. Maybe it can save a lot of money and can make chinese companys more succesful on fairs abroad.

tks

 

thank you for your suggestion