Triple your answer to exposures by avoiding the top ten mistakes in exposures.
Turn disappointment into sales success!
If you are like most exhibitors, you were disappointed in the results of your last exhibition.
There is only one reason for poor show results and that is not knowing how to maximize your trade show / show opportunities.
Here are some amazing trade show / exhibition facts:
1. Most attendees come to an expo because they are seriously researching vendors and their products and services.
2. The majority of those attending an exhibition are decision makers or have a significant influence on purchasing decisions.
If that’s the case, how come most exhibitors feel that their time and money was not well spent on an exhibition? In fact, if you were an exhibitor recently, you may be questioning your decision and avoid exhibiting at the next exhibition.
Ask yourself, were you making any of these top ten mistakes?
1. You don’t know your target market
2. Your target market was not at the show.
3. You didn’t have an attention-grabbing title
4. You didn’t have a compelling call to action.
5. You believed that the expo is a place to sell, sell and sell.
6. You were focused on getting everyone to buy what you sold without qualifying
7. You stayed at your booth waiting for people to come to your booth.
8. Your booth showed a lack of preparation and professionalism.
9. You were giving away garbage at your booth.
10. There was no follow-up plan
Let me explain each of these mistakes to you and give you suggestions on how to avoid them in the future.
1. You don’t know your target market:
Who is your target market? If your answer is everyone, then you will have a hard time deciding which show to go to. Even if everyone can benefit from your product or service, you need to start with a specific target market.
Who do you think gets paid the most, a general practitioner or a plastic surgeon?
Obviously a plastic surgeon. Aren’t they both doctors? One is considered a specialist and therefore the plastic surgeon charges more money.
So if you don’t have a niche, chances are you’ll never get the most out of an exposure.
So define your market. For example, my friend Jason Ryan from the Midstates Alliance can promote his services to anyone, but he chooses to focus on insurance agents as his firm specializes in restoration. Isn’t it more profitable to focus on one market and dominate it than to try to be everything to everyone?
2. Your target market is not in the exhibition:
If you are selling to real estate agents, what are you doing at a mortgage broker show?
The point is to select the show you want to go to based on the other vendors that will be there and the attendees. Consider both. Sometimes vendors can be a great source of business for you, whether as prospects or referral partners.
Either way you will win.
I was recently talking to one of my clients and she was tired of networking and flooded with business cards from these networking events. She felt compelled to follow up and was asking for advice on how to get organized. I asked him who is his best source of business. She said real estate agents. So I asked him, what was he doing in general purpose mixes and exposures? All you need to do is focus on exhibitions and real estate mixers and sponsor some of their events. He couldn’t believe that what he thought was an organizational problem was actually a problem of narrowly focusing on his target market.
You can afford to throw away other business cards and you don’t need to show up at every networking event. He greatly freed up his time.
3. Your stand does not have an attention-grabbing headline:
Does ABC Company really mean anything to your buyers or referral partners?
If not, why make it your headline? Advertising and marketing experts will tell you that you only have 5-6 seconds to get everyone’s attention. If that’s the case, shouldn’t its headline catch your eye? So how do you do that?
Make your headline something about solving your potential customer’s problem or pain. How does that look like?
One of my businesses is helping employers and employers select candidates in the hiring process by providing tools to evaluate candidates.
So my headline might be “Stop Hiring Misfits, Weirdos, and Losers Who Leave You Tired and Bankrupt” (see http://www.makingteamswork.com).
A web developer may say “Are you not getting leads from your website?”
The purpose of the headline is to make your potential customer stop and try to get more information from your booth.
Make your headline attractive enough that your prospects don’t miss out on it in their rush to get to as many positions as possible.
4. You don’t have a compelling call to action.
Once your prospect stops by your booth and engages you in conversation, what’s next?
You must have a call to action. What it simply means is that the potential customer must do something to distinguish themselves from the tire kickers and you have a reason to follow up with them the next day.
Signing up for an entry prize is one of them. Completing a survey is another.
You should ask why the potential customer will be willing to give me that information.
It’s no wonder companies hand out awards, pens, etc. to prompt people to give them permission to follow up.
Make your offer creative and compelling.
