Paul offers selling tips for exhibitors at live, in-person trade shows. (They’re coming back!)
Show Notes
Before you go to that trade show, arrange some pre-set appointments.
Study the attendee list and pre-qualify some companies for your target prospect list.
Create perceived demand for your booth.
“You have got to….”
Follow-up is key. Connect with your new prospects immediately via LinkedIn.
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How do I sell effectively at trade shows?
(Transcribed from podcast)
Well, I must tell you, I am thrilled that live events are coming back. In fact, our office has been inundated with keynote requests. They’ve been inundated with training, sales kickoff meetings. So, people are getting back together. Salespeople have been craving this. Wow, it is great to see that.
So, something interesting came up. I was talking to a trade association—it looks like I’m going to be delivering a keynote at their convention later this Fall—and one of the association executives said, “Hey, Paul. Do you have anything on tips for selling at trade shows? We’d really like to help out our exhibitors who are going to be there at the show. We want to give them some tips and ideas.” And so, I’m going to share a couple of basic thoughts today how you can sell more effectively at trade shows—not virtual trade shows—I’m talking live, flesh-pressing, face-to-face trade shows: how can you sell more effectively at these trade shows? That’s what we’re going to focus on today.
Before we get into that, though, a quick shout-out to our sponsor, Andrea, over at The Creative Impostor Studios. Andrea, from the very beginning, has been such a fan of the show, the platform. She helped with just ideas, brainstorming, and also the setup. Do you know, just the laborious stuff, the technical stuff, the stuff that I had no clue about, Andrea was there to support and help launch this podcast, which is now downloaded in over 70 countries. So, it continues to grow. Andrea, thanks for all your help. We’re going to have a link over to Andrea’s website. So, check it out on this episode’s webpage. And if you’ve ever thought about starting a podcast, now is the time. Don’t wait—get it going. Or if you have a podcast already, you just need some help with it, Andrea can be there for you. Check it out.
Also, I mentioned it a couple of times, but man, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of the book. September 28th it’s going to be available in stores. The book is Selling Through Tough Times. Whether you’re new to sales, whether you’re facing a tough competitor, whether you’re in a sales slump, in a recession, industry disruption, we all face tough times in sales. This book is your go-to guide. So it’s actually available for pre-order right now on Amazon. So check it out, Selling Through Tough Times. And my new website is going to be coming up here soon too, which not going to share with you yet because it might not launch by the time this episode launches, so, I’ll mention it in [another] episode.
Let’s get to it. How do you sell effectively at trade shows? So what we’re going to do today is, we’re going to go through a couple of tips: some things you can do beforehand, things you do during the trade show, and then some things that you need to do after the trade show.
So, first things first—first things first. Before you go to that trade show, you need to set some appointments. Get some preset appointments. Reach out to your best customers, reach out to your best prospects. Let them know that you’re going to be at the trade show and ask for their time. Ask them to make a time commitment, whether it’s 10-, whether it’s 15 minutes, whatever it may be, get them to commit to coming to your trade show.
Now, I’m a big fan of using multiple sources of influence to request that meeting. So, first things first, remember, the phone is your friend. Pick up the phone and dial for appointments. Dial for time. Talk to your customers. Chat them up a little bit. Let them know, “Hey, I’m excited to see you at the trade show. It’s going to be great to get back.” People are picking up the phone these days, so call your customers. If you get their voicemail, let them know you’re going to follow up with an email. Then send them an email letting them know the details about your booth—where it’s at on the trade-show floor.
In your message, talk about something new that you’re going to have. If you’re going to have a new product, a new service, if you’re going to have like a celebrity at your trade-show booth. I know some companies will do that. They will have the keynote speaker come and sit at their booth to autograph books. If you’re going to have giveaways promos, make sure you mention that to your customers. You’ve got to get something in there that’s going to excite them to want to come by the booth. So preset those appointments. Hit them up a few times just to remind them: before the event, during the event, all that good stuff.
Now, this is all also the opportune time to prospect—to meet people that normally you’re not going to meet face-to-face. So review the attendee list and see, “Okay. Which companies are going to be there? What representatives from companies are going to be there? Are they a good fit?” Do some pre-qualifying by visiting some of these company websites, identifying the person. And again, the key is you want to create a prospect list of people that you want to meet, or casually run into, while you’re at the trade show. Get that target list created. So that’s what you do before we get to that trade show. Again, you want to make sure you preset some appointments, and make sure you’re reviewing that attendee list.
