I am part of a small Marketing Department at UGL Services with limited resources so we take every opportunity to repurpose content that we have already developed and tailor it for distribution through other marketing vehicles.  In 2008 my team created an advertising campaign targeted to facility managers of corporations with the message that we understand how overwhelming building maintenance can be and we suggest outsourcing these responsibilities to UGL Services.

The Ad

The first ad in the campaign shows a facility manager lying awake in bed with a skyscraper tucked in next to him with the headline “You have a facility.  Now it’s time for a life.”  It is a literal depiction of a stressed out facility manager experiencing insomnia because he cannot get his mind off of work or the price tag on new upgrades needed in the buildings he manages.

In 2011 we exhibited at a conference managed by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).  When attendees registered for the conference online they were asked a survey question “What job-related issues keep you up at night?”  IFMA took all of the responses and came up with topics for roundtable discussions conducted during the event.  My team decided to sponsor the roundtable sessions as it was a vehicle for us to leverage the ad that was created in 2008.  As part of the sponsorship we were able to put a full page ad in the show directory and posters were hung in the roundtable location.

The Trade Show

We decided to bring the ad to life and add an element of surprise at our trade show booth.  I hired an actor to play the sleep-deprived facility manager dressed in his pajamas and chained to a building.  All of the attendees were dressed in business attire so our actor really grabbed their attention and became a successful conversation starter.  We gave away prescription bottles with jelly beans inside and a label with the text that said “For fast-acting relief and a better night’s sleep” and our logo underneath it.  Posters in our booth featured the ad once again and supersized text that read “Tired of taking your work home with you?  We’ve got the remedy.”  Our actor handed out business-sized cards with the dates and times of the roundtable discussions to encourage participation and promote the problem-solving ideas that attendees would learn about.

The Response…

Overall it was a very successful promotion and a few attendees commented on how they related to the actor chained to the building.  Many facility managers said that they try not to take work home with them but it is difficult to put down their Blackberrys especially when they are getting ready to turn in for the night.  My response to them was “Have you considered outsourcing your facility services?”

For may ways to draw great leads into your trade show booth, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This book will tell you what other exhibit marketers say the best tips and tricks are for successful exhibiting.  Click here to request your free copy. 

Thanks to Jocelyn Sacco for writing this guest blog post, sharing her experience as a trade show exhibitor.  We welcome similar blog posts from Skyline clients who want to share with their peers new and inventive ways they’ve achieved greater trade show success. Click here to tell us your story!

I know… you are sick and tired of Tebow.  Yet, over 2 weeks after his last game of the year in which his team was never in the game, Tim Tebow is still one of the top trending searches on Google.

There are several things we can learn about marketing our brand and message from watching Tebow and the way he presents himself.

1. Tim Tebow is real.  He is an open book, sometimes too open.  But the fact that we know exactly where he is coming from and we can compare that to his actions, force us to pay attention.  It is that “reality tv drama” effect that is so captivating.
2. Tim Tebow is sincere.  His walk backs up his talk.  Whether we agree or disagree with him, there is no doubting his sincerity in his words and actions.
3. Tim Tebow is passionate.  He is driven and focused with incredible discipline.  He rarely appears off message and never sends out a conflicting image or message.
4. Tim Tebow is demonstrative.  He has cemented images in our mind that embrace his message.  His faith is his foundation and the platform from which he does everything.  Say Tebow and you immediately think of “Tebowing” – the pose – which encapsulates his message.
5. Tim Tebow is continuously telling his story.  From “Tebowing” to the black eye paint with Bible verses, he is always on message and repeating his story.  Football is a tool for him.  There is a bigger agenda and goal and he uses everything at his disposal to tell his story.  Repeatedly.

So how do your marketing programs stack up?

Are they real and sincere?  Can people feel the passion from your representatives throughout the organization?  How do you demonstrate your message?  What images pop into your client’s mind when thinking of your company?  How consistent is the look & feel of your image? And how does your look and feel tie to the messages you are sending out in your marketing and your trade show displays?

