With the right planning, defense contractors can use trade shows to speed up the sales cycle, reduce the cost of sales, and reach customers, prospects and even “hidden buyers.”

1. Published on Trade Show Exhibitors Association (http://www.tsea.org)
Home > AboutFace Newsletter > Twelve Steps to Exhibit Success: A Primer for Planning your Exhibit Marketing Program
Twelve Steps to Exhibit Success: A Primer for
Planning your Exhibit Marketing Program
Author: Margit B. Weisgal, CME
Image: mbweisgal@tsea.org
A CEU-accredited Article
(as featured in the TSEA/UNLV-Accredited Trade Show Study Program [1])
Twelve Steps to Exhibit Success: A Primer for Planning your Exhibit Marketing Program
You are smart. You are very smart. You have chosen to use exhibit marketing to help your company be a
success and attain its goals ? and you have chosen to learn as much as you can to make it work. Exhibit
marketing is the most cost-effective means of reaching customers and prospects; it reduces the buying
cycle; it allows you to reach hidden buyers. Most important, though, is that it can reduce the cost of a sale
by as much as 75%. Even with all this information, exhibiting is nothing more than marketing in miniature.?
With all the new technologies out there, we have, unfortunately, built more barriers and become more
distanced from our customers. They are greeted with recorded messages on our phones; e-mail is nothing
more than a throwback to the Victorian era of letter writing ? faster, but not as personal. We ask customers
to visit our web sites, but we rarely spend the time to really get to know them. People do business with
those they trust, like, and respect. That means connecting on a personal level, something only a face-to -
face meeting can engender.
An exhibition is the only marketing vehicle that delivers a pre-qualified buyer to you.
To succeed, you need to have a plan, to know where you?re going and what you want to accomplish.
Exhibit success is in the details, making lists, checking them twice and refining them for each show in
which you participate. Seventy-one percent of all exhibitors have no measurable goals or objectives or
even a written marketing plan. Deciding in advance what you want will make your journey that much
easier. And by following this 12-Step Program you will create your personal road map to success.
Exhibiting is circular ? and cyclical. When you finish Step 12, you?re back at Step 1.
THE EXHIBIT MARKETING CIRCLE

2. 1. Define Your Situation 7. Integrate Current Advertising
2. Identify Your Target Audience 8. Develop Pre-Show Promotion
3. Research & Knowledge 9. Design an Exhibit
4. Set Measurable Goals/Objectives 10. Plan the Follow-Up Program
5. Involve Management 11. Involve and Train Your Staff
6. Strategies & Tactics 12. Measure Results & Make $$$
Step 1: Define the Situation
In business plans, this initial phase is usually referred to as a situational analysis. It is the basis for all the
other steps. Before you can go anywhere, you need to know where you are. A simple analogy is defining
that you are in St. Louis and want to go to Chicago. If you don?t define St. Louis as your starting point, you
could go in circles. And if you don?t define Chicago as your destination, you could end up in New York or
Los Angeles. You would be moving, but would it be in the right direction?
Some guidelines to creating your situational analysis or definition are:
Who are you? Tell about the company, what you do and how you got there.
How are you currently positioned in the market place? Include your past and current marketing
plans and promotional programs.
Who are your competitors? The more you understand your ?neighborhood,? the easier it is to
define what sets you apart.
Most important, what are the benefits of your product or service? What makes you unique
compared to others in the arena?
Step 2: Identify Your Target Audience(s)
Draw a picture of your customers. Also known as a demographic analysis, start with your current customer
list. Most of those you sell to have similar characteristics: small business, large business, multiple
locations, number of salespeople or personnel, territories, to name a few.
You might have several audiences that your product(s) and/or service(s) appeal to. For instance, a
company that makes decals has several audiences; they range from bumper stickers for the promotional
products industry to product labels for a multitude of manufacturing concerns to car decals for automotive
dealers. This list is just the beginning so they exhibit at a variety of trade shows. Other companies migh
t
have only one product or service, so it is much simpler to define those to whom they wish to market.
Ask your salespeople to assist with this information. They usually have a good handle on defining your

