A lot of companies do not realise that a successful exhibition starts months before the actual start date of the show. One of the key factors to an exhibition’s success is promotion, put simply you need to tell everyone that you will be there, and more importantly, why they should visit your stand.
A lot of companies tell people half-heartedly that they will be at exhibition X in 2 months come and visit us on stand 123. But why would a person that is not already planning on visiting you at the show come and see you? Well if you do not give them an incentive to do so the likely hood is they will not unless they are attending the show and your stand is good enough to draw them in (click here to get your free exhibition stand design). This is where giveaways, competitions and promotions come in to play.
You will be surprised at how effective a “win a weeks holiday” or “win a weekend away” competition is at drawing people on to your stand. The great thing about these types of competitions is you can make the entry requirements filling out a form with a set of questions that let you decide whether that person is a serious prospect or not.
So at the end of the exhibition you now have a huge number of lead forms, which have a set of qualifying questions filled in, so all your sales people have to do is go through the forms and get on the phone! And the best bit about running a competition like this is you will always get through to the person you want to when calling, little tricks like this make getting past the gate keeper that little bit easier!
How? When asked what the call is in connection with just say “It is about the free holiday competition they entered”. Who would not take that call?! Make the first phone call just a follow up call to check if they are free on certain dates as the competition has not been drawn yet, then they can have a quick chat about their needs for your companies products and services, they then also have the perfect opportunity for a follow up call to letting them know if they have won or not.
They may not have won but that doesn’t matter, it has got you through to them on the phone, the lead is now theirs for the taking and you have developed some good rapport!
If you want any advice on your next exhibition just give us a call on 01782 264110, or click here to view our recent exhibition stand designs.