Tim Tebow is a model of consistency, determination, and focus on the image and message with an genuine understanding of the total picture.  How would our results be impacted if we implemented our programs with the same drive and focus?

Photo credit to http://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/5040576290/  

To integrate Tebow’s branding style with your trade show exhibiting plan, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. This report tells you the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today in their trade show marketing efforts.  Click here to request your free copy.

Do you believe your company can get more bang for its trade show marketing dollars if you employed a different strategy?  If so, the next step is to convince your boss that you need a new approach.  But be warned; no one is going to be at all interested in hearing that there is a problem with the status quo unless you are able to present an alternative.  Here are some steps you can take to make certain you find the best strategy for your next show.

Analyze Your Choice of Shows 

One major factor of an effective marketing strategy is choosing the best trade shows that attract your target audience.  What kind of trade shows has your company attended in the past?  Do you market in industry-specific shows, general shows or a combination of both?  Gather the statistical data from the events you have attended and see which shows have been most effective in garnering new business.  Part of your strategy may include recommendations regarding increasing or changing your venues.

Scope out the Competition

The next step is to find out what your competition is doing.  The goal is not to imitate, but to determine what the current presentation trends are and which ones draw the largest crowds.  Spend some time visiting the trade show booths that command the most interest and analyze their strategies.  Do they use interactive media?  What kind of lighting is employed?  Is there a video feed?  How are their graphics arranged and displayed?  Do they have demonstrations or is product available for the customers to handle?  Are these booths run by a single vendor or are they a co-op between complimentary businesses?  Take notes and look for any factors these booths have in common.

Apply the Data 

After you have gathered your information apply the concepts and techniques you have observed to your particular company and products.  Try to employ strategies that will reach your visitors through sight, sound and touch if possible.  Map a layout of your proposed trade show display and make drafts of any new handouts, graphics, or other marketing materials.

Prepare a Budget & Project Payoff

Every company has limits on marketing funds, and your new strategy will not make it off the boss’s desk if it cannot be accomplished within the budget constraints with higher results.  Find out how much money is available and then determine how to project results.  Take all of this data and put it into a business proposal format.  Present the new strategy along with the reasons why they changes will improve the visibility and effectiveness of your trade show exhibits.  This information, combined with a workable budget, should be all of the persuasion you need!

A new strategy is one way to revamp your trade show marketing.  For more tips and ideas on how to boost your results and stretch your budgets pick up the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  To request your free copy, click here.

Pre-show promotions are one of your best methods to get people to visit your trade show booth.  And you need that help, because the average attendee only visits about 20 booths – while the average trade show has about 400 exhibitors!

Pre-show promotions are direct marketing for trade shows.  You use direct mail, email and telemarketing to invite trade show attendees.  And while you have other pre-show promotional methods (ads, social media, room drops), exhibitors have told us in surveys that these three are their favorites.

It’s an old saw for direct marketers that the success of your direct marketing relies first on the list, second on the offer, and third on the creative.  Since list building is the most important (and probably the least discussed!) we’re going to cover it in this blog post.

To build a great list for your pre-show promotions, get names from one or more of these 5 sources:

1. The Show Organizer: This is your best list source, as they know who is actually coming! Get both the list of this year’s pre-registered attendees and last year’s actual attendees, and merge them together.  Order only the part of the list that matches your prospects, filtering the list by industry, job title, company size, and whatever other choices the show producer gives you that help you target your audience.  Filtering the list is more important if you only want to reach a small portion of the attendees.  Most importantly, don’t order the names of your competitors.

If the show organizer doesn’t give you the ability to segment the list before your buy it, consider getting the whole list and then manually deleting at least your probable competitors.  If it’s for direct mail and you have an expensive mailer, take even more time to weed out the wrong recipients.

Append email to your list if the names of the attendees were given to you without emails.  You may have that person’s contact name already in your company database, but knowing they’ll be at the show you are exhibiting at makes them even more valuable.  Even take the time to visit their company website and figure out what the email pattern is for your targets – is it first.last@company.com or is it flast@company.com?