3. current customers and prospects and their particular attributes. As you move forward in this process, you?ll
look for additions to your client base that resemble your collective accounts. Involve marketing and
advertising since, in order to do their job correctly, they?ve already done some of this homework.
Another facet of defining your target(s) is to specify the job titles of those who buy from you. Often, there
are several layers of people who get involved in the decision to buy, so you want to itemize as many as
possible. Even if, in the normal course of business, you find these people hard to reach, they will probably
be available to you at a trade show. If you know who you?re looking for, when they show up you?ll be
prepared.
A study done at Baylor University discusses the fact that ?hidden buyers? can be uncovered at trade
shows. As mentioned above, 83% of the visitors to an exhibit were not called on by a salesperson in the
past year. Because of downsizing, retained employees now wear multiple hats and time they would have
used in the past to meet with prospective vendors has all but disappeared. Trade shows allow them to
meet with and compare vendors in a shortened time frame and with far less hassle.
Some guidelines to defining your target audience(s) are:
Examine your current customer base and list similar characteristics. Also include current
prospects.
Detail job titles of those who are involved in the purchasing decision. Include those who initiate
the purchase, specify the components and the influencers.
Get support from your sales staff, marketing, and advertising.
Step 3: Pre-participation Research
My first foray into trade shows came about because a customer said, ?Why don?t you exhibit at the XYZ
show. I buy from you so others probably will also.? Off I went to buy a booth. Not exactly a scientif ic
approach. For many companies, large and small, the decision to exhibit is a knee-jerk reaction. It?s bee n
done for years, so signing up to exhibit again is automatic. But since change is a fact of life, you should re
-
examine shows periodically ? at minimum, once every three years - to verify that they are still worth the
investment. Even if you feel it is still worthwhile, maybe you should modify the amount of space you are
booking. And if it?s a show in which you haven?t participated in the past, you should look at it with a
different perspective. First forays should usually be small to test the climate.
Some guidelines on pre-participation research for ?new? shows are:
Request an exhibitor prospectus from show management. Is the management experienced,
reputable, and financially sound? Associations produce many industry-specific shows but others
hire a separate company. A third group are for-profit events.
Attend the show the year before you plan to exhibit and verify that this venue and the attending
target audience will be good for you.
Call some of your customers and ask which shows they attend. Is this show on the list?
Ask if the show?s numbers were audited. Do they break out, with separate figures, attendees and
exhibitors, or do they lump everyone together? One show producer counts visitors every time the
come through the door; three days produces three times the actual number of attendees.
Look closely at previous years? exhibitors. Are your competitors there? Are there some exhibitor s
(non-competitive but in the same industry) you can contact for additional information?
Where is the show taking place in relation to your market? If your company is national, does the
show draw a national audience or a more regional one?

4. How does show management promote attendance? Be specific.
Are the seminar program offerings relevant to your customers? Is there an option for you to
present a seminar?
Some guidelines on pre-participation research for existing shows, in addition to the above, are:
Take a look at your show schedule. Are all the shows really necessary? Is the size of the current
exhibit space really necessary?
Ask show management for a breakdown of attendees? job titles. Are they what they used to be?
Is the audience still comprised of decision makers?
Does the seminar schedule reflect visitors? needs and concerns?
Are you still getting a decent return on investment (ROI)?
Step 4: Set Goals and Measurable Objectives
Let?s start with a couple of definitions. Goals are the broad, long-range attributes that a business seeks to
accomplish; they tend to be general and sometimes abstract, stating the level of desired accomplishment.
Objectives are more specific targets of performance, commonly addressing such areas as productivity,
growth, and other key aspects of business. Their characteristics include: specific, attainable, measurable,
realistic, and challenging ? and most important ? timely!
In doing research and evaluating the effectiveness of each event in which you participate, the task
becomes daunting because there are no benchmarks against which to measure and compare. Over 70%
of exhibitors have no written marketing plan for the business, let alone one specifically designed for the
exhibit program.
If you have goals, you can better analyze your exhibit participation and determine whether or not it is
worthwhile to continue. Another benefit is that goals provide a basis for everything else that follows. You
can involve your staff in your plans so each person contributes to making the exhibit productive; it also
precludes staff from having ? and following - their own personal agendas.
Most goals and objectives are sales related. This doesn?t necessarily mean you?ll write orders on the
show floor; at many shows, this is not even allowed. And the definition of a ?sale? varies. If you know
where you?re headed, a trade show ?sale? or ?close? is any action that moves you forward toward a
successful conclusion. For example, an appointment for a full presentation at the prospect?s home office
would be considered a very successful ?sale? at a show.
You can, though, measure the number of qualified leads (I repeat, qualified!) you get from the show and, if
your company is willing, you can also track a lead through to the close. Some businesses? sales are high -
ticket ? amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sales are often made every few years, not
annually. A reasonable objective for them is to maintain contact with prospects to ensure that when the
time comes, you?re still in the running for the job.
One non-sales choice is to set contact goals. This number is predicated on how many people you can see
during the show hours. Repeatedly, exhibitors get caught up in show management?s numbers rather than
their own. If there will be 25,000 people at the show, that?s nice but irrelevant because no matter how busy
you are or how large your exhibit, you?ll never see them all ? nor do you want to. You want to pick your
niche audience as defined above.
Most exhibit staff can see between seven and fifteen people per active hour each, depending on how
complex the discussion needs to be. So if you have two staff members, you?ll see 14-30 per hour; if you

