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Actual for You - Top Ten Blunders Exhibitors Make in Expos/Tradeshows
The purchase of new trade show exhibit displays represent a significant portion of a company’s annual trade show budget. Typically, companies budget approximately 30% of their overall annual marketing budget towards trade show exhibit displays, a rental trade show exhibit, simple banner stand displays, and their overall exhibit program. Establishing a viable budget to purchase new trade show exhibit displays can be acquired by consulting with the vendors of their trade show exhibits or referencing past display purchases. The national average for purchasing new convention booth hardware ranges from $100 to $150 per square foot. For example, a 10x10 booth display is 100 square feet, which will cost between $10,000 and $15,000.Most exhibit houses offer a variety of ways to acquire new exhibits for trade fairs, including purchase, lease to own, or a rental program. When purchasing a display, your exhibit house will require a deposit prior to placing your order, ranging from fifty to sixty percent, with the balance due upon receipt of the new trade show exhibit displays. Leasing to own your new display has many financial advantages including low monthly payments, acquire equipment without tying up capital, eliminate obsolescence, and simplify accounting. For example, if you only have $8,000 in your annual budget for the purchase of a new trade show booth and it re
3. Your booth does not have an attention-grabbing headline:
Does ABC Company really mean anything to your buyers or referral partners? If not, why make that your headline. Advertisement and marketing experts will tell you that you have only 5 to 6 seconds to get anybody’s attention. If that is the case, shouldn’t your headline grab their attention? So how do you do that? Make your headline something related to solving the problem or pain of your prospect. What does that look like? One of my businesses is to assist business owners and employers in screening candidates in the hiring process by providing tools to assess candidates. So my headline
Doesn’t it seem like every day there is some new technology affecting the way people communicate with each other? Blogs, Text Messaging, RSS Feeds, Podcasts, and other emerging technologies are coming at us fast and furiously, which can be overwhelming at first glance. But upon further inspection, all of these new technologies are really good news for small businesses!For the first time ever, consumers are shaping how they want to hear messages from companies large and small. In the past, companies have relied on tried-and-true advertising methods such as TV ads, newspaper and magazine print ads, radio ads, and billboards, all of which are expensive and beyond the budgets of most small businesses. Studies are now reporting that these traditional forms of advertising are increasingly ineffective with today’s consumers, who are already empowered by technology. They often prefer newer ways of receiving content such as the web, wireless devices, cell phones, etc.So how is this good news for small businesses? Because using new technology to reach a small business audience is not only effective, it is also quite inexpensive compared with more traditional forms of advertising. Today’s consumers are typically comfortable with technology, and have an expectation that information will be molded and delivered to fit their needs and preferences.Small businesses ca
If you are like most exhibitors, you were disappointed from the results at your last expo. There is only one reason for dismal results from an expo and that is not knowing how to maximize the opportunities from an expo/tradeshow.
Here are some amazing facts from expos/tradeshows:
1. Most attendees come to an expo because they are seriously researching the vendors and their products and services
2. A majority of the attendees at an expo are either decision makers or have significant influence in buying decisions
If that is the case how come most exhibitors feel that their time and money was not well spent at an expo? In fact, if you were an exhibitor recently, you might be questioning your decision and may shy away from exhibiting at the next expo.
Ask yourself, were you committing any of these Top Ten Blunders?
1. You are not aware of your target market
2. Your target market was not at the expo
3. You did not have an attention-grabbing headline
4. You did not have a compelling call to action
5. You believed that expo is a place to sell, sell, and sell
6. You were focused on getting everybody to buy what you were selling without qualifying
7. You stayed at your booth expecting people to come to your booth
8. Your booth showed lack of preparation and professionalism
9. You were giving away junk at your booth
10. There was no plan to follow up
Let me explain each of these blunders and give you suggestions on how to avoid them in the future.
1. Not aware of your target market:
Who is your target market? If your answer is everybody then you will have a tough time deciding which expo to go to. Even if everybody can benefit from your product or service, you must start with one specific target market. Who do you think gets paid more, a general physician or a plastic surgeon? Obviously a plastic surgeon. Aren’t both doctors? One is considered a specialist and that is why, the plastic surgeon charges more money.
So if you do not have a niche, you are likely to never get the most from an expo. So define your market. For example, my friend Jason Ryan of Midstates Alliance, can promote his services to anyone but he chooses to focus on Insurance agents as his firm specializes in restoration. Isn’t it more cost-effective to focus on one market and master it than trying to be everything to everybody?