Do this especially for the very valuable list from the show organizer, but you can also do these steps after you’ve gathered names from all your list sources (show organizer, company marketing database, sales, and other sources).

Some show organizers will not allow you to directly receive their attendee list for your promotions, but will send your promotions for you.  In that case you send them your email and they forward it to their attendees, or you send your mail piece to a mail house, and they mail it for you.

Timing on when you get the pre-registered list is tricky.  Get it too early, and you won’t get the names of the people who will register closer to the event (and that proportion is higher than it was a few years ago).  Get it too late and you risk your mail package arriving after the attendee has left for the show.  (And don’t mail your pre-show promotions standard/bulk rate – send them first class so they get to attendees before the show!)

2.  Your Previous Leads From That Show: Many people attend the same show year after year.  So go back to your own leads database and pull the previous leads you collected from the show over the last three years.  Those same people may be further along the sales cycle and you will have more success with them because they already know you, having visited your trade show exhibit.

3.  Your Marketing Database: Your marketing department may have also built a database of likely prospects, too.  So ask your marketing department (if that’s not you!) to get you a list of clients and prospects that live in the show’s geographic region or who are in the show’s vertical market.

4.  Your Sales People. Your sales people probably know more about the best prospects than your marketing database reveals.  So tell your sales people you are exhibiting at the ABC show, and ask them to set up meetings with their existing clients and best prospects that will be at the show.  Those can be some of the most productive meetings you’ll get from the entire show!

5.  Other List Sources: If you can’t get lists from the show organizer and your company database is anemic, you can also buy names of potential attendees via a list broker.  Ask to get names of people who fit your target market: Industry, company size, job title, and location.  They’ll get the names from the top industry publications, associations, and list compilers.  You may even get names from the media company or association that owns the show!

Combine the lists into one file, and take out any obvious duplicates, so you don’t mail them the same invitation multiple times, which is annoying and expensive.  Check the list for completeness: Put the whole list into Excel and sort the list by various fields, such as state or city or email address.  Find the names that are not complete, look them up on Google, and fill in the missing data.  If you don’t have the time and experience to merge/purge the list, work with a mail house who can.

One last point – almost certainly you have received these names from the show organizer or the list broker for one-time use, the trade show.  If you are going to send multiple waves of pre-show promotions, get permission up front, and pay for that.  But don’t add any rental names you did not already have into your company database.

It can take some finesse to build a strong pre-show promotions list.  But it’s worth it!  You’ll have a much better chance of attendees receiving your great offer and creative promotion, and then visiting your tradeshow display.

How else have you built a great list for your pre-show promotions?  Let us know in the comment box below.

Learn more about pre-show promotions and other key trade show marketing best practices with the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper, yours free by clicking here.

If you’re really serious about improving your pre- and at-show promotions, there is no better source than the 65-page book, Creating Effective Trade Show Promotions.  Get your copy by clicking here.

Skyline hosted webinars called “10 Mistakes Exhibitors Make” on May 11th and 12th, 2011.   Thank you so much for your participation and your many excellent questions about improving your trade show marketing.

As promised, here is the pdf of the actual presentation content.  (If the pdf viewer is not loading on your browser, you can go to the actual pdf file by copying and pasting this URL into your browser window: http://www.skyline.com/images/webinars/may_2011/10MistakesExhibitorMake_SkylineWebinar.pdf

During the seminar we offered several items.  Click to request your copies:

• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• The Trend to Custom Modular Exhibits White Paper
• “Measurement Made Easy” Trade Show and Event Calculator CD
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits

During the webinar we also mentioned a blog post about planning that you may find useful:

Trade Show Planning Timeline: Manage Your Logistics AND Marketing

Thanks again for attending!

I love great demos.  Especially those that accurately tell the brand’s story in a fun, interactive, innovative way.

I ran across a great example of this a couple years back at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago.  The demo was staged in a small (10×20) display booth space, tucked away among several larger, more impressive (and expensive) exhibits.  Yet, it was constantly full of people, and quickly became a big part of the “buzz” around the Exhibit Hall.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a look at the “Dissolve-A-Way Derby”.