5. have 20 staffers, you can visit with 140-300, and so on. But not all hours during a convention are active. T o
set contact goals, take the number of staff people (per shift ? not total), multiply by the number of show
hours, and then multiply by five. This is your base number. Once you have actual data from each shown i
which you participate, your own numbers take precedence. One warning about using contact goals: each
time you speak with someone at the show, be it visitor, friend, colleague, or competitor, or even if you give
someone directions, they all count towards the total.
Here are some guidelines for setting goals and measurable objectives:
Use contact goals: # staff (per shift) x # show hours x 5 = contact goal. Modify when you hav e
your own data.
Set sales-related goals, e.g., number of qualified leads (about 20% of all contacts made) or dollar
amount of at-show or post-show sales.
Involve your staff and let them know in advance what your expectations are for the event.
Make your goals realistic. They should be attainable.
Depending on what products/services you offer, and which event, you can have multiple goals
and objectives.
Sample Goals and Objectives:
Demonstrate new products or services
Meet buyer face-to-face
See buyers not usually accessible to sales personnel
Uncover unknown buying influences
Showcase technical support personnel
Shorten buying process
Make immediate sales
Qualify buyers
Introduce new products or services
Demonstrate non-portable equipment
Identify new products or service applications
Obtain product or service feedback
Conduct market research and competitive analysis.
Reach customer at low cost per call
See top management personnel
Target market by type of attendance
Target market by function of attendance
Introduce new promotional program
Create more contacts per sales person in short time period
Pinpoint low-cost personal selling opportunity
Create high return-on-investment opportunities
Introduce company to market
Meet customers not normally called upon
Reposition your company in a market
Generate qualified leads
Generate prospects
Make more sales calls
Promote technical benefits, data, or features

6. Step 5: Management Support and Input
One of the greatest barriers to a successful, effective exhibit marketing program is lack of management
support. Although rarer today than twenty years ago, there are still companies whose senior managers
don?t understand the benefits of trade shows or how to do them properly and, consequently, don?t offer
assistance in making the program work. Often this problem arises because of past experiences. In th e
manager?s past life, he/she worked a trade show booth where there were no goals, no objectives, and the
staff wasn?t informed as to why the company was exhibiting. In the 1980?s, shows were viewed as a place
to party hearty, not for work. This has obviously changed especially given show-related costs.
But if this is a situation you face, part of your job is to bring management up to date. CEIR (Center for
Exhibition Industry Research: 312-808-2347) and TSEA have numerous publications and data about the
viability of trade shows as a selling venue.
You can also train your management.
A colleague is currently facing this problem. Both the president and VP of Sales for the division pretty
much hate trade shows. At a meeting with the VP and a couple other people, he stated in no uncertain
terms that he thinks trade shows don?t work. After seeing the company performance at a show, I agreed. fI
you do them badly, they don?t produce results; if anything, they leave a bad taste in visitors? mouths.
Since the company is committed to booth space over the next year, I made him a proposal. Do it right for a
year and then reevaluate the situation. He agreed ? for about a week. When the next show rolled around ,
he reneged on his support. Sometimes you can?t win. Fortunately, this situation is a rarity.
Some guidelines for gaining corporate support are:
Do a survey of management to find out where they stand with regard to exhibit marketing.
Collect information on the benefits of exhibiting. Provide a report to all senior managers that
includes your survey results and the benefits you?ve collected. Be specific as to why your company
should be there.
For each show on the schedule, create a binder, with copies provided to management, of data on
the audience, a mission statement, goals, objectives, tactics, and strategies. Include staff work
schedules and get their superiors to sign off. Also set up a means to compare objectives to results.
Evaluate booth staff members, not only for a single show, but for all shows. As you collate these
evaluations, you can institute an award for best booth staff. Peer pressure through competition is
very effective in generating active, effective participation.
Step 6: Strategies and Tactics
Once you?ve determined your goals, it?s time to develop your strategies - a road map of the tactics and
actions you draw up to fulfill your mission, goals, and objectives - and tactics - a list of action items on how
you?ll reach them. For instance, if you have an objective of reaching 250 current prospects, your strategy
might be to do a pre-show invitation to visit the exhibit. The corresponding tactic would include the details
of the mailer and, if appropriate, a thank you gift.
In creating this list of action items, you need to determine in advance which products and/or services you?ll
highlight and present at the show. You can?t be all things to all people, so take a close look at the
demographics of the expected audience and figure out what will most interest them. An excellent place to
begin your product selection is with the seminar program. Titles and subjects usually reflect current issues
visitors face. If your product/service supplies a solution, focus on that. Whatever you choose, the

