When you are on the trade show floor, what is the best way to approach an attendee and start the selling process? The answer depends on what you consider to be “selling” – first of all, simply “telling” an attendee what your product or service is all about is not selling. In order to sell you must first understand what the prospect is looking for and determine whether they have the means to make the deal worthwhile. This is qualifying your prospect before you move further down the sales path, but all too often an exhibition is packed with booth staff concentrating on talking to attendees instead of listening to them.

Wait a minute – but how do you get attendees to talk to you in the first place without talking to them?

Let’s be reasonable: of course you have to talk to attendees to initiate conversations, but there is more to doing this than simply regurgitating technical fact sheets.

The first tip is not to try selling to attendees from the aisle – this means do not try handing out marketing collateral and brochures t passing traffic – the same applies to offering promotional materials or candy. In many show arenas this behavior is prohibited and can even get you banned from the venue, so don’t do it. Always consult with the event management on what is permissible behavior and what is not.

As an exhibitor you may feel you have the best product or service on the planet, however the reality is that you will be lucky to find more than 1 in 5 attendees interested in your business offering. This increases the need to qualify prospects before you start engaging them further down the road in the sales cycle. Always ask open questions to elicit the business they are in, why they are at the show, what issues do they confront, are they involved in purchasing decisions and so on, because this will help you make a determination as to the prospect’s quality.

Forget the attendees for one moment and consider everyone else at the show – the arena will be packed exhibitors. Exhibitors are just like every other potential customer – they buy products and services just like the rest of us. Schedule time on the day to walk through every aisle and take in who is exhibiting. Obtain the exhibitor listing from the event managers and contact likely prospects for further attention. Contact exhibitors ahead of time to arrange face time with them – be professional in how you make an approach and remember that they have a job to do on the day same as you.

You also have ears – use them! The show floor may be noisy and frenetic; however you will become attuned to the background noise. If someone is having a conversation that doesn’t mean it is private – if it is out in the open it is in the public domain. Listen for industry jargon and especially buzzwords you have not heard before – this is a sign of an emerging or trending topic and may be important for you to know about. There is nothing wrong in using such information, but a word of warning, you should make sure you accept the information you are collecting with a degree of suspicion – industry gossip is not necessarily the truth.

Author Bio: Find out more information on Trade Show Displays and 10×10 trade show booths from monsterdisplays.com

Category: Marketing
Keywords: business, marketing, sales, selling, advertisment, trade shows, conventions, exhbits,