I presented my session on eselling® at the ISMM’s Successful Selling Conference recently, where I met and had a very interesting conversation with Peter Bowen, CEO of Access Displays – who produce modular and custom built exhibition stands for all manner of venues and events.

Peter Bowen is an industry expert and panel member at the Event Supplier and Service Association. Having been in the sales and marketing industry for 28 years, Peter has helped thousands of SME’s increase their presence through exhibitions and display solutions – which makes him somewhat of an authority figure on the subject of exhibiting at key events. 

Peter had some really interesting information about the benefits of exhibiting and how to get the best out of your place at the show, so I have invited Peter to share his insights with you all. Enjoy!     

How To Maximize Your ROI At An Exhibition

The value of face to face selling at exhibitions is well documented, so in these testing times, where we all have fewer customers with less money to spend, it is imperative that we plan ahead and train our stand personnel to work harder and smarter than our competitors. The following tips might make the difference and help you realise the true potential of exhibiting.

Think about why you are exhibiting. Is it to sell more products, improve brand awareness, meet existing customers, collect leads for future appointments, find distributors or something else?

What are your objectives for the show?

• Think about how you are going to measure success or ROI?
• Are you judging success by the number of leads, sales, visitors, conversions, or the amount of brochures you give out?
• Set daily targets for each person manning the stand and measure their performance.
• Communicate your objectives to the team and most importantly, measure.
• Give staff incentives to encourage activity and accuracy.

Do your research about the show

• Can the organiser back the visitor numbers up?
• Is the exhibition ABC audited? www.abc.org.uk
• Is the audience made up of your typical customer?
• Speak to other exhibitors before you book.

Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)

• Keep your exhibition stand graphics simple. “Who you are” and “what you do” is often missed!
• Make your space work for you with plenty of room to meet clients, discuss projects or demonstrate products.
• Speak to expert Exhibition contractors. If you are looking for a reliable exhibition contractor who may already be building at your show then make sure you use an ESSA member - www.essa.uk.com

Pre-exhibition planning

Once you have agreed your objectives make sure you explain them to the people that are manning the exhibition stand and make sure that everybody knows who is responsible for what!

• Invite your customers and prospects before the show using social media, your web site and direct mail.
• Tell them something “interesting” and give them a reason or incentive for visiting.
• Remember, most visitors have gone to a great deal of expense and trouble to attend.

Data capture

Whether you use bar code readers or a simple pad and pen, make notes on what your customers were interested in so that you can send them the correct information or speak to them in more detail after the show.

“There is nothing worse for a customer, who has spent half an hour on the stand explaining his requirement, than receiving a telephone call a week later asking him what he was interested in.”

Training

Before the show discuss what questions your customers are likely to ask and make sure you have the answers or know where to get them.

Train your staff on products, availability, distributors, prices, trade discounts, delivery costs, production times, service agreements, returns policy and don’t forget it your customers might want to “know who else has bought your product or service”.

For more tips on exhibiting go to http://www.accessdisplays.co.uk/tips-on-exhibiting.htm

Happy Exhibiting!

Peter Bowen, CEO of Access Displays

Peter has got some fantastic best buy offers on a wide range of exhibition displays and stand equipment from Access Displays, so head to http://www.accessdisplays.co.uk/best-buy.htm for more information on these great deals. 

(Image by Estate Agency Events)

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Bestselling Author, Sales Authority & Speaker On Modern Day Selling Methods 

MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

I speak at a lot of trade shows each year and I’m flabberghasted at how eager people are to give me their businesscard as though it’s a numbers game.

I come back to the office with a stash of cards!

About 50% of them are from people want us to deliver training for them, about 40% of them are from vendors trying to flog me something and the remaining 10% of them are what I call “nice to meet you” people – these are the people who you meet over coffee or lunch, you got on and just exchanged cards for the fun of it because it seemed to be the right thing to do.

Now if everyone is the same and they all go home with a wad of businesscards, then what is going to make yours stand out? I’m not talking about the design of it, but what is going to make the experience stand out and what is going to make you so memorable that the person will actually give a damn and give you a call or follow up later on?