Participants lined up and shot huge water guns at plastic storage tubs on a wall about 5 feet away.  Exactly like the old carnival game where you shoot water guns at the clown’s mouth to be the first to pop the balloon.  The Dissolve-A-Way Derby’s objective: completely obliterate a small label affixed to the storage bin.

Why a small label on a storage bin?  (Here’s the brilliant part.)  The company makes an adhesive and paper that will easily dissolve in water, like when washing the bin in a dishwasher.  This is a remarkable breakthrough for restaurant owner/operators who must label their product stored in bins like these to assure freshness and proper product usage and rotation.  However, as you use the bin over and over, most adhesives will build up an ugly residue, a mixture of adhesive, paper, and grime which takes time and effort to remove, stealing valuable productivity away from other tasks.

This message was delivered exactly and memorably to these participants who had fun at the same time.  They also connected the company’s message to the fun they used to have as kids at the carnival.

What is the key to coming up with demo this good?  I think it starts with a thorough understanding of your product/service and the benefit it delivers.

Another reason this particular demo was so effective: a good number of the trade show attendees were either influencers or buyers of their product.  Theirs was not a “find the needle in the haystack” kind of situation.

The next time you see a carnival-type game being deployed in a trade show exhibit, see if the brand message is woven as cleverly and completely as it was done here.  Chances are, it will merely be a game for its own sake, attracting mainly sales people from adjoining exhibits.

If you can make your demos as dynamic as the Dissolve-A-Way Derby, you can soak your competition, and soak up some buzz from the Exhibit Hall as well.

Learn other powerful at-show promotional tactics with your free copy of the Creating Effective Trade Show Promotions book, a 76-page guide that takes you through the entire process from setting goals to execution to measuring results.  Click here to get your free copy.

To master the deadline-driven world of trade shows depends on great planning.

Yet all too often, important marketing planning gets overshadowed by urgent logistics planning.  Because of the flood of deadlines, we get more distracted by the “what to do” rather than the “why to do” it.

Yet it’s just as essential to plan marketing things.  Things such as your goals for the show, your marketing messages for your graphics and staffers, and creating a promotional campaign that will get more of the right people to your booth.

Here are some ideas for your plan, either for a single show or for your entire program.  Marketing and logistics steps are mixed together, as you need to do both to truly succeed.

6 months out:

• Review Past Objectives: Evaluate previous year’s shows to see how many leads converted to sales, and your marketing return on investment.  If you set different objectives, measure return on those objectives.
• Set New Objectives: Set your top 2 or 3 objectives for your next year’s trade show program.

5 months out:

• Set Budget: Adjust your budget based on what worked last year, your current financial state, objectives, and opportunities.
• Select Shows and Booth Spaces: Evaluate your show schedule to determine which shows have the best match with your target market for the best value, and pick the spaces you will take in those shows (if you have not already reserved space).
• Evaluate Exhibit: Review your current tradeshow display: If it still will help you achieve your new marketing objectives, keep it.  If not, start researching new exhibit builders.  For a larger exhibit, start 6 or more months out.  For a small display or banner stands, start 2 months before the show.

4 months out:

• Pick Booth Staffers: Review last year’s qualified lead counts by booth staffer to identify the staffers you want at your upcoming shows.  Contact their managers to ask if they can attend.  Ask your best booth staffers who else they would recommend.
• Research Technology: Consider how you can integrate technology into your exhibit to help get more attention, tell your story, and facilitate better conversations between attendees and booth staffers.
• Invite Exhibit Builders: If building a new trade show booth, set appointments to meet with 3 exhibit builders, and give them access to your key marketing decision-makers.

3 months out:

• Review the “Show Book” – the book or webpage from the show with all the forms for ordering services.  Find the forms for services you need, and create a master list of all the deadlines to order and still get the discount rates.  Start earlier if the show provides it earlier.
• Create Promotions: Brainstorm ideas for pre-show and at-show promotions that will help bring in a greater number of qualified leads into your booth, plus help your booth staffers to engage attendees.

