How to Have a Better MarketPlace Experience!
COMMON MISTAKES EXHIBITORS MAKE 1. PRE-SHOW A. Failure to Set Exhibit Goals - Goals or the purpose for exhibiting are the essence of your whole MarketPlace experience. Knowing what you want to accomplish at a show will help you plan your theme, booth lay out and displays, graphics premiums, literature etc. Exhibiting goals should complement your business marketing objectives and help you to achieve them. B. Failure to Plan a Display - Visualize your display space. Prepare a check list on what items and materials you need to bring. In doing this you will recognize what resources are available to you and what needs to be produced. Allocating time in advance will significantly cut down on extra charges for rush printing jobs, produce better looking displays, be less stressful for everyone and will avoid blunders made under time pressures. C. Neglecting Booth Staff Preparation - Time, energy and money are put into organizing show participation. However, many times the staff members chosen to represent your business or organization are left to fend for themselves and are told to just show up! Brief your staff beforehand on why you are exhibiting, what you are exhibiting and what you expect from them. D. Failure to Inform the Chamber – The Chamber is here to help you promote your participation. However, it has become commonplace for exhibitors not to tell the Chamber what products or specials they will be featuring at the event. Do not wait until the last minute to determine your specials. Let the Chamber know well in advance if you are launching a new product or service or what your special for the event will be so that they can start spreading the word. 2. AT THE SHOW A. Ignoring Visitors Needs - Often staff members feel compelled to give the visitor as much information as possible and fail to ask them what their real needs and interest in your product or service is. Pre-show preparation and training is the key. B. Handing Out Literature - Staff members who are unsure of what to do in the booth environment or feel uncomfortable talking to strangers, end up handing out literature just to keep occupied. Literature acts as a barrier to conversation and will probably be discarded at the first opportunity. It is vital that you pick a team that enjoys interacting with strangers and knows what is expected of them. A warm smile and a cheery 'hello' go a long way to opening a conversation. 3. AFTER THE SHOW A. Ignoring Lead Follow-Up - Show leads are often left to cool after the show ends. The longer they are left unattended, the colder they become. Prior to the show, establish guidelines on how leads will be handled, set timelines for follow up and make sales representatives accountable for leads given to them. You have paid for every lead. B. Overlooking Show Evaluation - The more you understand about your performance at the show, the more improvement and fine tuning you can make for future participation in the Expo. Each show has its own idiosyncrasies; there is always room for improvement. Invest the time with your staff immediately after the show to evaluate your performance and the performance of the Chamber. Complete the Chamber’s Evaluation form and send it back to them – your feedback will help them to address any issues and make the next Expo better. It will pay enormous dividends!
SIMPLE IDEAS 1. BE PROACTIVE A. Prior to the event, incorporate your participation in your advertisement marketing materials. B. If you have multiple staff available, (one or two people in a booth is all that is needed), you can visit other vendors in the show yourself; sell your solution to others. Explain to them how you can solve their problem or make their life easier. Do not forget to check out what the competition is doing. C. Collecting Prospects Contact Details - Have a bowl on your table - Ask people to put their business cards in it, make sure it has their E-mail address. Print up blank cards with the MarketPlace name on them and hand them out for the general public to fill out – this is about collecting valuable consumer information. D. To get them to give a card or fill in the blank cards, offer a prize drawing. E. Offer a special that will be available only at MarketPlace. This will help to generate sales and product awareness. F. That night or the next day at the latest, E-mail all these people back with a 'thank you' for stopping by the booth and a little note about your company. The visitors will be impressed by your rapid response! BE SURE TO FOLLOW UP ON LEADS GENERATED. G. You may want to stand in front of your booth, rather than behind it. This gets you closer to the crowd walking by. Sitting in a chair behind a table is a no, no for getting new business. Have a special show only offer! H. Arrange a product or service demonstration. 2. ATTITUDE & STAFFING For your MarketPlace experience to be successful, there may be nothing more important than Attitude! The outlook you and your staff have for the event will play large in the outcome. Staff the booth with enthusiastic and knowledgeable people. Have your staff wear name tags, be excited and smile while greeting customers and prospective clients. 3. PROMOTE! PROMOTE! PROMOTE! A. Use every opportunity available to let friends, family, clients, customers, and prospects know that you are participating in MarketPlace. The only way people will come to see you is if you tell them! B. The Chamber will provide you with invitations to the Grand Opening for you to send to your client database. Send them out! C. If you are on FACEBOOK or TWITTER or LINKED IN use these tools to spread the word about the event and your participation. This costs you nothing! You can also direct them to the MarketPlace website and the Chambers Facebook page for updates. D. Order your giveaways with your company information on it now. Do not wait until the last minute or chances are you will pay more for expedited shipping.