5. Believe that the expo is a place to sell, sell and sell
How long do you have in an exhibition to talk to a person?
Typically, you should spend only a few minutes with a potential customer. If you are trying to close a deal, this is not the point.
Exhibitions are not the place where people usually make purchasing decisions. Most attendees see the exhibits as a place to gather information and research different competing vendors and their products / services. So don’t try to convince them and sell them right then and there. It will only leave a bad taste in your mouth and you will lose opportunities to get it as a customer later during the follow up.
More than once, I have been persecuted and pressured by overzealous salespeople at exhibitions to buy their services and sign on the dotted line.
I usually run in the other direction every time I see them coming next time.
6. He is focused on getting everyone to buy what he sells without qualifying
Exhibitions are a place to generate qualified leads, not just to collect business cards from everyone who enters.
We also talk about focusing on a target market. This is an extension of that idea.
Let me give you a couple of examples. If you offered a color television or a vacation to the Bahamas, how many people will give you their information? Everyone at the expo will put on their business card or register for a chance to win the grand prize.
Is that really what you want?
You will have a business card for each visitor, but do you know if they are qualified leads? Are they really interested in your products or services? You do not know.
So why not be choosy about who you give the award to by rating the prospect ahead of time?
If you are interested in talking to people who are going to invest $ 250,000 or more with you in your financial planning business in the next 3 months, then your offer or award should be directed at that group.
What about people looking to renew their 401Ks? Make your booth geared towards those people. Your headline, offer, materials must be directed to them. Do you really want everyone else to stop by your booth and waste their time? No way.
Getting 10 qualified leads is way better than getting 100 unqualified names and numbers.
7. You stay at your booth waiting for people to come to your booth.
Most people don’t have good networking skills. Also, most providers feel like they should stay put and that’s the only way to talk to people.
Ideally, you should have more than one person at your booth. Why? You can walk around and gather information about your competitors and see what they are doing and also see other booths and present your business to other exhibitors.
What would happen if all the providers stayed in their position? Other vendors could be prospects and most likely referral partners for you. Why lose that opportunity?
Get together, have business cards, brochures, and offers for the people you meet.
Again, don’t be in sale mode. Show interest in others.
If you are looking for ideas on how to network effectively, I have a free audio recording with Bob Burg, the author of Endless Referrals, at http://www.mbaxi.com in the free resources section.
8. Your booth shows a lack of preparation and professionalism.
You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to make your booth look gorgeous and attractive, but you do have to prepare to make it look professional.
Your booth can reflect credibility and position you as a desirable supplier.
There are numerous sign display and exhibition companies that can help you do just that. Consider what the other cabins will be like. You must be competitive without being flashy and flashy.
A little creativity can go a long way!
9. You are giving away garbage at your stand
Do you cram your booth with junk gifts?
Did you know that most people will throw away the things you give them at the exhibition?
In fact, the trash can at the exit of the exhibition is usually full of junk brochures and gifts from the exhibition.
Is there also the money and the effort that you have so hard to earn? I hope not.
Giving a big award or giving educational information to your prospects is way better than giving everyone a trinket. Also, if there is something important that you are going to give them, do not give it at the expo. Send them back later or use it as an opportunity to meet with them. If you give them valuable information to take home that day, they will most likely throw it away or never open their bag of goodies from the show.
That is a terrible waste.
10. There is no follow-up plan
Okay, now that you’ve collected qualified leads, did you have a plan to follow up on them? I clearly remember an exhibition in which I was the featured speaker. I collected everyone’s information and shared my card freely with everyone who applied for it. Of the 150 vendors and visitors, none followed me. I had specifically asked two people to contact me because I was interested in their product or service.
I told someone else that I had a clue for them.
That is amazing but sad. After taking time out of their busy schedule and spending hundreds of dollars to be there, they missed out on doing more business.
So, set aside a day or two to schedule appointments with people who have expressed an interest in your service / product. This is the time when they are most receptive!
Take advantage of that. The longer you wait to follow up, the less likely they are to buy from you for two reasons. One they lost interest and enthusiasm for the service or product and another is that their competitor caught them.
You can receive other FREE articles and e-books in the Top Ten Mistakes series at http://www.mbaxi.com