7. perspective should be that of the audience. Often, we select items that we want to push, not what the
visitors want (or need) to buy. You can also use your research from existing customers and their
responses on which shows they attend to select product.
For each objective you?ve chosen in step 4, you will formulate a strategy with its corresponding tactics.
These actions are the substance of your exhibit marketing plan. You have many options ranging from
numerous promotional strategies such as direct mail, promotional products, and various print media
through to live entertainment in its many forms. More will come in Steps 7 and 8 when you enumerate the
details for your promotions.
Some guidelines for setting strategies and tactics are:
For each goal or objective you set (for each show) determine what strategy you?ll use to reach it.
Combine strategies and tactics to save money. If you do many events, you can create
strategies/tactics that can be used at all of them simply by changing the show name.
Reflect current audience needs in choosing products/services to promote or display.
Step 7: Integrate Current Advertising and Corporate Communications
One extremely important facet of marketing in general and exhibit marketing in particular is to have a
consistent presentation. It sounds far easier than it is to accomplish. Although trade shows are primarily
a
selling venue, you don?t want to lose any awareness and recognition of your company by altering the
visual portions of your presentation. Factors include the use of your logo and corporate colors, current
slogans or tag lines that are part of your outbound message to prospects and customers and the overall
corporate image. Many studies have shown that your company gets bored with its advertising a whole lot
faster than the people who see it. Changing it every five minutes might keep you interested but this lack of
uniformity will lose you your audience.
To apply this to exhibit marketing, you need to take a good, hard look at all your marketing messages.
Ensure they are in line with current corporate communications. Although you might use a different
message in your graphics, one that is specific to the target audience at that show, the theme should
remain the same as what you?re using elsewhere. Even something such as uniforms for your sales staff
should reflect corporate colors, not colors that are currently fashionable.
Guidelines for incorporating marketing communications messages are:
Review current advertising campaign slogans for incorporation into booth graphics.
Review industry-specific advertising and marketing for messages to show audiences.
Step 8: Develop Pre-Show/At-Show Promotion
Once you have decided to exhibit at a particular show, it is up to you to decide which visitors you want to
see. Hoping the right prospects or customers will walk down the correct aisle, see your graphics and enter
your booth is leaving your future to chance. The odds are slightly better than getting struck by lightning, but
still not great.
At small shows, you can do a minimum because visitors tend to walk the entire show floor. Even so,
walking does not equate to visiting. Visitors (for all size shows) tend to enter between 25-40 exhibits for a
discussion. Your job is to get into that group.
At big shows, you really need to do something. And, if done correctly, that ?something? allows you to

