When attending a trade show or exhibition with your business, whether it’s for the first time or if you’re a regular, you’ll obviously want them to be as successful as possible for you. This will generally mean by generating a lot of leads whether it’s in terms of actual customers or potential partnerships.
We’ve come up with a few tips to help you on your way to ultimate lead generating success at your next trade show or exhibition event.
Understand what you want to achieve from your trade show
If it is your first time attending a trade show with your business, it can be quite tempting to just use it as an opportunity to test the water and get some experience. Whilst this may work for some, it’s a good idea to not throw away the opportunity of being successful. Instead, sit down with your team and talk about what you’d like to achieve from the trade show.
Set goals or targets accordingly
If you do want to get as much out of it as possible, set some goals with your team to enable to reach your goals even further. This can involve setting a specific number about how many leads you’d like to generate, or even things like how amusing business cards you’d like to give out, etc.
Prepare your company’s image
Image definitely goes a long way at a trade show or exhibition, so it’s so vital that you but a lot of effort into the appearance of your booth or stand. Your presentation signage and design is a great starting point and they should give off a strong first impression right away. The way you and your employees dress for the occasion also plays a part, too.
Conduct a presentation or give a talk
Show your business really does mean business by illustrating that you and your team are experts in your field. Do this by showing a presentation at your stand, or even by giving a talk or seminar.
This will give you authority on your subject, and will turn passers-by into people who notice you, and want to learn more about you.
Find a good way of collecting data quickly and easily
Trade shows are so great for businesses as they provide us with a wide audience that is potentially interested in our specific field. Therefore it’s the ideal setting to conduct some market research in.
To do this effectively, you’ll need a good system to enable you to collect data quickly. This will also obviously include the way that you store the contact details of leads. If you don’t have one already, you might want to invest in something like an iPad which is a great way of noting and organising contact details quickly.
Follow up your leads
It goes without saying really, but you should always aim to follow up on any leads that you make at the trade show within a maximum of a week. The longer you leave it, the less interested the person will be.