Now, during the trade show, there’s a couple of things we can do to really welcome that customer to your trade booth. Whether it’s just people walking by your exhibit, whatever it is, here’s a couple of tips. Number one, I wouldn’t recommend standing behind a desk or a platform or some sort of booth. Instead, be in front. The reason I mention that, it helps you from an approachability standpoint. The closer you are to a person, the more approachable you’ll be. Make eye contact with people, greet people, welcome them into your trade booth. Just be approachable, be friendly, and smile. That smile is such a warm way to greet people and to bring them in. So that’s number one. Just be approachable when you’re at the booth.
Now another thought, space out. One thing I’ve seen, you know, just walking trade show floors from numerous keynote presentations, it always just drives me nuts when you get a group of like 10 salespeople that work for the same company, they’re all chatting with each other and they’re not spacing out. Now, you’ve got to put yourself in the customer’s perspective. If they are somewhat interested in coming up and talking to a representative of your company, it’s a little intimidating for them to walk up to 10 salespeople who are there to sell and say, “Hey, I have a few questions” or “I wanted learn about this product or service.” Space out. Give the customer an opportunity to engage you one-on-one. Now is not the time to chat it up with your buddies about which happy hour you’re going to, or this or that. No. The reason you’re there is to sell, and to build your brand, and to make connections, so give yourself those opportunities. So, space out.
Now, another thing—and this is a great tip for just some higher ups: you want to create some perceived demand for your booth. There is a reason why nightclubs, why they want a line standing out the door because they want it to appear to be the place to be. And that’s what you also want to do with your trade booth, your exhibit, rather, at the trade show. Have some sort of attraction that’s going to bring your team over. Again, I mentioned earlier, a lot of companies I work with, they will sponsor the keynote. They will have a famous author sit at their booth, or they will have a celebrity at their booth. They will do something to draw people over. But not only that, you can do this by setting those appointments at the same time. Let’s say you’ve got a large exhibit, you get 10 salespeople that are going to be there, or 20 or 30 or 40, whatever it may be. Initially, have everyone schedule an appointment at 10 15—10 15. If you have 40 prospective customers that come by at 10:15, it’s going to create demand. People are going to walk by and see, “Okay, they must have something cool. They must have something I want to see.” You want to create that perceived demand.
And the other thing, when you’re at the trade-show floor and you’re at your exhibit, man, you’ve got to crush your product demo. You’ve got to absolutely crush that demo. You have to highlight the features that you know are important to your customers. You have to practice it. You have to practice it repeatedly, and you have to continuously practice even on the trade-show floor. Every demo you do is a practice for another one to make it that much better. When you’re doing your product demonstrations, talk to your customers. Ask their feedback: “Hey, what did you like most about that demo?” or “What stood out at you” and figure out how you can go deeper into those key functions or features, whatever it might be, of your product. That’s what your buyers are going to care about. So, create a demo that excites, that sizzles for that buyer.
Another tip, when you’re on the trade-show floor, it’s okay to call in some of your higher-level decision makers. And, in fact, I think it’s great when high-level business leaders are on the trade-show floor talking to customers. In fact, when you have your best customers there, make sure you tap on your senior vice president or business owner, whoever it may be, and introduce them to your best customers. Have them talk; have them connect. This is a great way that you can show support and build that partnership with your customer. So those are just a few tips when you’re on the trade-show floor.
And then afterwards, of course, follow up is key. Your goal is, yeah, you want to close some business while you’re there at the trade show, but you’re also going to get a stack of leads. You’re going to get a stack of leads and it’s important that you follow up on those leads immediately. And I’m talking almost that evening. Send them an email, connect with them. The day after the conference is completed, reach out to them. Get that time scheduled. In fact, the best bet, if the customer says, “Hey, this is something I need to follow up on.” “Hey, do you have your calendar handy? Let’s go through some dates now. Let’s, get something on the calendar while we are here at the show.” You’re either closing for a sale, or you’re closing for time. Make sure you get your name on that calendar before they leave your booth.
Also, it’s important to connect socially with your customer, with people you meet. You’re going to get a stack of business cards and all that. Go to LinkedIn almost right away. Before they get a chance to forget you, go in there, send the people a connection request. Send them a request, that way they’ll remember you. Make a quick note: “Hey, it was great meeting you at the trade show. Thanks for stopping by our booth.” Whatever it may be. Connect with them almost immediately. That way you stay top of mind.
All right, folks. Well, that is the show for today. Again, just a couple of thoughts, some ideas on helping you be more successful at trade shows. Yes, they are coming back. It’s unbelievable. I can’t wait to see many of you at conferences later this year.
Make it a big day.
