Good advice
Attending a trade fair should be seen as a combined sales and marketing effort for your company – so it’s a good idea to draw up a detailed plan for your participation.
Below we have outlined a few things to consider when attending a trade show. But for VVS’23, we’ve gone one step further by introducing all our exhibitors at the fair to a new learning platform:
We’re calling it M…………. (and no it’s not a Easter letter) – we’ll be unveiling this at our Kick Off meeting on March 2nd, so sign up now.
Pssst! The platform will be quite free for the first 4 months.
Before then, you can pick up some inspiration and tips here:
Before the fair:
Set a budget – what measurable expectations are there for the fair?
Develop sales targets for each salesperson attending the fair (for example, the target could include sales in the first 4-5 weeks after the fair, so that follow-up sales are included). Consider options for electronic data collection – see “Collecting Leads” in the Exhibitor’s Guide, available through Odense Congress Center.
– Which companies should visit your stand?
– What dialogue would you like to have with each of these companies?
– Does it require technical staff on the stand?
It is recommended to practice these considerations and arguments at a sales meeting just before the fair.
For example, prioritise into A, B, and C customers/potential customers and plan how each will be informed/invited.
Plan carefully before the fair which customers will receive special attention during the days of the fair.
Follow up on personal invitations. This greatly increases the possibility of a visit if your company has been in contact and told the individual that a visit to your stand would be appreciated.
After the fair:
Follow up, follow up, and follow up again.
If no time is budgeted for follow-up, the air goes out of the balloon pretty quickly.
Therefore, a very high focus on follow-up on all relevant issues – especially in the first 3-4 weeks after the fair – is crucial for a successful fair participation.
In addition, it is very important that the lessons learnt are picked up quickly.
What did we do really well this time? What could we have done better? And how can and will we use these lessons when planning our next fair.
REMEMBER this must be done in the first week after the fair, otherwise too much shared memory will be forgotten.