5 Trade Show Tips

KleenSlate just spent 17 days on the road at four separate trade shows. Early on in my inventor journey, I learned the value of getting to industry specific trade shows. In my case, that meant educational and office supply shows. The most recent round of shows were educational, which brings me to the focus of this post: 5 trade show tips.

You see, it's simply not enough to get to the shows which in some cases cost a bundle to attend. You need to make them profitable. Here are my suggestions for making the most of your time at a trade show.

1. Do your homework. Find out who will be attending the show and what they need. In these tough economic times, it also pays to find out who has money to spend. For example, most schools are taking drastic measures to cut costs, so when I decided to go to these educational trade shows, I needed to find out who had money to spend. With a little investigation, I discovered that there was money in Title I programs, so I made these people my target audience at each trade show.
2. Where comfortable shoes. You are going to be on your feet for hours at a trade show, so invest in the most comfortable shoes possible. It will be money well spent. You need to happy feet to stay upbeat while promoting your product.
3. Give a KISS presentation and then listen: Keep your presentation simple, a maximum of 3 talking points aimed at the target customer(s) you identified by doing your homework. Give your presentation, quickly and smoothly. Then stop and listen to the customer. Ask them questions. Find out what problems they are trying to solve. I asked questions and learned that teachers hated the smell of dry erase markers; they frequently threw them away because the tips collapsed into the marker, and they wanted an eraser on the end. So I created such a marker for my customer.
4. Close the deal. Don't let a potential sale get away. Develop a practiced phrase or two that gets customers to place an order on the spot. If necessary, offer a deal they can't pass up. Keep the ordering process easy.
5. Follow-up. Have someone in place when you get home who can follow-up on every contact you made at the trade show and do it promptly.

Trade shows are one of the best options to show customers our products, but we have to make them work to our advantage.