A few weeks ago I attended the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Show in Salt Lake City with a client.
The show had me thinking of some more tips for attending a trade show as an exhibitor. Here they are!
Don’t act desperate. When an exhibitor at a trade show is desperate it’s obvious and off-putting. What I mean is, when an exhibitor hasn’t been selling and is feeling the pressure, they tend to do things are unflattering.
In my post 10 Trade Show Tips and Tricks, I wrote about developing a plan before attending a trade show. The best way to curb desperation at a trade show is to go into the show with a plan. Whether it’s how many orders you want to place, how many contacts you want to meet, or how many free items you want to give away, a plan is desperation protection. Setting the expectation helps you know what success looks like.
Take detailed pricing. Even if you don’t hand out pricing, having it on hand helps you to be prepared for any pricing questions. Even at consumer shows, you are bound to run into distributors and/or retailers. Having pricing for consumers, retailers and distributors is just smart planning.
Be innovative with your display. In my previous blog post, 10 Trade Show Tips and Tricks, I mentioned that having nice booth doesn’t have to be expensive. Way way to do that is to think outside of the box.
Here’s an idea I picked up from Nathan at Pocket Monkey at the Outdoor Retailer. Nathan finds shipping palettes other vendors used to ship booth displays. As you can see in the pictures, Nathan used the palettes for tables in his booth. If you’re going to do this, here are some tips:
– Ask politely to use the palettes and offer to bring them back after the show
– Staple business card to the palette you borrow so you don’t forget who loaned you the palettes.
– Offer your product in trade for borrowing the palettes.
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One other idea would be to take a portable computer projector to shows. If it turns out the roof is low and light colored, you can project your logo on the roof. Or, you can project your logo on the floor or divider curtains.