2. Your target market is not at the expo:
If you are selling to real estate agents, what are you doing at a mortgage brokers expo? The point is select the expo you wish to go to based on the other vendors who will be there and the attendees. Take both into account. Sometimes the vendors may be great sources of business for you either as prospects or referral partners. Either way you will win.
Recently, I was talking to one of my clients and she was tired of networking and felt inundated with business cards from these networking events. She felt compelled to follow up and was asking for advice on how to get organized. I asked her, who is her best source of business. She said realtors. I asked her then, what was she doing at general-purpose mixers and expos? All she needs to do is focus on the realtor expos and mixers and sponsor some of their events. She could not believe that what she thought was an organizing problem was really a problem of narrowly focusing on her target market. She can afford to throw away other business cards and doesn’t need to show up at every networking event. She freed up her time tremendously.
3. Your booth does not have an attention-grabbing headline:
Does ABC Company really mean anything to your buyers or referral partners? If not, why make that your headline. Advertisement and marketing experts will tell you that you have only 5 to 6 seconds to get anybody’s attention. If that is the case, shouldn’t your headline grab their attention? So how do you do that? Make your headline something related to solving the problem or pain of your prospect. What does that look like? One of my businesses is to assist business owners and employers in screening candidates in the hiring process by providing tools to assess candidates. So my headline c
Corporations in every sector are spending more than ever before in an attempt to improve their customer service levels. Every year they pour hundreds of millions of dollars into new systems and training programs that promise them the ability to win customer loyalty. Despite their efforts, however, customer satisfaction results continue to fall. Why aren’t these massive efforts paying huge dividends? One would think that by now the organizations that have committed these vast resources would have a large cadre of satisfied, loyal customers, but in most cases just the opposite is true.Think about the scenarios that play out every day. Where is the “fast” in the fast food industry, when drive-up or walk-in service can now take ten, fifteen, even twenty minutes or more? Why are there so many telephone response cues that offer callers recorded messages warning that due to unusually high call volume, wait times may be many minutes long? Or how about local small businesses, such as dry cleaners and specialty stores, whose staff do not care enough to remember the names of frequent patrons? Today, customer service and satisfaction are more often than not abysmal.The main problem is that the majority of the money being spent is simply masking the symptoms of the epidemic. As most people have experienced when sick, no matter how much cold medication you consume, you wil
Ask yourself, were you committing any of these Top Ten Blunders?
1. You are not aware of your target market
2. Your target market was not at the expo
3. You did not have an attention-grabbing headline
4. You did not have a compelling call to action
5. You believed that expo is a place to sell, sell, and sell
6. You were focused on getting everybody to buy what you were selling without qualifying
7. You stayed at your booth expecting people to come to your booth
8. Your booth showed lack of preparation and professionalism
9. You were giving away junk at your booth
10. There was no plan to follow up
Let me explain each of these blunders and give you suggestions on how to avoid them in the future.
1. Not aware of your target market:
Who is your target market? If your answer is everybody then you will have a tough time deciding which expo to go to. Even if everybody can benefit from your product or service, you must start with one specific target market. Who do you think gets paid more, a general physician or a plastic surgeon? Obviously a plastic surgeon. Aren’t both doctors? One is considered a specialist and that is why, the plastic surgeon charges more money.
So if you do not have a niche, you are likely to never get the most from an expo. So define your market. For example, my friend Jason Ryan of Midstates Alliance, can promote his services to anyone but he chooses to focus on Insurance agents as his firm specializes in restoration. Isn’t it more cost-effective to focus on one market and master it than trying to be everything to everybody?
2. Your target market is not at the expo:
If you are selling to real estate agents, what are you doing at a mortgage brokers expo? The point is select the expo you wish to go to based on the other vendors who will be there and the attendees. Take both into account. Sometimes the vendors may be great sources of business for you either as prospects or referral partners. Either way you will win.
Recently, I was talking to one of my clients and she was tired of networking and felt inundated with business cards from these networking events. She felt compelled to follow up and was asking for advice on how to get organized. I asked her, who is her best source of business. She said realtors. I asked her then, what was she doing at general-purpose mixers and expos? All she needs to do is focus on the realtor expos and mixers and sponsor some of their events. She could not believe that what she thought was an organizing problem was really a problem of narrowly focusing on her target market. She can afford to throw away other business cards and doesn’t need to show up at every networking event. She freed up her time tremendously.
