If you had to come up with three words to describe the city of Amsterdam, what would they be?  I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the word “exhibition” made some lists although it might be used in the same context of the meaning of my blog today, which is of course, trade shows.

Sure we can go on forever talking about the social-political upsides to living in a city as liberal that of Amsterdam but the point today is that it is a great city for trade shows.  And it’s where I spent this past week installing a 6m x 6m stand for Entropic Communications, an Echelon client exhibiting at the International Broadcast Communications (IBC) show.

Our goal was to create an environment that facilitated connected home networking demonstrations and private meetings for Entropic’s leadership.  We utilized a combination of custom exhibit properties for meetings with a few rental components in order to create an environment that was had the look of a tech-driven company.

You can visit our web site to read a case study about Entropic’s custom exhibit program.

Ok, you are prepared for the show and have addressed everything discussed in Trade Show Success Strategies ~ Pre-Show.  Opening day is just a few hours away and the question to ask is how do you make the most of your time on the floor?  How can we help insure that a desired ROI is obtainable?

It starts with YOU!

•80% of what a prospect remembers about a company is based on staff behavior and attitude
•YOU are one of the primary reasons why people will visit the booth
•64% of prospect’s impression is formed within 4 seconds
•YOU only get one shot at a first impression

Trade shows are unique sales environments in which everyone must be on top of their game.

•They are very expensive
•There are many distractions, anything from the neighbors circus act to the other neighbors “booth babes” can take your mind off the task at hand
•There is intense competition, you are surrounded by exhibitors trying to pull attendees away and into their booth..  Some of those are even your competitiors
•80% lookers vs. 20% real buyers
•You have limited time with prospects; 5-7 minutes
•They also provide a unique opportunity to beat the competition

How do you succeed in this unique environment?  Follow a 6 step process:

Step #1:  Attract & Approach

•Most attendees will not stop unless you approach them
•Use body language, appear approachable
•Attendees will not wait for you

Here are some interesting numbers for you.  6% of attendees will leave in 10 seconds, 11% leave in 30 seconds, 41% leave within the first minute if not approached.

Step #2: Qualify

•Know your audience
•Get the prospect to talk
•Respectfully dismiss unqualified prospects

Step #3 Present

•Rehears your presentation prior to the show
•Bond with the prospect and peak his or her interest in your companywill typically tune out
•Get to the point quickly, if you dont connect within the first 90 seconds the prospect

Step #4 Agree & Release

•Summarize your conversation
•Reconfirm prospects information
•Agree on specific next steps (followup call or meeting)
•Release and engage next prospect

Step #5 Document

•Capture good data (quality rather than quantity is the rule)
•Record key information, capture something personal about the prospect
•This may sound elementary but write clearly, accuracy is key

Step #6 Follow-up

I will dedicate the third part of this three part series to the “Follow-up” as I feel that this is all too often the weakest link in the process.

This is a process that will, without a doubt, put you on track for success in a trade show environment.  Remember that to begin new relationships, you must first engage and create a positive impression.   Being mindful of the fact that people need to trust you before they do business with you, be approachable, and listening more than you talk will help you do exactly that.

It is pretty easy to walk the show floor and spot the exhibitors that “just show up” and it is more common than you may think.  I was in Orlando for the HDI show last month and had a chance to catch lunch just before my departing flight.  The guy sitting next to me was obviously a sales guy, you know the look, that had been a staffer for an exhibitor at another show that was in town.  Mistakenly, I struck a conversation with him, I asked “how was the show for you guys”, “I hate trade shows” he responded, “really, why?”, “I think they are pointless and I dont like begging people to buy my product” he says.  Luckily it was time to catch my flight right after that comment.  Do you think this guy should have been representing his company at the show?

Exhibiting at a trade show can be an invaluable experience.  However, if you and your team are not prepared, your ROI will reflect that.  To get the most from exhibiting, you should have a realistic budget, goals, prepared staff, collateral in place, and set appointments.

Review and Implement a Realistic Budget
Setting a realistic budget is vital to the success of your show.  Common things to take into consideration are exhibit space, exhibit materials, show services, pre-show promotion and staff expense/time.  It’s almost impossible to realize positive ROI when you don’t know how much you’re spending – and what you’re spending it on!  I will be using a $70,000 overall budget for illustrative purposes below.