Two months out:

• Choose Staffers: Finalize your booth staff choices.
• Arrange Travel: Book hotels and flights for booth staffers before rates go up.
• Order Services: Order any show services you need according to your list from the show book.
• Choose Your Exhibit Builder: Award the new build, and then continue to quickly and thoughtfully respond to their questions and requests for graphics art to ensure timely completion of your new exhibit.
• Order Promotions: Select and order any promotional items you will be mailing pre-show.  Some can take only a few days, some can take over a month, depending where they are made and imprinted.
• Order Uniforms: If you are providing shirts, pants, and more for your booth staffers to wear, order them now.

One month out:

• Send Promos: Send the first wave of your pre-show promotion campaign.
• Train staffers, Part 1: Set up first booth staffing meeting, to train them on your main client profiles and your products.
• Order More Services: Order any final show services you need from the show book.
• Order At-Show Promos: Select and order any promotional items you will be giving away at the show, and have them shipped to the show (with a sample overnighted to you).
• Ship Exhibit: Ship your new exhibit to advanced warehouse, getting it out the door soon enough to save on shipping.

Two weeks out:

• Train Staffers, Part 2: Hold your second booth staffing meeting, to review the booth staffing process and info about your new exhibit, your promotions, technology in the booth, the convention city, and the show hall.
• Send More Promos: Send the second wave of your pre-show promotion campaign (if by snail mail, mail first class rather than by standard/bulk rate, or they may arrive after the show!)
• Ship Staffer Supplies: Ship a tub with all the supplies you’ll need in your booth for staffers, such as pens, clipboards, staplers, staples, water bottles, snacks, mints and wipes.

One week out:

• Prepare Lead Fulfillment: Create and gather your post-show lead fulfillment packets, and assign the team that will process the leads
• Verify Exhibit Arrival: Ensure your exhibit has arrived at the show
• Collect Documents and Backup: Prepare and pack a master book or data file with all your at-show contacts including your booth staffers, exhibit house, and local show city vendors such as I&D to carry with you to the show.  Include art files for your graphics.
• Verify Staffers: Check in with all booth staffers that they are still all set to attend the show; get a substitute if needed.
• Love Your Loved Ones: Be extra nice to your family and friends because you won’t be there soon.

At the show:

• Be Your Best: Be brilliant, calm, hard-working, lighthearted, and creative.
• Make It Happen: Execute your plans for booth staffing, at-show promotions, lead management, and booth logistics.

After the show:

• Come Home: Give your family and friends souvenirs from the trip, preferably chocolate.
• Say Thank You: Thank your booth staffers and vendors.
• Fulfill Your Leads: Get promised packets out, and the leads into the hands of your sales force.  Then keep checking on lead follow up.
• Check Costs: Review your actual expenditures against your planned costs to see if you are still on-budget, and the reasons if not on budget.
• Measure and Analyze: Measure if you met your objectives, and figure out what went right and what can be improved.
• Report Results: Let management know how well you met your show objectives, what worked, and what could be improved upon.

Give yourself the opportunity to succeed.  Take the time to create a solid plan, then work the plan you created, covering both logistics and marketing activities.

Want to learn more about both trade show marketing and logistics?  Click here to get your free copy of the 32-page What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper, which shares best practices from over 170 exhibitors.

I am finally situated after 2 months of travel. Out of all the cities, my first review is of the Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim, CA. This trip will definitely be a historical milestone in my memory as the night before show opening, the Japan tsunami occurred. It was a pretty surreal evening for everyone around me when news broke.

The weather was awesome in Orange County. It was just around 80 degrees the entire time I was there. Nothing better than awesome California weather in March! I know the visitors across the street at Disneyland could not have been any happier. Food shows are certainly my favorite show to attend; so much for me to do, oops, I mean eat! The exhibits are colorful and lively, and the energy at food shows is so different compared to any other. Food is truly the universal language!

