A Back-up Objective for the B to C Exhibitor
You may think the secret to exhibit success lies in your ability to focus all your resources on a single, achievable and measurable goal. But there are situations where focusing on one goal may mean lost opportunities, particularly when you are exhibiting at Business-to-Consumer shows.
Typically, exhibitors who participate in shows that attract the end-user focus on selling products, setting appointments or writing orders. For many companies, these goals provide an immediate method of gauging success. The opportunities that may be slipping through your fingers, however, are with those attendees who are not ready to buy your product or commit to the appointment and need more time before placing an order.
To address this challenge, review your marketing plan. When you developed your plan, you weighed the pros and cons of each marketing tool. Some of these tools include print, e-marketing, social media, direct mail, brochures and trade shows. In addition, you had undoubtedly considered adding special events to your rostrum of activities. These might have included open houses and educational seminars.
One highly effective way to motivate reluctant buyers is through the use of special post-show events. You can more closely tie these marketing activities into your exhibit plans when you include special events as a marketing tactic.
For example if a visitor to your booth is not prepared to buy and you have assessed that there may be long-term potential, why not invite him to a tour of your facilities or to an educational session you’re hosting?
In order to realize this secondary trade show benefit, you should carefully plan your approach. Here are the steps to take.
- Plan a post-show event within 20 – 30 days after the show.
- Promote the event at your booth. This could take the form of a poster or sign-up sheet.
- Create a mental profile of the people who will get the biggest benefit of attending this event and train your booth staff to identify and qualify these people.
- Develop a lead sheet so your staff can record the visitor’s information as well as additional tidbits that will help you target the marketing for your after-show special event.
- If the visitor is qualified but reluctant to finalize the sale immediately, extend the invitation to your post-show event. (Even if he’s agreed to purchase your product, invite him to a post-show event after the sale is completed to reinforce his purchase decision.)
- Follow-up immediately after the show to remind him of the upcoming event.
When you look at your marketing plan as a holistic component of your business success and you move away from focusing on one show at a time, you’ll achieve better results. Studies have proven that when you add this secondary objective to your exhibit plans, your ultimate show-related return on investment could grow as much as 50 – 60%. That’s well worth the effort.