8. compete with all the other exhibitors, both large and small. Here, as in the rest of your exhibit marketing
program, consistency is necessary. Use the same messages to promote your company as you use
elsewhere.
Your promotional effort begins with deciding on whom you want to reach. Current customers, current
prospects, and selected visitors from the pre-registration list make up an excellent ? and the best - target
audience. Existing customers should be contacted because the easiest person to sell is someone who is
already buying from you. (Your objective would be to sell them either a product upgrade or additional
products/services.)
At a minimum, some form of direct mail should be used to target your audience. For a really
comprehensive selection of all your promotional options, read my book, Show and Sell: 133 Business
Building Ways to Promote Your Trade Show Exhibit [2], AMACOM, 1997. A free promotional option is the
listing in the show program. Those 50-75 words allocated to each exhibitor offer you a chance to stress the
benefits of working with you, not just a list of your products. And if you?re introducing something new at the
show, contact the media prior to the show to make appointments and leave a press release in the
pressroom. You can usually get a list of media in attendance from show management.
For other promotions, using promotional products is recommended. No, not the ?stuff? you leave on a
counter for the scavengers to collect. These items should be included in what is called a ?two-part?
promotion. You mail one piece ? a postcard, a coupon, a survey ? to your audience and when the
recipients bring this piece to the booth they get a reward. Of course, the gift is only presented after they?ve
been qualified ? no matter whether or not they are a potential customer. After all, they?ve acted the way
you wanted them to act, so they get a prize ? and you?ve trapped information about them for the future.
In doing promotions, I often got a 63% response ? outrageous when you consider that most direct mail
gets 1-3%. One promotion we did (and really inexpensive) was an invitation to our exhibit with a fishing
theme. Inside copy read ?if you?re fishing for new prospects, we?ll be the best catch of the show.??
If you?re including advertising in show publications or industry-specific journals prior to the show, don?t ?
please ? take an existing ad and stick a star burst in the corner with ?visit us at booth 123 at the XYZ
show!? These ads usually have all the specifications for your product or service listed. If visitors can ge
t
the information they need from the ad, why should they come talk with you and allow themselves to be
qualified? Position your company as an answer center, solving problems the target audience is currently
facing. Your message should be along the lines of ?if you have this problem, talk with us for the best
solution.? This helps pre-qualify the audience.
There?s tons more you can do: games, drawings, live talent, mini-plays are just a few. Some are really
great ? and some awful. Make sure that, whichever option you select, it enhances and supports the
qualification procedure. After all, that?s why you?re at the show.
Some guidelines for pre-show promotion are:
Choose promotional objectives to be used and decide on what action you want to happen as a
result. (Example: For direct mail, do you want recipients to bring the mailer to the booth?)
Select your target audience based on the physical number of people you can see.
Set your budget.
Determine themes for copy. This should be reinforced in exhibit graphics.
Set a time-line for implementation. With direct mail, you need to have in a timely fashion the list,
printing, addressing, collating, mailing (allowing three weeks for bulk mail) and, if you?re doing it,

9. telephone follow-up to set appointments.
Determine measurement standards. If it works, you want to repeat it. If it doesn?t, figure out wha
t
went wrong so you don?t make the same mistake twice.
Step 9: Design an Exhibit to Support Steps 1-8
After show-sponsored seminars, I offer one-on-one consulting to participants. One gentleman who was a
principal in a distributorship representing twenty different lines asked me to visit his booth. When I arrived, I
couldn?t believe what I was seeing. Grabbing his arm, we marched down the aisle thirty feet, looked at his
exhibit, and I asked, ?What the heck are you selling in there?? He was so busy telling people what they
should buy, he never looked at what he was trying to accomplish from the visitor?s perspective.
In another situation, three exhibit houses produced designs for a large corporation. They worked with the
exhibit manager to incorporate the goals for the show. At the meeting with the big boss to determine which
design to go with, the boss announced, ?I like the blue one.? Another instance of ?sometimes you can?t
win!?
Your exhibit is nothing more than a backdrop, a stage set, to showcase the actors (your staff). Its purpose
is to pre-qualify visitors and invite them to have a discussion. Booths don?t sell; people do. Make this se
t
warm and inviting, a place people want to enter. Don?t block your space with a table ? it?s just another
barrier. Don?t have so many signs with lots of unreadable copy that your message doesn?t get through.?
When you design your exhibit, figure out how you want visitors to behave. There are only about eight basic
designs; everything else is a variation on or combination of them. Do you need demonstration areas? Or a
mini-stage for a performer? A seating area? Are visitors going to visit multiple sites within the space so yo
u
need to allow for flow? Good exhibit houses will ask you these questions prior to developing a design.
Some guidelines for exhibit design are:
What types of products will be shown to visitors?
In what types of shows will you exhibit?
What results do you want from your efforts?
Themes or messages you want to convey? (Are these the same as your regular marketing and
advertising communiqués?
What image should the booth convey?
And last, when you set it up the first time, walk out. Walk away from the exhibit about 30 feet and look
back, putting yourself in the shoes of a visitor. Now what do you see? Is this how you want others to se e
you? Be objective.
Step 10: Plan the Follow-Up Program
According to some experts, 80% of exhibitors never follow up on trade show leads. Can you imagine
spending thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars and then not doing anything? Without a follow up
program in place you've wasted all the money you invested in doing the show in the first place. When
anyone requests a follow-up call or information sent, they judge your company by your response. So if you
don't call or send the literature when you said you would, you lose all credibility. Years ago when attending
a trade show, I asked for information to be faxed immediately because I had a deadline for providing
information to my customer. Of the three companies I contacted at the show, only one responded when it
said it would. The other two went on my "don't ever use" list. I asked. They said they would. They didn't. I
cannot trust them. And that's the message that gets through when you are not responsive: "We don't keep