Natural products are geared more to natural, wholesome, and specialized foods. Most exhibitors target a ‘Whole Foods’ type grocer. The larger chain grocers are not too far behind as they are making natural foods a larger selection in their stores.

Here are a couple exhibit designs that caught my eye:

Horizon: a new generation recognizable brand in the milk (organic) section. Their exhibit used lightweight fabric graphics as their overhead branding structure.

Emergen-C: Another very popular household brand, especially during the cold season. They used bright laminates for their storage room and a matching hanging sign.

Barbara’s Bakery: They are a local Bay Area company & have recently turned into one of my favorite breakfast cereals. Their larger-than-life cereal box is a lightweight printed fabric structure. Great use of space!

Pirate Brands: They make the very popular Pirate Popcorn. They introduced some awesome new flavors at this year’s show. Of course, with a pirate-themed brand, the only way to go is mimicking a pirate lifestyle. They covered all details, even down to the flooring. Well done!

These acrylic bubble accents are becoming more and more popular across all industries. The 3-D effect is easily done and quite inexpensive. Very trade show friendly.

I just adored the multiple live hanging rose balls. I do not get to see this often. The only other places you might see these would be at hospitality or horticultural industry shows.

It’s so awesome to see 3-D elements like this in exhibits. I’m pretty sure it is a road show piece, but to haul into a traditional trade show is certainly not as easy as your traditional booth.

This backlit custom shape is awesome. The lighting effect was just right and not too bright for this size structure.

Another hanging structure that caught my eye is this layered piece which displayed teacups. They went a good route with mounting a traditional ring. This structure may have gotten lost without it.

Seventh Generation introduced an even more green packaging solution to their eco-friendly detergent. Recycled material is used for the outside casing while the detergent is packaged inside. Genius!

This product display incorporated monitors and used a fresh color pallet that gave a very clean feeling.  The lighting effects acted as a good highlight as well.

All black everything! Skyline’s Mirage Monitor Mount paired with Skyline’s popular Stratus table.

Last but not least, fresh new graphics for my friends over at Vaska out of Berkeley.

Want to do better at your trade shows? Learn more exhibiting best practices by getting the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  Request your free, 32-page copy by clicking here.

When you ask the average booth staffer about trade shows, their first thing that comes to mind is long hours, sore feet, some fun, and work piling up back in the office.  This may be true, but needless to say we do shows for the benefits that we receive by way of lead counts and exposure in the market place.  Below are some of the “secrets” that can help unlock the potential of shows for you.

1.  Exhibiting without Borders: Staff in the aisle where the attendees are walking by.  It seems like where the booth carpet meets the aisle carpet, often becomes an impenetrable ”line in the sand” that staffers rarely venture past.  We all want to be “out of the box” in the way we think, so consider the exhibit space as “in the box,” and the aisle as “out of the box.”  This is where it gets a little uncomfortable, but if we can get out there and engage people as they come by, this will result in remarkably higher lead counts.  I staffed an exhibit yesterday where an attendee was going to walk by the exhibit without stopping and I engaged him, only to find out that he has operations on 3 continents and represents about a 5 million dollar sales opportunity for our client.  This guy was going to walk right by the tradeshow booth!  The only reason I pulled him in was because I was in the aisle.  The business is there and we need to be in the aisle to get it.  Sometimes the show may ask you don’t staff in the aisle, but go ahead and do it until they tell you otherwise.

2.  Watching gets you a Goose Egg: Engage attendees… period.  Recently I attended the nation’s largest trade show and did some stat counting on the trade show floor.  With one exhibit, I watched 74 attendees walk by a 60′ section of exhibit in 10 minutes, with only 2 of them being approached by the booth staffers.  The results speak for themselves: 2.7% of attendees were being reached by the staff during the time I kept track.  Why would the results be so low?  Simply put, it is because they did not engage attendees.  The opening line that works for anyone, in any show, is “What brings you to the show today?”  That question can’t be answered with one word (yes, no, or fine) and will require the attendee to stop and think about their response.  Now the door is open to qualify them and move onto the next step.