3. Your booth does not have an attention-grabbing headline:
Does ABC Company really mean anything to your buyers or referral partners? If not, why make that your headline. Advertisement and marketing experts will tell you that you have only 5 to 6 seconds to get anybody’s attention. If that is the case, shouldn’t your headline grab their attention? So how do you do that? Make your headline something related to solving the problem or pain of your prospect. What does that look like? One of my businesses is to assist business owners and employers in screening candidates in the hiring process by providing tools to assess candidates. So my headline
If you are considering a Car Wash Fundraiser in a good location on a Sunny Saturday for your youth organization whether it is a high-school band, soccer team or church youth group then you need to consider proper staffing in order to be able to handle the volume of traffic and cars coming thru you see?First it is best to run your car wash from 10 AM to 2 PM and if the traffic is still robust keep going, do not turn away money. Staffing for Car Wash Fundraisers is paramount to their success and ability to move the line of waiting cars. If the line gets too long no one will stop to wait. Conversely if the line is to non-existent no one will want to risk it, they want to see others in line first.When staffing for Car Wash Fundraisers you should have two-shifts. 2 hours each and one half shift, which comes one-hour before the end to help clean up and relieve stragglers or those who can no longer keep up.For parents you need a least one supervisor per 5-7 kids and these supervisors should be positioned as greeters for those cars in line to answer questions, as well as one where the cars are soaped and one where they are being dried, with a floater supervisor to over see the project. Please consider all this in 2006.
So if you do not have a niche, you are likely to never get the most from an expo. So define your market. For example, my friend Jason Ryan of Midstates Alliance, can promote his services to anyone but he chooses to focus on Insurance agents as his firm specializes in restoration. Isn’t it more cost-effective to focus on one market and master it than trying to be everything to everybody?
2. Your target market is not at the expo:
If you are selling to real estate agents, what are you doing at a mortgage brokers expo? The point is select the expo you wish to go to based on the other vendors who will be there and the attendees. Take both into account. Sometimes the vendors may be great sources of business for you either as prospects or referral partners. Either way you will win.
Recently, I was talking to one of my clients and she was tired of networking and felt inundated with business cards from these networking events. She felt compelled to follow up and was asking for advice on how to get organized. I asked her, who is her best source of business. She said realtors. I asked her then, what was she doing at general-purpose mixers and expos? All she needs to do is focus on the realtor expos and mixers and sponsor some of their events. She could not believe that what she thought was an organizing problem was really a problem of narrowly focusing on her target market. She can afford to throw away other business cards and doesn’t need to show up at every networking event. She freed up her time tremendously.
3. Your booth does not have an attention-grabbing headline:
Does ABC Company really mean anything to your buyers or referral partners? If not, why make that your headline. Advertisement and marketing experts will tell you that you have only 5 to 6 seconds to get anybody’s attention. If that is the case, shouldn’t your headline grab their attention? So how do you do that? Make your headline something related to solving the problem or pain of your prospect. What does that look like? One of my businesses is to assist business owners and employers in screening candidates in the hiring process by providing tools to assess candidates. So my headline
Do you need more clients? One of the most overlooked ways to fill your private practice or small business with new clients is by giving free public seminars. Public seminars give you exposure, publicity and help to position you as an expert.1. What should I speak about? Free public seminars are a great way to highlight a niche. Offer a seminar that targets an area that you specialize in such as eating disorders, career counselling, or anger management. If you don’t specialize in any one area you might offer a seminar on general topics that may be of interest to a diverse group such as how to manage stress, work-life balance, or how to communicate effectively.2. When should I hold the seminar? More people will attend a seminar held at the beginning of the week than at the end of the week. Make your presentation last approximately 45 minutes and leave 15 minutes for a question and answer period.3. Where should I hold the seminar? Use your office if it is big enough, or the public library, a church hall, or the local school. Contact the not-for-profit associations in your community as they are always looking for speakers.4. How can I advertise the seminar for free? Most newspapers will allow you to place a free ad when you offer a public seminar. If you are looking for speaking engagements place
Recently, I was talking to one of my clients and she was tired of networking and felt inundated with business cards from these networking events. She felt compelled to follow up and was asking for advice on how to get organized. I asked her, who is her best source of business. She said realtors. I asked her then, what was she doing at general-purpose mixers and expos? All she needs to do is focus on the realtor expos and mixers and sponsor some of their events. She could not believe that what she thought was an organizing problem was really a problem of narrowly focusing on her target market. She can afford to throw away other business cards and doesn’t need to show up at every networking event. She freed up her time tremendously.
