Winning at Trade Shows

May 26, 2017

Trade shows, expos, industry conventions and all networking events are opportunities to network and grow. The best businesses target the right events to attend for them to have the best chance at achieving their goals. They then formulate an overall strategy and then plan on how to execute it at each individual event.

Let’s break down the winning process and help you build a winning strategy and plan for the next event.

Winning by knowing your business

• What problems do your products and services solve?
• What needs do your products and services fill?
• What wants do your products and services cater to?
• What emotions are tied to the problems, needs or wants your customers have?
• What partnerships are you looking for, if any, to help your business become more stable?
• What vendors of yours need to be re-evaluated or replaced?
• What tools of the trade and companies interest you for new products?

Winning by knowing your customers

• What positions in their companies do your target customers typically hold?
• How can you relate to your customer to help present solutions?
• If you are selling a need-based product, how can you get your customer to stock up on the need product ASAP?
• If you are selling a want, what emotion drives your customer to “need” this want?
• What language and slang do your customers use?
• What language, words and topics should you avoid with your customers?
• What pain points can you help solve for your customers?
• What questions can you ask potential customers to qualify them as quality leads?
• What questions can you ask potential customers to lead them to your solutions?
• Which events do your customers attend?

Winning by knowing your products and services

• Product knowledge won’t always help you sell a product or service, but lack of it can definitely hurt you.
• Know the benefits of all your products and services. Talk about these first and last.
• Know the features of all your products and services. Talk about these when they relate to a benefit and if your customer asks you about them, but stick to benefits most of the time.
• Know why your products and services exist.
• Know which products and services have the highest ROI.
• Practice the up-sell possibilities and transitions for all products and services.

Know which industry problem, need or want is solved by which product or service you sell.

Winning with strategy

• Is your goal to generate leads, brand/product awareness, or sales?
• How do you best achieve this goal with your available resources?
• Build a priority list of targets so that the most important ones are not missed.

Winning by planning

• Learn the layout of the event (maps, websites, Facebook pages).
• Decide which booths and tables you plan on visiting and list them in order or planned visit.
• Determine and identify additional networking opportunities you may get around the event.
• Plan on which products and services to focus on during the events.
• Is the event full of all business professionals or softer targets like small businesses?
• Figure out a way to make an impression on everyone you meet.
• Come up with a plan for a follow up on every good contact you make at the event.
• Put together tracking documents, on paper or digitally, to use while at the event.
• Take photos of everything for use on social media, ideally live.
• Know that you and your team are human and will need a break, plan that, too!

You can figure out the best way to grow at these events after you have answered all of these questions. Just remember to know yourself, your customers, your strategy and your plan to succeed at these events. Use the opportunity to grow your business!

This article was first published as a blog by CapitalTristate, an electrical distributor in the U.S. Mid Atlantic.