3.  Divide and Conquer: Surround staffers around in-booth attractions to get the maximum benefit from your investment. Having a game or some type of entertainment is a tremendous method for generating high traffic in your exhibit booth space and at your hospitality suite.  The key to any attraction is to engage and qualify the attendees while they are waiting for the attraction or when the attraction is completed.  Many organizations pay a tremendous amount of dollars for a great in-booth attraction, only to have attendees escape with no interaction with the booth staff.  We need to surround the attendees and make sure that we get an opportunity with them.  Another method to insure interaction is to tie the in-booth activity to the qualifying process.  We should work with the magician, trick shot pool guy, robot, or game organizer to make sure they can work into their script a qualifying question that we can see.  Not that this is any of us, but when it comes to in-booth activities, it seems that the norm in the trade show industry is to attract attendees, only to have the staff not participate in their role of interacting with the attendees.

4.  Play Zone, Not Man to Man: Create zones in your exhibit space that each staffer is responsible for.  Depending on the size of your space, you may have 5′x5′ (or 10′x10′) zones in an exhibit space that each staffer is responsible for.  Often, staffers will congregate at the main approach the exhibit and then leave a portion of the exhibit unstaffed.  Assign zone 1 to staffer “A” and let them know that this is their space and they are responsible for it during their time slot.  You are much less likely to have a staffer slip off with some prospect to chat and abandon their post.  This creates personal accountability as well, and does not allow leads to slip by the “back door,” never to be engaged by a staffer.  In addition, this technique naturally solves some of the problem of staffers congregating and talking to each other, rather than to attendees.  Creating zones can work in the largest and smallest of exhibit spaces.  It does, however, require a sufficient number of staffers in the space.

5.  Pre-Set Appointments at the Show: The primary reason we attend shows is to talk to people that can influence the sale of our products and services.  What better way to insure that we get the chance to talk to the right people than to set a specific time to talk to them at the show.  One of the keys to making this work is to do confirmation calls the morning of show to confirm the appointment and give landmarks that make it easy for them to find you.  You will need to get their cell phone number so you can catch them at the show.

6.  Make Your Giveaway Part of What You Do: Try to find a way to tie your giveaway into what you do.  This might be a direct tie-in; for instance if you are Apple, you would likely give away an iPad or a similar giveaway that is directly tied to what you do.  Many organizations are service-oriented, and in that case you might offer a percentage off their first purchase or a free on-site assessment.  If you want to give away something that is unrelated, that could work too, if the only people eligible are those who are qualified to make decisions about your products or services.  This means that attendees that are just “trick or treating” for all your free giveaways only get a Jolly Rancher and in order to register for the premium drawing, you have to be qualified.

7.  Trade Shows, Nightclubs and Mixers: Trade shows are strange.  What I mean by that is there are very few places where you stand around trying to talk to strangers and garner enough interest from them so you can tell them what you have to offer.  This process is uncomfortable and the only other places you may find yourself doing this is at a nightclub or an after-hours mixer put on by some association.  It is uncomfortable and one way to ease this angst is to find a couple of hand-picked people from your staff to be designated crowd gatherers.  They clearly need to be more out-going and gregarious than the rest of the staff to qualify.  Make it their job to be in the aisle staffing and to hand off the attendees to other people staffing the exhibit space (this does not exempt others from engaging or staffing in the aisle).  They are not responsible to do anything, but catch the attendee, qualify them, and hand them off to the staffer who can get into the details of the possible project.  After the hand off, they go back into the aisle to get some more attendees.

8.  Practice Catch and Release: Once we engage attendees, we find out that many are not qualified.  At this point we need to employ the practice used by many fishermen called “Catch and Release.”  We caught them, now we have to gracefully let them go.  The easiest way to do that is say “Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a great rest of the show.”  We are now able to gracefully let them move on and you are now free to engage other attendees.  In this process it is good to bear in mind that we don’t want to hand out our giveaways until we know they are qualified.

