Be a Trade Show Attendee Not a Booth Owner |
|
By: Cheryl Clausen Posted: 2007-11-01 07:34:08 |
| Trade shows for your best prospects are a great way to generate leads if you know how to take advantage of the opportunity. You can reap the benefits without having to rent a booth. The down side to renting a booth in addition to the cost is the fact that you're tied to the booth unless you have enough help to man your booth so that you can be free to roam the event.Most trade shows are recurring and you can know the date of the next one a year in advance, so you have plenty of time to plan your strategy for sales success. If the event is held at a hotel or a convention center connected to a hotel you could rent a room during the event and send post cards to prospects inviting them to visit you to get something they would value. You could even host an after the event cocktail hour. You can walk the trade show making sure you meet as many potential prospects as possible, and then always have something of value to offer them to make a connection. Whatever your plan, make sure you have your entire marketing and sales strategy mapped out for the event far enough in advance to have everything prepared for the big event so you get the sales success you envision.Make sure you arrive at the event early and work your plan. Know who is running the event and find out if there is an opportunity for you to help with the event that will get you exposure to the right people. You may want to greet arrivers and hand them a bag they can use to collect all the trade show goodies in. Perhaps you want to visit the booths early and bring them a cup of coffee. Be prepared to position yourself for the most exposure, and be prepared with a great attention getting core marketing message. And no matter what your plan of attack always have something to offer the people you meet that they would really want so you can start the connection.Your offer is the key to the whole lead generation process. You have to come up with something that is a value added proposition. Something your prospects would really want and it doesn't have to be something tangible. In fact, information that isn't readily available but really helpful or useful will encourage others to reach out to you. The first step to sales success is getting the people whose attention you want to connect with you, and this is a great way to do it. But you don't want to do it in a pushy way. Remember you're not a booth holder. You're either walking the trade show or inviting people to connect with you at your own event near the trade show, so you just need to meet and greet people and make a friend; and then mention this valuable something you'd like them to have.Why do most people waste the leads they get at trade shows? Because they don't follow-up or they don't follow-up fast enough. Remember the leads you got from the trade show don't know you, so you need to have a system to follow-up with those leads in some way within 72 hours or they're wasted. Beyond 72 hours they've moved on from the trade show and their interest and enthusiasm will have waned. So include your follow-up plan of attack in your overall plan. Top producers are top producers because they have a plan for their sales success and they're committed to working their plan.Ready to get unstuck? You can be a Top Producer.Ready to Achieve the Life You Want & Enjoy Every Minute. |
| Trackback url: https://article.abc-directory.com/article/3415 |