5 Things to NOT do at your company’s next trade show – Part 3
In our first part and second part of this three-part series, we introduced the first two crucial mistakes that companies routinely make at trade shows.
Let’s close out this series with our final faux-pas about lead quality vs. lead quantity.
- Focus on quality not quantity
I know – events are expensive. The expenses add up quickly – travel to the venue, hotel, food, booth fees, registration costs. As you tally up the totals, you can easily deduce, “Wow, we’re making a huge investment to go the ‘StarJumboBig’ show’; we must find a way to collect many leads” Your mind then goes into overdrive, developing strategies and tactics to capture ‘lead’ information from every human that walks within 100 yards of your booth. The result: you have many leads, but very few people are actually interested in what you have to offer. You have a bunch of names, but very few ‘opportunities’. You’ve polluted your database with contacts that could (if lightning strikes twice in the same spot) become your customer one day.
A better solution: set up your booth for strategic consultations. Try to listen more than you talk. Take thorough notesand understand why a visitor has decided to spend his/her time with you. Once you completely understand your prospect’s situation, repeat it back to him or her, and then position how your product or solution might be able to help. Don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole; if your product/service isn’t a match, recommend someone or somebody who might be. A goodwill gesture of that sort will pay dividends down the road.
Stay away from these 5 common conference/trade show mistakes and you’re on your way to make your company’s investment a positive one. Do you have a few tactics that have worked wonders for your company at a trade show? Please share.
Until next time,
Dan Naden