9.  Bring Only the Staffers that Want To Be There: The best person to staff exhibit displays is the person who wants to be there.  Picking staffers has to start with a basic criteria being met.  The staffer should want to be there.  If the staffer does not want to be there, they will not represent the organization well.  This becomes especially important, knowing that 85% the results that your organization receives is directly tied to the experience that the attendees have with your booth staffers.  Regardless of position, from CEO to the Janitor, we need to have someone who will represent the organization well – and that starts with the person who wants to be at the show.

10. Have a Huddle Every Morning: Each morning, of each day of the show, have a booth staff meeting.  Before the chaos of the show begins, gather your staff and have a pre-show meeting (roughly 1 hour prior to the start of each day).  At this meeting you can give an update on the quality of leads coming in, kudos to the best performers, announce any mid-stream adjustments, timing of activities, and update everyone on how well you are doing against the goals that have been set.  On an individual level, set specific target goals for each staffer so they have something to shoot for and compete against.  This can be given prior to the event or can be handed out at the event.  Also, this is a great opportunity to discuss the “best practices” in exhibit staffing, along with the 10 deadly sins of staffing (this may have some variation by company depending on your goals).

There is no better teacher than our experiences and observation.  These top 10 secrets are derived from both sources and if we are able to learn and use these top 10 behaviors and attitudes, we will surely double our lead count at our next event.

Learn more about how to staff your booth and increase your trade show lead count.   Click here to get your free copy of the 48-page Booth Staffing Guidebook, chock-full of helpful articles, worksheets and checklists to help your booth staffers thrive on the trade show floor.

I get to work with an array of clients from a wide variety of industries each of them providing their own marketing savvy and objectives for their sales and marketing teams. Nearly all of these projects really are a lot of fun to work on and it’s exciting to see the evolution of a project from the initial discovery meetings to delivery of their new trade show display.  But what would my ideal trade show client look like?

Cue dream sequence music…

1)  My ideal client is not afraid to take a few risks.  Stay a step ahead of your competition.  Instead of following the trends, create the trends.  Be the trade show marketer that keeps us wondering, “What will they do next?”  Be a model of innovation not complacency.  Innovation in products and services as well as exhibit design and marketing will make your clients take notice.

2)  My ideal client would have a large schedule of 100-150 shows a year, with sizes of displays varying from 10 foot displays to island exhibits.  Appreciates the quality, innovation, modularity, and portability of Skyline’s products.  Understands that we are partners with your in-house team.  Hey, it’s my dream!

3)  Has a vision (and a budget) to implement the technologies that add life and wow factor.  So many great ways to add video/hybrid technology, mobile marketing/QR codes, digital signage, and social media.  Utilizes these tools to help drive traffic and help create a buzz around your next event.

4)  Comprehends the concept of having a plan and working that plan. You can have the sharpest looking booth at the show but if you haven’t set the proper expectations for your team you’ve exhausted a lot of time, effort, and money.  It’s up to you to hold the team accountable to get the results that you expect from trade show marketing.  Before you are quick to dismiss your participation in a show or trade shows altogether, take a good hard, honest look at your own team.

5)  My ideal trade show client also understands that even the best laid plans can still result in failure.  There are so many logistics and so many people involved in the entire process that mistakes are inevitable.  Be prepared with a “Plan B,” and learn to not sweat the small stuff.  It may be hard to do at the time but don’t let the little setbacks get the best of you.

6)  Oh, and did I mention that infinite trade show marketing budget that spoils me with all of those luxuries, allows me to retire early, play golf when I want, and……………

Reggie, Reg, Reggie, wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah, who am I kidding?!?!  Maybe someday!  Well, it was fun while it lasted!

Okay, trade show marketers, what dreams to you have for your trade show marketing program?  What have you been itching to try but haven’t been able to yet?  Fellow consultants and event professionals, what do you look for in your ideal client?

The ideal trade show client also understands how valuable trade shows are, and strives to prove their value to upper management.  Such ideal trade show clients would want a copy of the new 24-page white paper, The Value of Trade Shows, yours free just by clicking here.