19 Set Trying To Maximize International Trade Shows? Make Sure They’re Good To The Last Drop
There’s only so much time in a day, a week and a year. One way any business owner will start to realize just how precious time can be is by considering what international trade shows to attend.
Just to rattle off a few, there’s the annual International Pizza Expo, the Nightclub Bar Convention and Trade Show, the Philadelphia National Candy, Gift and Gourmet Show, the World Tea Expo-Trade Exhibition Conference — and those are just a handful that I’m mentioning in the food space. There are trade shows in interior design, medical and hospital equipment, IT, apparel, etc. If you have an industry, there’s probably a trade show for it.
Actually, there are probably several trade shows you could attend. As the executive vice president of Wayback Burgers, I could probably make attending franchise trade shows a full-time job since there are so many.
But, again, there are only so many hours in a day, and only so many of them that you can go to — when you do attend one, you want to make the most of it. If you’re attending an industry trade show in the near future, keep the following in mind if you really want to maximize your time.
Prepare
We’ll start off with the easiest, most basic advice — and easiest to forget, too, if you’re traveling. You’re busy, after all, running a company. You have the trade show on your calendar. You’ll be excited just to make it there, let alone prepare. But, preparation is a huge help. Study the trade show website. Read about last year’s trade show. You want to have a good idea of what you’re getting into, so you can make sure you hear the speeches you want to hear, stop at the booths you’re interested in and hopefully meet the type of people you hope to meet.
Now, if your business is running a booth at the trade show, you’d better be prepared — or you’ll end up wasting an incredible amount of money. You want as much time — hopefully, months — to plan for this. You have a booth to set up, signage, swag, brochures to print out — there are a ton of details that go into being a presenter at an industry trade show. Seriously, books have been written about this.
Be Ready To Meet And Greet
This shouldn’t be hard, but if you’ve flown in from somewhere and you’re jet-lagged, there may be a part of you that just wants to crash in your hotel. Big mistake. Get there a day early if you need to, and make sure you stay hydrated, eat well and be healthy and all of that. But you want to make sure that when the time comes, you’re alert and extroverted — because you’ve come to meet people, and crashing in your hotel won’t help with that.
So, when you’re on the floor, be fully present. For instance, if you’re manning a booth, somebody preferably needs to be standing. If you’re all sitting, you’re going to look as if you’re resting or gabbing and don’t want to be disturbed.
In any case, I just know that last year when I was at The Franchise Show in Dublin, I was extremely glad I hadn’t stepped away from our Wayback Burgers’ booth when Zubair Najm stopped by. We may have never met otherwise.
Zubair is an entrepreneur who owns multiple franchises in Dublin. We hit it off and Zubair, after further researching Wayback Burgers, liked what he saw. Thanks to that meeting last year, Zubair is now Wayback Burgers’ master franchisee in Ireland actively looking for franchisees and locations. That’s exactly how trade shows are supposed to work. You go. You meet people. You make connections and build partnerships you would never have otherwise. Your business grows.
Be Patient
Zubair and I didn’t meet up within the first hour. It was more like the last hour of the show. That may be a slight exaggeration, but Zubair had been there most of the weekend and was ready to leave, thinking he was going to go without making any deals. But then suddenly he spotted the sign at our booth, came forward and we started talking.
Meanwhile, I had met a lot of nice, intelligent and great people. I didn’t regret coming at all. Yet, until Zubair came along, I thought I’d be going back to the states without any concrete progress. I’m not saying patience is this magic formula that will make all of your trade shows turn out to be a big hit. Some of your trade shows probably may not go anywhere, but I do know that if you’re going to commit to one, commit to the whole thing. Sometimes those deals don’t fall into place until near the end because people are shopping around and learning the lay of the land and waiting to make decisions. Sometimes, as with the case of Zubair, it’s just a matter of timing. But giving up early or midway in a show won’t get you anywhere.
Did I Say Prepare?
Yes, I know I already said that. But it really is the difference between succeeding at these trade shows and having it be something of a flop. If we hadn’t invested in a dynamic, professional, attractive booth, I’m not sure the trade show would have worked out for us. After all, Zubair was about to leave until he saw our sign in the midst of a very crowded room. It was our sign that drew him in.
If you want to stand out, you have to be seen. That doesn’t just mean you, but your company, too.
Bill Chemero – Forbes Business Development Council
You can see all article here -> https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2018/08/23/trying-to-maximize-international-trade-shows-make-sure-theyre-good-to-the-last-drop/#2e142888c418
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