10. our promises."
When you, and everyone else, return from a show, your desk is piled high with messages, mail, and things
to do because you were away for a week. So you start by going through all that stuff and returning phone
calls and answering letters and finishing reports and making sales calls... and when do you take care of the
show leads? They end up at the bottom of the pile. By having a program in place before the show begins ,
you are assured that your promises are kept.
Hot leads should be answered personally - preferably with a phone call. Others can be sent a letter. N
o
matter what, though, everything should go out of your office within two weeks. Many companies overnight
or email the leads back to someone in the home office so response can take place during the show.
No matter what, this database should be kept for one year and contacted throughout that time period - until
the next show. People attend trade shows for two primary reasons: buying needs for this year; and
learning needs to make purchases next year. If it's the latter, then they should become solid prospects at
next year's show. It is your job to re-qualify these people and verify that you are still on the list of vendors
when the time comes for these companies to make purchases.
This also explains the cyclical nature of trade shows. They don't end until the leads close or they go off the
list.
Some guidelines for follow-up are:
Pre-set follow-up procedures: write cover letters, assign data input responsibility. Letters should
go out within ten days.
Mark calendars for follow-up phone calls. Calls to hot prospects and existing customers should be
made within a week of return from show.
Have a form for reporting back results of follow-ups along with a deadline for returning the
information.
Note: If you did a good job on your pre-show promotion, you can deliver the `gift' to customers and
prospects after the show noting you missed seeing them at the booth. This makes your sales call `warm'
instead of `cold' - a good excuse to drop by and chat.
Step 11: Involve and Train Your Staff
?...formalized trade show training is necessary to achieve even adequate booth performance.?
Jeff Tanner and Marjorie Cooper of Baylor University did a study of exhibit staff performance and the
results were downright scary.
In preparing for the study, they divided the attending audience into three categories:
Aggressive ? people who were really interested in the product or service and came into the booth,
across the invisible divider between the aisle carpet and the exhibit space, eager and ready;
Curious ? those who stayed at the edge of the carpet but evinced interest;
Passive ? aisle walkers who sort of stopped and looked.
The exhibit staff closed (for ?close? read interacted and qualified) passive visitors at the same rate as
aggressive visitors! In other words, the staff really didn?t engage these aggressive visitors, people who
were really, truly interested, almost at all.

11. Another result was that informal training was actually worse than none at all, usually because the people in
front weren?t credible. Outside experts are perceived differently. Your staff knows that person is being pai
d
the big bucks so they tend to pay attention.
When you provide training ? any training - for your staff, you create a team that buys into your reasons for
exhibiting and you eliminate what could become a tug-of-war. This tug-of-war occurs because, without
guidance and direction, your staff people develop their own agendas, decide for themselves what they
should be doing at the show without regard to your expectations. The end result is a more consistent
presentation by everyone at the show and no surprises.
Staff updates should be sent out prior to each event. They should include the following information:
Duty Roster and Shift Schedule
General Show Data (hours, days, set-up)
Show Goals/ Objectives
Booth Attire (if you?re doing uniforms, ask for shirt sizes)
Pre-Show/At-Show Promo (provide samples)
Advertising Plan
Seminars presented at the show for visitors, especially ones that address situations for which you
have a product or service solution
Competitive Analysis assignments and the form they?ll complete
Booth Layout
Lead Form Sample
Press Information
VIP Attendance
Pre-Show Meeting Information
Generally, you?ll send out a minimum of two updates, one about six weeks prior to the show so you can
order uniforms and make adjustments to duty schedules, and one about two weeks prior that also lists
hotel and contact information.
When you do the training, the agenda should include the following:
VIP Introductions (this gives the participants a heads up that they should listen and learn. (Use
the highest ranking corporate person you can find.)
Business Unit Information (focus on the benefits, not the specifications)
Seminar Information (if you can get your staff into them, even better)
Training
Badge/Uniform Distribution
Booth Visit (walk through and show everyone where things are stored and the location of various
demo stations).
When I do a training session, the biggest problem is getting the staff to learn to listen first and present
second. An excellent dialogue in a booth consists of learning first what brought the visitor in, why s/he is
there, and his/her needs or objectives for the product or service. You also want to find out if the person is a
decision maker, influencer, specifier, or initiator. By getting answers to these questions before your
presentation, you are then able to position anything you say so as to be relevant to the person in front of
you. You?ve also done a good deed. People love to talk about themselves. You are letting them,. All
you?ve done is gotten them to talk about stuff you want to hear.