The bad news is that your card will be one of 30 that this prospect has taken from the event.

The good news is that the vast majority of people just hand their cards over as though it HAS BEEN the thirtieth they’ve handed out!

So make it memorable and special.

Take out your pen and write something on the card for them. Can you give them a free gift? Do what it takes to make “that moment” stand out.

Maybe it’s from where you take your businesscard from? Not your jacket pocket or your wallet but maybe from your briefcase where there is a gimmicky toy holder, I don’t know! Anything so you become memorable.

And remember, you don’t need to be BETTER to be memorable, you just need to be DIFFERENT!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
“The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling”
MTD Sales Training

Sean’s Blog: MTD Sales Blog

Free Training: Free Sales Training Course

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

I was recently asked to write an article for Equestrian Business Monthly Magazine providing some tips and techniques on how to get the most out of Trade Shows.

Now whilst this article is for the Equestrian industry, the content of the article is applicable for any company who exhibits or is thinking of exhibiting at a trade show.

Please CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the 2 page PDF of the article.

Puor yourself a cuppa, print off the article and enjoy!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

MTD specialise in sales training, sales coaching and http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/sales_consulting.html

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Here’s another great question I received this week:

“At trade events/exhibitions etc, how do you approach people without sounding like a real “sales” person?”

Wow! I like this question and I am surprised I do not get it more often. It is very easy to come across to attendees at these events like a Monty Hall, lets-make-a-deal pitchman with a bunch of cheesy lines. This is a very overlooked area of the sales profession and really requires skill and practice. In fact, I think I may create a class or CD set dedicated just to training on how to handle trade shows. Anyway, let me see if I can summarise a couple of the most important points:

(a) Be very careful of the appearance of your display both, contents and backdrop. The first thing to do in eliminating that cheesy approach is to make sure that you do not have a cheesy stand. Now, I understand the need to attract attention and even to “impulse” people, but come on—some go way overboard with this. If you have clowns at your stand and you are giving away cars, how can you NOT come on like a circus ringleader? Stay professional and invest in a high-level display backdrop. They can be expensive, but if you attend more than one of these a year and they are a main source of leads for you, then get the best. Also, be careful not to put too much on the table as far a written material. Often companies have a dozen pieces of paper all with a thousand lines of text resembling “technical white-papers.” You need to have a few brochures that are very clear and that can convey a simple, readily understandable message from arms length.

(b) Don’t bum-rush people. When people stop and begin to look at your table, give them a moment. Watch their eyes and have patience and confidence. Often sales people are too afraid that if they don’t start yapping the moment someone pauses that they will loose them. Assume a more relaxed, cordial atmosphere.

(c) Create your own referrals. This is a powerful technique I use that works wonders. First have at least two of you: one stationed at your booth and one who mingles all around the event. As you walk around, almost like one of the attendees, simply meet people as you would if you were not an exhibitor; after all, that is what it is all about–meeting people. Just introduce yourself as you walk around. Stop and meet other exhibitors as well. Then after a short simple greeting, you pass out a card or a brochure to the person with, “Hey, when you get a chance, stop by our stand over on isle 16….” Now when those people stop by, in a sense, you know them! Now it is a “warm call” because you already meet in another area. I could talk about this for a long time, but I think you can get the gist of the idea.

(d) Have a good “hook” question. You want to design a question: one simple question that will get people to ask you a question, in turn. You need to look at the benefits your product offers; turn that around into what problems people suffer from when they do not have your product, and ask that question to people. You see, first of all asking a question is a far better approach than making any type of statement. A person pauses at your stand and looks at a few articles on your table. Instead of, “Hi, Sir! How are you? We are Acme Water Purification Products! Are you familiar with us?” This is the standard type of approach. Instead when that person pauses, try something like this: “Hello. Did you know that the average business owner loses about £6,000 a year due to the damaging effect of regular tap water?” “Uh?!: What do you mean?” Bingo!! Find a well designed question that you can ask that will uncover a problem that your product solves and ask that question to the attendees.

Happy Exhibiting

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Website:

http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…