If you’re gifting a t-shirt or something cool, you’re guaranteed to give it away, but it’s not guaranteed that someone will actually pay attention to you. I’ve been to conventions where exhibitors paid $ 5,000 or more to have their booth, only to suffer the same demise that most exhibitors go through without generating interested leads or new customers. This article is intended to help those who present their company or services through a fair or exhibition.
The most important thing to do is spread your business message! It’s not just about having an attractive sign or a nice gift; you have to get people’s attention. One strategy is timing the gift. Giveaway time is when you give a good gift at a certain point in the event; Tell everyone at the expo when you are giving it away and tell them you must be there to win. At a recent real estate investment expo, I gave away three Ipods at three different times. Three different moments in the event I had a captive audience huddled around my booth. I had three different moments in front of 60-70 people to give my 5 minute presentation for my company. This is like a bribe, but it works. While other booths around me generated one or two people at their booth at any given time, they had 60-70 people at three different times! This is a great option if you are only going to have one person in the booth.
Another strategy is to use some kind of game. Everyone loves to play games and this is a great way, especially if you have more than one person in charge of the booth, to really get your message across and get a lot of attention. Unlike timing of gifts, gifts and prizes are not that important. This is cheaper than syncing gifts and generates a lot of energy and fun. At a recent real estate agent trade show, we hung our banner in the middle of the booth and placed three objective boards on the left and right sides of the banner. Then we had two foam suction dart guns that the participants would use to hit the targets. Again, where all the other booths had one or two people at any given time, we had two lines of 20+ people waiting to play! While they waited, one of our staff members working at the booth handed them brochures and told them about our company. As the founder of the Forever Wealth Club (www.ForeverWealthClub.com), we provide meeting passes (cost zero), T-shirts (cost $ 5) and DVD (cost $ 1).
Finally, one thing that drives me crazy is when companies have a great looking booth, a nice expensive gift, but they don’t communicate with people. Much of this comes down to who manages the booth at the expo or trade show. This is NOT the time for business owners to put hourly employees on the booth. Generally, commission-free people don’t care if they receive business cards or talk to people, since they are paid the same amount anyway. You want to be there as an owner or put someone who has a commission in place and you will have a much better chance of getting more clients. Remember, it is extremely rare to land a new customer at a trade show or expo, but simply following up can lead to more customers than you might imagine, as very few people follow up.