Trade Show Guru

What is trade show zen? Is it the trade show marketing enlightenment that one gets from reading the wisdom of the trade show guru? Not exactly, but reading the Trade Show Guru blog probably helps. Is it designing and setting up your trade show booth space to incorporate the essential design elements of trade show feng shui? Not really, but that’s not a bad idea. Is trade show zen sitting crosslegged in your booth in the morning meditating and chanting positive thoughts before the show opens? Definately not. Trade show zen is the sense of calmness and serenity that comes from proper trade show planning and from not acting like (or needing to act like) a carnival barker or used car salesman when people walk by your trade show booth. The steps to achieving trade show zen are easy for those that pay attention.

Pre-Show Planning
As I wrote in my earlier post on trade show planning, you need to properly plan for your trade show. Proper planning equals calmness which equals zen. Proper trade show planning means making sure you’ve picked the right trade show to exhibit at. It also means making sure you’ve developed a budget for all the costs associated with exhibiting at the trade show and that you’ve determined your potential and likely profit will exceed that budget (and thus your trade show exhibiting plans are a money making proposition). But most importantly, proper trade show planning means that you’ve actively and effectively promoted your trade show exhibit BEFORE the show and that you can count on qualified prospects to come and find you at the show. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by sending out a pre-show mailer to all the people that be attending the show.  I actually recommend doing a series of mailers, as repetition is often critical to getting through to people. Your mailers should of course make it clear that you’ll be exhibiting at the show (and where – i.e. your booth number and a map), and your mailers should give your prospects a good reason to stop by. You need to let them know what you’ll be showing at the show, and how it will help them. It also doesn’t hurt to offer a free trade show giveaway or prize to anyone that stops by with the mailer.

At The Show Behavior
If you let people know in advance to come by your booth (and give them good reason to), then you won’t have to worry about booth traffic. It’s much easier to greet someone that comes up to your booth and says “hi, I got your mailer and I’d like to know more about your new potato-pealing-widget“, instead of acting like the above mentioned carnival barker or used car salesman, who confronts everyone that passes by (whether they’re interested or not) and tells them they should stop and listen to a sales pitch. Carnival barkers and used car salesmen have no trade show zen. Those that plan ahead and arrange for qualified traffic in advance, those people will achieve trade show zen. And reading the trade show guru for trade show marketing enlightenment and to discover an occasional trade show secret probably doesn’t hurt either…