12. When you create your in-booth dialogue, your objective is to learn at the same time as selling and
informing. Start by writing down what would you like to know both to qualify potential customers and learn
enough to make a sensible proposal. Opening questions might include geographic location, job title and
functions, applications needed, market served, and future plans?
Next, write open?ended questions that solicit the information. These are questions that get your visitors
talking. They can not be answered using a simple "yes" or "no." (Most of these questions include one of
the following words: who, what, where, when, how, why.)
Select the questions that qualify prospects. Use these at the start of your conversation and then elect to go
on or close out the contact quickly. Way too often, booth staffers spend time with people who don?t have a
need for your products/services. You?re looking for the princes among a whole slew of frogs ? and your
job at the show is to meet as many frogs as possible to find the princes. (At a recent training session,
everyone started referring to the frogs with a sound - rrbbt. It carried over the next day in the booth.)
Now, list the benefits or applications of what you are offering. These should be a series of short
statements. People buy what something does for them; the product is what gets them there. And you reall y
have to answer the implied question by the visitor: ?What?s in it for me?? Practice blending your
benefit/application statements with the open-ended questions that solicit information. Make a statement
followed by the next question.
Once you?ve got this opening sequence written, use role play with other booth staff members to practice.
This whole process sounds simple; in practice, it is far more difficult and needs to be rehearsed a few
times so it becomes second nature. By the way, once you?re at the show and use this, you?ll find after the
sixth or seventh person, it gets easier.
Now you?re ready for the closing. Ask for an expression of interest within five minutes. You also wantot
get an agreement: ?What is the next step, after the show, that you'd like see happen?? or ?What would
you like me to do next?? or ?Where do we go from here?? Don?t be afraid to ask.
In short, you want to:
Identify the attendee.
Does the prospect have a need?
Does prospect have an application?
Does prospect have authority?
Are there resources/budget to make a purchase?
Is there a time table and for purchase?
Your lead form should reflect these questions. Even though we tend to use some sort of scanning
equipment at shows, there is little or no room for comments or information specific to your company. My
clients attach the printout to their own lead form and also verify the little piece of paper has correct data on
it. (A bunch of times the phone numbers had digits that were reversed ? real hard to make a telephone call
later if the number is wrong!)
To hire an effective, professional staff trainer requires an allocation of money, something that might not be
a line item in your current budget. And if you do more than a few major shows, it requires a corresponding
investment. You?ll have to finagle the first time. Results, a noticeable difference in staff behavior, will ge
t
you the money afterwards. Your justification for doing a seminar is that ?We don?t do business the way we
did only three years ago, so why don?t we bring our trade show skills up to date as well??

13. Start with using a trainer for the biggest show you do with the largest number of staff in order to reach the
greatest number of people with the correct message. Set up, as a condition of getting the contract, a time
for you to be trained - or walked through - how to do training on your own, and have the person provide an
agenda you can follow. You will rarely be as effective as the professional, but if your sessions are
reminders of what the speaker taught, reinforcements of skills already learned, they will suffice.
Another option is to provide training at a national sales meeting. The structure of that program will vary
depending on whether or not your company allows people to do local or regional shows on their own.
Instead of focusing on a specific event, that presentation should also include information on goal setting
and post-show evaluations.
For both, make sure that they understand the benefits of exhibit marketing. Someone actually complained
to me that he hated doing shows when he could be out meeting with customers. He didn?t realize that
those same customers would come to him at the booth (with the proper preparation) and he could see
more of them in a shorter time. Even old dogs can learn new tricks. And if they can?t, you will be better
able to decide who works your shows in the future. Changing your corporate culture takes time, and don?t
expect all this to happen overnight. But the sooner you get the process of a top-notch exhibit staff going,
the sooner you?ll see results.
Some guidelines for staff training are:
If possible, hire a professional for your first time
Ask to be trained so you can do other programs
Set a time for a pre-show meeting
Require attendance
Step 12: Measure Results and Make Money
And speaking of results?Without some form of tracking system in place, how do you know whether or not
the show benefited the company? Trade shows don't end until the follow-up is done.
There is an adage about follow-up: "You are only as good as your last contact." So if you make a promis
e
or a commitment at a show - and never do anything - your credibility is down the tubes.
As the aisle carpet is rolled up, what did you do with all those leads you collected over the course of the
show? Did you stick them in the packing case with the booth, never to be found again, or did you go
through and review them each evening and make additional notes as the show closed before rushing out
to party?
For the best follow up, you need to start with an effective way to trap the information you collect at the
show, one that details information rather than relying on a scrap of paper. We've all seen the salespeople
who take your business card, make a few scribbled notes on the back and then stick the card in his or her
pocket. Who knows what happens with those cards after that?
Another experience involved those imprinters now in use at so many trade shows. My zip code was
incorrectly scanned on to the magnetic stripe of those plastic cards we all carry, so I never received a
single catalogue or sample ordered at that show.
Given the costs invested in exhibiting, it's incredible that more exhibitors don't take the time to create a
customized lead form for their own personal use. The expense involved in doing this is insignificant - most
can be done easily with any computer word processing program - and the value indisputable. In addition,

