Going on a worldwide tour with your exhibit? As mompreneurs and business-driven individuals, the big goal for just about anyone setting up at an exhibit is to make sure they are noticed and remembered—but being noticed and remembered for the wrong thing can be worse than not turning up at all. Here are four things that seasoned sellers have found wrong at exhibits and best of all, they have disclosed the strategies on how to avoid them.
1. Staff Who Should Have Stayed Home
Exhibition stands UK-wide can be staffed by people who make terrible ambassadors for the products and services they are supposed to be presenting. Visitors to trade shows have often traveled hundreds of miles, and expect to be greeted by people who show interest and aren’t doing things like:
- Struggling with a hangover
- Checking their mobile phones
- Eating or drinking
- Reading books, or even playing video games
And even when basic etiquette is present, it is all too common to find exhibits manned by people who simply do not know their stuff. Simple tips: Make sure salespeople are as engaged as they would like clients to be; give them plenty of breaks, and be sure they are ready to deal with questions beyond the basics.
2. Mixed Messages
In the scramble to attract attention, it’s easy to forget that the goal of an exhibit should be to get a message across as clearly as possible—which is not going to happen if you are delivering separate, duelling messages. This can make your stand a little more than an exceptionally eye-catching failure. If you’re selling refrigerators, forget about having a fire-breather to attract attention to your stand, and if you’re delivering something deeply serious like estate planning services, it’s probably a good idea to leave the clowns at home. This also applies to welcome messages. If you’re delivering a niche product or service that perhaps a hundred out of thousands of guests are going to have a genuine interest in, trying to make sure every single passer-by takes an interest in your stand should not be a priority.
3. Packing Up Too Early
It’s a mistake that sales experts say they can barely believe happens, but one they still see at just about every show they go: Exhibitors shutting down and packing up hours before the end of a show especially the multi-day ones. While there may be some valid reasons for doing so, none of them are good excuses for missing what could be some serious end-of-show interest in your exhibit—and for delivering the message loud and clear that you may not have either the resources or the interest to take the event as seriously as some of your competitors.
4. Failure to Follow Up
There’s no point in gathering leads if you don’t know what to do with them when the event is over. The biggest thing that can turn exhibition successes into a flop is the failure to follow up effectively. Strategists say follow up should be within a week of the show and can be as soon as it is over. You should do this before your business and your exhibit have completely slipped from people’s minds. Appearing overly keen should be much less of a worry than completely missing your window, and a social media game plan can be an exceptionally useful tool in this area.
Need a cheat-sheet as a reminder? Let our step-by-step infograph serve as a reminder:
Photo by Zak Suhar
Mia Guerra
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