Set Goals

One of the best place to begin planning for the show is by identifying your trade show goals and strategies. Simply put, this is the way that you will position your company, products, and or services at the actual tradeshow. What are you trying to accomplish? What specific outcomes are you trying to achieve? What resources are you willing to commit to the actual event?  Your goals might look like this:

Goals:
- 500 Qualification Conversations
- 25 Commercial Leads
- 25 Enterprise Leads
- Cost Per Lead= $1,400 ($70,000 ÷ 50)

Staff Preparation

First step ~ be sure you are sending the correct staff members, dont send “that guy” I met in the airport.  Preparing your staff for the show can involve creating scripts for them, role-playing, and answering any questions they might have. Your trade show checklist should establish certain expectations regarding their collection of sales or leads. It should also remind you to assign specific responsibilities to your employees as early as 4 months before the event. Then, schedule weekly or biweekly training sessions to help them develop skills to engage visitors and qualify leads at the show.  Put together a presentation to bring the staffers up to speed with your goals and strategies, a good exercise is to show them exactly what it will cost for your company to simply have a presence at the show.  That might look something like this:

Overall budget= $70K
12 hours of show time
$5,833 per hour
$97.22 per minute
$1.62 per second

Collateral

This includes brochures, fact sheets, stands and posters for your booth. For trade shows, it’s a good idea to have these on a CD or USB drive and also include images or videos so you can give them to travel sellers to take away. You will need enough collateral for the show as well as for follow-up meetings and mailings.
Appointments

Be well prepared by taking the time to pre-schedule appointments, this will truly help you maximize your efforts.  Take it a step further and try to set these appointments with decision makers!

With these objectives in mind, you should feel good about what is to come from the show.  “But you dont have to take my word for it” – Burton ~ Reading Rainbow

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, what would you add?

This week Echelon Design has partnered with Accenture, Qualcomm and GSMA to present the Embedded Mobile Zone (EMZ) at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.  The EMZ is a collaborative effort to showcase the latest trends in mobile technology across several verticals such as health, consumer products and automotive.

Echelon was brought into the project to design and construct a 21.5m x 7m exhibit that would facilitate a combination of live, in-home and presentation-led demonstrations and that was tastefully branded as the EMZ.  It was bit of scramble but we managed to design and construct the properties in less than 5 weeks as needed to make ocean freight shipment.

You can see the results in the pictures below or by visiting our Flickr gallery.

Saturday I pack my bags and head for Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, where more than 50,000 key decision makers in mobile technology will be in attendance at the industry’s most influential show of the year.  Echelon will be working in the App Planet located in hall 7 from 02/08 through then end of the show.  I’ve been prepping for my trip for the past eight weeks but that has been largely inclusive of client work and it’s not until now that I’ve given serious consideration to what I need to do in order to be ready for my next experience in international exhibiting.

My last time out of the country was when I went to Essen, Germany for the international cutting and welding show and it’s that experience that I’ll draw on mostly as I gather my final thoughts for the trip to Spain.  Five things to consider:

1. No matter how confident you are it’s always more difficult than you think to get around in another country.  Even your hotel can prove to be a challenge.  The positive thing about Barcelona is that it’s located in Mediterranean country and the people are more than happy to help when greeted with courtesy.  My goal. Be courteous.
2. Don’t try to stay awake the first day I arrive.  This time I tried to and it didn’t work out so well for me.  I remember it was a beautiful day and I had found the best place to sit down and read but the exhaustion of my trip had caught up with me, and I kept re-reading the same lines over and over, and over again.  Not this time.  I’m going to sleep as soon and as much as I can when I checked into my room.
3. Figure out the local train station as soon as possible.  It’s just way too much money to hop a 5-10 min. cab ride when a $5 train ticket will do just fine.
4. Research the local restaurant scene.  It’s just too easy to fall into the bad habit of eating at the hotel.  This would be especially true in Barcelona, a city that holds some of the most well reviewed restaurants in the world.  Fine dining aside, there has to be a few gems there worth searching for.
5. Skype whenever possible.  No matter how hard you try to stay off your phone, those $2/min charges can add up quickly.  Plus, Skype affords me the ability to see my wife and daughter in full color.  Gotta love it.

These are just a few of the things running through my mind right now, but I’m more interested in hearing what you think.  Let me know how you personally prep for international traveling and exhibiting. What am I missing?

Until the next time…