Trade Show Tips 3

Here's a growing collection of trade show tips on nearly every aspect of exhibiting. Ideas and solutions for everything from flame retardant fabrics to booth makeovers, visual aids, table coverings, studying competitors, taking orders, sharing a booth, avoiding drayage charges, and more.

If the show promoter provides table covers for each booth, bring your own table runner with your logo on it, to make your display stand out from the others.
Straighten up your trade show booth display periodically during a show to keep it fresh and professional. During the show, literature gets knocked askew, passersby sometimes leave empty cups or other companies' business cards on your table, and your product samples get moved around.
Working your trade show booth can be exhausting. Be sure each person in your booth has ample breaks so they can stay fresh and sharp.
Instead of storing your trade show displays after the show, get more mileage out of them by putting them to work at your business. They can be a permanent exhibit in your office, reception area, showroom, or other location as a professional marketing piece.
Charts, graphs, and tables are an excellent way to present persuasive data in your trade show graphics or literature. To make these visual aids effective, know which is best for the data you want to present:
- Bar charts - compare specific data.
- Pie charts - show percentages of a greater whole.
- Line graphs - show or compare trends, increases and decreases.
- Tables - show exact data for a range of variables.
Making over your existing trade show booth displays to create a new exhibit can save you a lot of money. New displays are expensive - completely replacing all your booth components with new ones will generally cost two to five times as much as you'd spend on refurbishing used displays. Consider each element of your booth separately, and brainstorm ways to update it without completely replacing it.
If your trade show booth display includes glass or acrylic cases to exhibit your products, don't forget to bring glass cleaner and a polishing cloth. Cases get fingerprinted very quickly at shows, giving the impression that their contents are shopworn. Regularly cleaning the glass or clear acrylic surfaces throughout the trade show will give them an eye-catching sparkle and an impression of high-quality goods inside.
Be sure to build in plenty of listening time when you plan your trade show presentations. While it's important to present the benefits of your products and services to potential customers, it's even more important to listen to customers' wants and needs, and let them know your primary goal is to provide what they want.
When it's another staffer's turn to man your trade show booth display, take advantage of the opportunity to learn about your competitors' products and focus. Spend some time at related companies' booths and learn from their sales reps. Listen carefully to their pitches, ask detailed questions, and study their displays. Collect their literature to analyze later. This is one way to stay abreast of the current and upcoming market in your industry.
Don't forget to bring calculators to figure customer orders at your trade show booth. Aim for one calculator per person working your booth, plus one or two extras.
For a quick and easy way to take orders at a trade show, use a clipboard and carbonless or carbon paper forms. Have several clipboards ready to go at your trade show booth, with an order form and a pen clipped to each one.
Set up your trade show booth display with "easy information" in mind. Info about anything your potential customers may want to know should be easy for them to find intuitively at your booth, if you're busy with another customer. You can use trade show signs and literature with clear, visible headlines to answer frequently asked questions about your minimum orders, pricing, shipping, etc. If customers have to wait for you to answer their questions and can't easily find the information they need, they'll move quickly on to the next booth.
One way to cut your expenses is to share a trade show booth with a related but non-competing business. This solution works especially well for one-person businesses.
Drayage can be a significant cost added onto your trade show exhibiting expenses. It's the charge for delivery from the loading dock to your booth space - and it can cost you over $60 per 100 pounds transported. To avoid the additional cost of drayage, you can have your trade show booth displays shipped to your hotel room, and then transport them yourself to the exhibit hall, using available carts belonging to the hotel.
You can test the wholesale waters without the expense of doing a trade show by renting a temporary space in a wholesale gift mart or showroom. For a monthly fee, you can display your products there for direct sales to shop owners. This is a good way to break into wholesaling on a small budget, as well as test new product lines.
Even a one-person business can make a big impression at a trade show. It's important that every aspect of your trade show booth display, literature, and presentation be professional. It's worth taking time to consider the details of your exhibit and develop various things you want to say to your prospects ahead of time, to make your overall impression as polished as possible.
When designing your trade show booth display, be sure any fabric elements of your exhibit (table coverings, backdrops, etc.) are flame retardant. Many shows require this, and it's not unusual for a fire marshall to come through the exhibit hall and ensure that all booths are in compliance. The marshall may even test for fire retardance with a cigarette lighter to see whether questionable fabrics flame up. So it's a good idea to plan ahead and use only fire-retardant fabrics in your display.

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