10 Tips for Tradeshow Success

Whether you're considering exhibiting at a local, regional, or national tradeshow, do your homework beforehand to make sure it's a worthwhile investment. Tradeshows can be a great way to have face-to-face contact with prospects and clients, but they can also be a resource drain.

1) Select the right conferences. Make a list of possible conferences to attend and then evaluate them based on a set of criteria. Include things like: demographics of attendees, percentage of your target audience attending, strategic fit with your business, and the financial and time investment required to exhibit.

2) Submit speaker proposals for targeted conferences. If you can get on the program, you will have added exposure for your company. As you build your conference plan, make note of speaker proposal deadlines. Some conferences have proposal deadlines a year in advance.

3) Create a strategic conference/tradeshow plan. Be specific about your objectives for the show. Think through all aspects of your booth space, signage, products or services you want to showcase, booth activities, etc. This will be your roadmap for the show.

4) Determine how you will be capturing and qualifying leads. Drawings often generate lots of leads but they are unqualified leads. Think about your objectives and what you hope to accomplish. Consider developing a lead qualification form.

5) Create menu cards. These are simple cards listing offerings you're highlighting in the booth. It's a great way to direct the conversation of booth visitors, especially when they ask "What's new?" Typically they are printed on card stock and include your logo, phone number, and web address.

6) Visualize the booth traffic flow. Are there barriers that obstruct the flow of traffic? If you place a table across part of the entrance to the booth, a lot of people won't walk in your booth for fear of being trapped. Make necessary changes.

7) Train your booth staff. Make sure all booth workers know what is expected of them. They need to be on board with the goals and objectives for the show, products and services being highlighted, booth etiquette, conversation starters, booth schedule and more.

8) Follow-up on the requests for more information or a sales call immediately. This is where many companies fall short. It might take them weeks to follow-up versus days. You need to respond quickly while you're still top-of-mind for them.

9) Debrief after the tradeshow. What worked well, what didn't work as well as planned? What would you do differently next year? Capture this information and make notes on things to change for the next tradeshow.

10) Track sales that resulted from the tradeshow. Depending on your sales cycle, you might not be able to track the success of the tradeshow until several months or a year later.

Katie Wacek is the President of Sandia Mountain Marketing, a marketing consultancy that provides strategic and tactical marketing expertise to small- and medium -sized companies, professional service firms, and thought leaders throughout the United States. Learn more.