ITS SHOW TIME A STAND OUT EXHIBIT You don't need a mammoth-sized exhibit or piles of money to make a big (and memorable) statement. Use some of these tactics for getting the biggest bang out of your small booth: 1. Use lighting. According to industry research, lighting can increase awareness of your exhibit by 30 to 50 percent. Renting a portable lighting system or using product spotlights will give your small exhibit the extra exposure it needs. 2. Keep it simple. Feature only one or two products. Any more than that and you'll just add clutter - and keep your prospects away. 3. Employ bold colors. Find high-impact hues that will stand out from a distance, and avoid neutral colors that will just blend into the background. Be as creative, bright, colorful, original and fun as you can with your exhibit area. 4. Invest in graphics. Using fewer and larger graphics is the first step. Then, make sure all graphics start no lower than 36 inches on the back wall. Otherwise, they won't be seen when people or products are standing in front of them. And remember that dense or too-small copy will not be read. 5. Be proportionate. Don’t crowd your space and make it look even smaller than it is. Leave enough room in your exhibit so your staff can talk comfortably with attendees. REDUCE, RESUE, RECYCLE YOUR GRAPHICS When it's time to create new exhibit graphics, examine artwork and photography from current and previous marketing campaigns before you reinvent the wheel. Granted, sometimes the resolution or quality of other existing images may not fit your large-format needs, but simply checking your existing files could save you oodles of time, money, and creative energy. SNAP A PICTURE After all the work that goes into creating an exhibit, remember to bring a camera so you can document your hard work. You can use the pictures to show off your exhibit to colleagues who could not be there, to give yourself a reference point for next year, and even to hang examples of your handiwork on the wall in your office. Remember to take pictures of things you want to change, so you can remember what not to do next year. If you want to use your photos for professional print publications, or if you want to blow them up to make graphics, make sure your camera takes high-resolution pictures. SUMMING UP YOUR SALES PROSPECTS Are You Spending Time With Every Show Visitor? One of the hardest concepts for some exhibitors to understand is that everyone at the show is not a prospect. At any show, there are really only three types of prospects for your product or service. Handling each one correctly will save you time and energy. Prospects can generally be classified into three types:
Type A: Ready to order or buy now. These are the people you came to the show to attract and find. You want to spend quality time with them. Type B: Interested, but need more information. These are the people you want to convert to Type A. If you can determine who they are, you can do more than just give them a product sheet which they may not read later. Type C: Not qualified or not interested. They truly don't want or need your product. If they don't really have any use for your product, don't waste time with them. Once you've classified attendees, the next step is draw the best prospects to your booth. Here are two ways to attract the best prospects. 1. Use good signs. The signs in your booth can help prospects determine their interest quickly. Clear descriptions of who will benefit (and why) will get people to say to themselves "Hey, that's me! Perhaps I should look into this further." They walk into the booth with an open mind already. Don't stand in the aisle dragging people into the booth with the hope of obtaining a cool premium. This rarely results in more sales. More leads, perhaps, but not necessarily more sales. 2. Teach things in your presentations. Product presentations can draw large crowds. Sprinkle trivia about the industry or your product category throughout the presentation so everyone watching feels that they are learning something in addition to your product's features and benefits. As they view the presentation, the Type C prospects will probably realize who they are. But if they learn something in the presentation, then they'll leave with a good feeling about the company and its products. THINGS YOU MUST REMEMBER 1. EXCLUSIONS A. Exhibitors are prohibited from marking or screwing any objects into the walls or floors of the ARC. The use of concrete screws is strictly forbidden. Any damage by the exhibitor to the floor and walls of the ARC, curtains, and display booth frames will be charged to the exhibitor accordingly. B. Exhibitors are not allowed to sub-let any booth space. C. Alcohol distribution or sales are not permitted to anyone under the age of 18. D. There will be no solicitation or hand outs at the entrance or any public areas within the MarketPlace grounds. You are limited to your booth space only. E. No sale of raffle tickets for upcoming events. F. No soliciting of funds for charity, schools, or the like. G. Pets are strictly prohibited. H. Children ARE NOT allowed at the Opening Event, During Set Up or Breakdown.
2. SELL! SELL! SELL! Your products and make sure you have sufficient float. (LOCAL VENDORS ONLY) 3. SET UP HOURS Tuesday, 25th October – 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, 26th October – 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 4. SHOW HOURS Wednesday, 26th October – 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, 27th October – 10 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. 5. BREAKDOWN HOURS Thursday, 27th October – 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday, 28th October – 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. 6. Bring your own extension cords, ladders, string, scissors, tape, pens, pencils, etc. 7. Exhibitors are responsible for the safety of their funds and removing all cash from their booths.