3. Your booth does not have an attention-grabbing headline:
Does ABC Company really mean anything to your buyers or referral partners? If not, why make that your headline. Advertisement and marketing experts will tell you that you have only 5 to 6 seconds to get anybody’s attention. If that is the case, shouldn’t your headline grab their attention? So how do you do that? Make your headline something related to solving the problem or pain of your prospect. What does that look like? One of my businesses is to assist business owners and employers in screening candidates in the hiring process by providing tools to assess candidates. So my headline
Where plastics and synthetics have gained prominence in the forms of craft, wooden craft finds a not so unimportant place. Lifestyles full of antiques are not uncommon. A classic augmentation of the aesthetics! Creative intellect put together with skill find intelligent applications for various purposes.Common or uncommon carving techniques on this medium make for a feel that has been known throughout ages. Beauty maybe uncommon and that continues to be the character of beauty when the labor of the craftsperson makes a presence felt. Alluring if intricate the outcome.Carved and chiseled spoons, ladles, coasters, sculptures, jewelry boxes and desktop accessories of timber or any other, the effect effective. Cedar belongs to the pine family. The cypress and mahogany belong to the same family. Fragrant and oily textured cedars have long since adorned the Himalayan and Mediterranean landscape.Willows have been wielded in cricket only recently. Since the formation of the earth into a distinct entity in the universe, willows have found a place at the table of a craftsperson. Interesting, the weeping willow, the almond willow, and the tea leaves willow. A truly interesting this medium for a person of the crafts.Rosewood, another kind of timber commonly used in the making of gift articles. As the name suggests, the fragrance is long living and extremely
3. Your booth does not have an attention-grabbing headline:
Does ABC Company really mean anything to your buyers or referral partners? If not, why make that your headline. Advertisement and marketing experts will tell you that you have only 5 to 6 seconds to get anybody’s attention. If that is the case, shouldn’t your headline grab their attention? So how do you do that? Make your headline something related to solving the problem or pain of your prospect. What does that look like? One of my businesses is to assist business owners and employers in screening candidates in the hiring process by providing tools to assess candidates. So my headline can be” Stop hiring misfits, weirdoes and losers who leave you tired and broke’ (see www.makingteamswork.com) A web developer can say ” Getting no leads from your website?’ The purpose of the headline is to make your prospect stop and try to get more information from your booth. Make your headline attractive enough so your prospects don’t miss it in their hurry to get to as many booths as possible.
4. You do not have a compelling call to action
Once your prospect stops in front of your booth and engages you in a conversation, what is next? You must have a call to action. What it simply means is that the prospect must do something to distinguish themselves from tire-kickers and you have a reason to follow-up with them the next day. Registering for a door prize is one of them. Filling out a survey is another. You must ask why will the prospect be willing to give me that information? No wonder, companies give door prizes, pens etc to entice people in giving permission to follow up with them. Make your offer creative and compelling.
5. You believe that expo is a place to sell, sell, and sell
How much time do you have at an expo to talk to a person? Usually you should give only a few minutes to a prospect. If you are trying to close a deal, then you are missing the point. Expos are not the place where people usually make buying decisions. Most attendees look at expos as a place to gather information and research different competing vendors and their products/services. So don’t try to convince them and sell them at that time. You will only leave a bad taste in their mouth and lose chances to get them as a client later during follow up. More than once, I have been chased and pressured by over-zealous sales people at expos to buy their services and sign on the dotted line. I usually run in the other direction whenever I see them coming the next time.
6. You are focused on getting everybody to buy what you are selling without qualifying
Expos are a place to generate qualified leads not just collect business cards of everybody who walks in. We talked about focusing on a target market as well. This is an extension of that idea. Let me give you a couple of examples. If you offered a color TV or a vacation to Bahamas, how many people will give you their information? Everybody at the expo will put in his or her business card or register to get a shot at the grand prize.
Is that really what you want? You will have a business card from every visitor but do you know if they are qualified leads? Are they really interested in your products or service? You don’t know. So why not be selective as to who you give the prize to by qualifying the prospect in advance? If you are interested in talking to people who are going to invest $250,000 or more with you in your financial planning business in the next 3 months, then your offer or prize should be directed to that group. How about people who are looking to roll-over their 401Ks? Make your booth oriented towards those people. Your headline, offer, materials should be directed to them. Do you really want everybody else to stop at your booth and waste your time? Not at all.
Getting 10 qualified leads is much better than getting 100 unqualified names and numbers.
7. You stay at your booth expecting people to come to your booth
Most people do not have good networking skills. Also most vendors feel that they should stay at their booth and that is the on
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