There are things you can do at a trade show that can bring about big success. Conversely, there are things you can do that could be construed as mistakes. These mistakes could mean that you don’t make as much out of the opportunity the trade show and engaged attendees presents and it could also even mean that you do harm to your reputation and relationship with vendors, customers, and potential customers, too. Here are some trade show booth mistakes to avoid:
Not Putting Effort Into Trade Show Booths
Trade show booths can be highly personalized. You might worry that this is highly expensive but there are many resources for renting exhibit booths and just about anything you invest in can likely be reused. Banners can accompany you to other events even beyond trade shows. And if trade shows are a success you’ll be able to take invested accessories with you.
Not Staffing Trade Show Booths Well
A trade show is an interactive experience. You need at least a few people staffing the trade show booth so that you can handle a crush of people effectively and so that team members can leave for a bio break, etc. The right people are also important. You need people who can assemble and disassemble the components of the trade show booth itself but you also need people who can talk to those who approach the booth and engage those people to get them interested in your product or service, interested in future discussions about opportunities.
Not Personalizing the Space
You have only a small window of time to make an impression and the way you design your trade show booth as well as the way you brand it are important. Lack of personalization may mean that people who might otherwise be interested in stopping could walk on by.
Not Presenting / Engaging
Are you taking the opportunity to make your booth engaging / interactive? Demonstrations, lectures, or other activities could help you get more out of the event rather than simply hoping people will stop.
Not Gathering Contact Information
What are you doing with the information you’re gathering at the event? Hopefully you’ve come up with more than one way to generate leads out of the trade show. There are many ways to do this. A good strategy will mean that any investment you’ve made in attending that trade show could bring you a significant return on investment.
Not Following Up On Leads
After you leave, what’s the strategy for following up on the leads that have been gathered? There needs to be a strategy not only for this event’s success but so that you can use the information gathered from the process to help you fuel success in future trade show events, too.
