Disasters can come out of nowhere. Giant thunderstorms can appear without a moment's notice, knocking out telephone and power lines. A bad dinner at a local restaurant can have a member of your staff flat on their back with food poisoning. Open up your collateral material only to discover that it's not what you packed. How do you compensate for these potential catastrophic situations?
Your key to success is advance preparation. Many challenges can be addressed using your common sense and creativity. But implementing those solutions can be tricky.
Advance preparation can make the difference between success and failure. By starting well in advance of your trade show, you'll be assured of smooth sailing, no matter what happens. The three main areas to concentrate on are people, places, and things.
People: You are only as good as your booth staff. The best display, graphics, and promotional items won't save your show if your staff isn't up to the challenge. When it comes to people, providing comprehensive training before your show can pay huge dividends. Cross train your staff so that each member can cover for another. This doesn't mean your sales people need to be technical gurus or that your mechanical whiz-kids need to become top-notch sales associates ? but each one should know enough about the other's responsibilities to pinch-hit when necessary.
Places: When you arrive at your destination, it's not enough to just know where the convention center is. Take a few minutes prior to departing and do a search on the internet about your destination and its surroundings. Do you know where the closest medical facility, business center, or airport is located? Having knowledge of the area will save you valuable time if you need to send staffers out of the show center for quick errands. You're only at the show for a limited amount of time. Make it as productive as possible.
Designate a team leader or captain before the show. This person will be the go-to person in case of any emergencies, and should have the authority to make any necessary decisions. If an unforeseen event occurs, your staff will know who to turn to for direction.
Things: The biggest challenges can often come from the simplest things. If your brochures have been sent to London instead of New York, there's not much you can do to remedy the situation, short of hopping a red eye and physically retrieving the wayward literature yourself. But that's not practical. Instead, have a back-up plan. For example: Having a DVD back up of all your literature is a simple, easy step. Most major cities and convention centers have print shops that can quickly run off a few thousand brochures. You might pay a premium for rush service, but that's a small price compared to the embarrassment and potential loss of business.
If you make your advance preparation process a trade show habit, your budget and ROI should never feel the impact of a looming disaster.
There is an easy and fast way to get more new customers and increase your profits by participating in Trade Shows, Expos, Fairs, Festivals, Seminars, Exhibitions, Conventions, Conferences and Swap Meets. Unlike chasing down over used cold call leads, all of these events bring your target market directly to you. These people are already interested in your products and services. You just have to do your part to close the sale.
You can even reduce your competition. Just like in Baseball, you have three bases to cover. If you are willing to step up to the plate and do it right, you can hit a Home Run. Here is the line up:
1st Base - You need a high number of people attending the event. 2nd Base - You need to Brand your business for success. 3rd Base - You need indirect cross over interest.
Here are the details for each one.
1st Base - All you have to do is find out the number of people who attended this same event in the past. You should look for established, creditable events with a few thousand people attending. If attendance is too low, the whole thing may end up being a complete waste of your time, money and effort.
2nd Base - It is very important that you Brand your business for success so that people will remember your company over your competition. The good thing about branding your business is that there are some branding techniques that do not cost you one penny more than what you are already investing in your business.
3rd Base - Some Expos are for all businesses in general. The good part is everybody is allowed to participate. Nothing is censored. The problem is that many of the people who attend may not be your target market.
Other Expos have specific themes and are targeted to one particular industry. The good part is you will be in direct contact with interested people who are your target market coming up to you. The problem is that numerous other companies selling the same products and services as you will be there also competing with you.
There is a solution. Your first and primary concern should be if the event that is targeting a specific industry will allow a business like yours to participate. Once you get past that, as an Exhibitor you should think in terms of indirect cross over interest. This will reduce or possibly eliminate your competition, but at the same time you will still have the advantage of doing business with your target market.
You have to be willing to position yourself half way between the obvious and the inappropriate. The reason this will work for you is because some businesses, including many of you own competitors, would rather lose money than to be in an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Examples of the Obvious Expos include: Travel - with Travel Agents, Airlines, Hotel, Rental Car Companies Real Estate - with Brokers, Banks, Appraisers, Mortgage Companies Technology - with Computers, Software, Internet Services Car Show - with Dealers, Car Accessories, Polish, Wax, Wheels etc.
Examples of Inappropriate Expos include: Art - with Gardening Products Sewing and Needle Point - with Fishing Gear Boat Show - with Infant Toys and Clothes Health and Fitness - with a Bakery and Ice Cream Parlor
To find the half way point, you just have to know when to expand your possibilities and where to draw the line. It is reasonable to expect a significant number of people in your target market attend events when you already know in advance that certain industries at the Expos want, need and use your products and services. People may use things for their business or for their personal lives.
Here are some examples:
Computer Store owners and Web Designers do not have to limit themselves to only Technology Shows because almost all businesses and individuals use computers, software, get upgrades, need repairs and want internet services.
Travel Agents and Luggage Companies do not have to limit themselves to only Travel Shows because many people have both businesses and personal Travel needs.
There are many other business that sell products and services with general interest that most companies and individuals want, need and use. Other examples include Office Supplies and Equipment Stores, Communications, Transportation, Insurance, Legal, Tax, Accounting, Printing Shops and Secretarial Services. Of course these are just a few. There are many more. If your business is in any of these categories then most of the time your business will appropriately fit into just about any Expo or Trade Show.
Home Run - It looks like you made it around all three of the bases. The results are you get more new customers, less competition, people will remember your products and services over your competitors and you will make more money.
Both Barry Brenner & Stephanie Gibbs are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Barry Brenner has sinced written about articles on various topics from Insurance Quotes, Auto Insurance and Cars. Barry Brenner is a thirteen year veteran tradeshow consultant. He has worked with companies of all sizes from small mom and pop businesses, to billion dollar corporations. He can be reached via e-mail at info@bsforu.com or through his web site,. Barry Brenner's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.
Stephanie Gibbs has sinced written about articles on various topics from Auto Insurance, Sales and Negotiation and Travel and Leisure. Stephanie Gibbs provides Exhibitors with important Marketing & Branding information to prevent costly mistakes so they can be succe. Stephanie Gibbs's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.