Trade Show Preparation Determines Trade Show Performance

January 27, 2010 12:00:50 PM by Rena Patton

posted in Trade Show Advice | Trade Show Displays | Trade Show Events | Trade Shows

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A major trade show will take around a year to eighteen months of preparation to stand a realistic chance of success.  Minor trade shows will take less, but no matter how much time is being invested it is important that you get the pre-show preparation done thoroughly because how well you research and prepare will have a direct bearing on your sales results.

Here are two issues to consider as part of your trade show preparation.

Research the Trade Shows Before You Select Them

Once you start making inquiries about exhibiting at a trade show, you are going to be placed on mailing lists and bombarded with sales calls from event management.  Trade show events are competitive, especially under the current economic constraints so be prepared – they want your business.  This doesn’t mean you should choose the first one you see nor exhibit at every event – this is ineffective, expensive and impractical.

Look at trade shows and ask which ones are more likely to attract your target market.  Ask for the demographic information, attendee bookings and exhibitor bookings for the current and past shows and see what that tells you.  You should consider exhibitor information because you may feel that attending a show with a lot of your competitors is not so attractive compared to a show where you have a monopoly on the event for your niche.

Train Your Booth Staff & Allocate Responsibility

Staff manning the booth and involved in the logistics should know what their responsibilities are and take ownership of those parts of the project for which they are accountable.  This involves senior management establishing goals and targets which should be broken down into constituent parts and allocated to the team and team members.  Everyone should know their role and be cross-trained so they can take over other functions – every show has an “emergency” or a “glitch”.

Staff should be briefed to greet attendees, to thank them when they leave, the use of ice-breakers and open questions and the procedure to follow when a hot lead is found.