14. this lead form acts as a guide to asking the right questions before doing a presentation. It's also a reminder
for those who work the booth to listen first, and then position the response in terms that relate to the
prospect or customer.
Creating this form is simplicity itself. The difficulty lies in determining beforehand what information is
necessary for productive follow-up. Certain requisites are elementary to every version - such as name,
company, title, address, and other contact information. A business card can be collected and attached, or
the form can be completed by hand. I prefer business cards because you ensure that the data you get is
accurate. No one -ever lets a business card out of his or her hand without it being exact. We've all gott en
cards from contacts with a line scratched out and updated information written in. "My extension is
changed." "I've got a new phone number." "We've moved." "My new cards haven't arrived" are ll a
comments that accompany a business card modification. One other benefit is that it precludes something
like what happened to me vis-à-vis an incorrect zip code from taking place.
After contact information, you next have to decide what you need to learn about a prospect or customer.
One supplier only wants to work with distributors who operate within a five-state region. Others might have
national reps or customer service personnel and want to code the information so it can be easily passed on
and tracked by the appropriate person. Some have minimum purchase requirements. That might lead to a
question on how much business is done with products of the type the supplier manufactures. Still others
might prefer to work with distributors who have lots of sales people. Your requirements are yours alone.?
At one training session, after working with the staff on their interactive dialogue, we decided the existing
lead form didn't really support the order in which questions were asked making the form unworkable. So
we redesigned the form. No problem.
If you have several product lines, you'll also need information as to which ones were of interest to the
prospect. Are sample kits available? Did they order one? Or several? Or specific samples? Or spec ial
literature? Is there a case study you need to send? Lines for all of this should be allowed for somewhere
on the form.
After you have compiled this list, the form you make up should have areas to check off the information,
boxes or spaces so that a lot of time is not spent on writing, but rather on listening.
One other thing is critical: somewhere near the bottom, have a place to rank the contact. Don't write it out
using letters such as A, B, C, and D. Any idiot can figure that out. The same goes for excellent, good, fair,
and poor. All you need is a space which, during the pre-show meeting, is designated as the spot in whic h
to write a grade. After the show, this will let you separate the leads into piles of those that need immediate
attention - within 24 hours - versus those that can wait a few days.
Probably the most important area is the space for `comments.' Here is where you trap information that
doesn't fit any category, but might be the make or break difference. Some exhibitors print their forms on
half-sheets of paper and use the back for this area. Others use full size sheets and make sure nothing is
on the back because it might get overlooked. You have to do what works for you.
Last, put in an area that details what actually happened after the show. For instance, on what date was the
information sent? Or when was the phone call made? Or was an appointment scheduled? And wh at
resulted? Remember, you are only as good as your last contact. The more you care about your customers,
the more they'll care about you. Take a look at your best vendors. They have all invested in top-notch
customer service because they understand the importance of follow-up. Their staff cares about their
clients, and makes sure the clients know. If you want to grow a great business, make sure your trade show

15. contact is a seedling that sprouts.
When all is said and done, only about 20% of your contact goal should produce a qualified lead. Of those,
half should close within 12 months following the event. If your results are different, it might warrant taking a
new look at the show (back to step 1!). There are, of course, anomalies; for instance, a company with an
average sale of several million dollars will not collect new leads amounting to 20%. But then again, that
shouldn't be their objective. They should aim towards maintaining contact and moving the sale forward by
solidifying the relationship with the prospect or customer.
Some guidelines for measuring results are:
Have a procedure for reporting back to management.
Compare results to objectives.
Re-evaluate your show participation.
We are now back at Step 1 defining the situation. You?ve got something to track, something to measure,
your staff is performing at an acceptable level. Time flies when you?re having fun. And this should be fun.
TSEA members can earn one tenth of one CEU (.1 CEU) credit is provided to each registrant who reads
the applicable article and who takes and passes the post-article exam with a score of .80% or higher. Goot
the TSEA/UNLV-Accredited Trade Show Study Program [1] and click the link to access the exam.
About the Author
Margit B. Weisgal, CME is President and CEO
Trade Show Exhibitors Association
Copyright 2012 Trade Show Exhibitors Association
Designed, Developed and Maintained by Fantail Consulting & Technologies