Coaching Tip: Five ways to attract qualified prospects to your trade-show booth

Coaching Tip: Five ways to attract qualified prospects to your trade-show booth

Category: Sales, Marketing, PR, Sales Management (AF214)

Originally Submitted on 3/30/2001.

Introduction

Trade shows can be hectic for the limited staff expected to run the booth and deal with all the visitors. One way to lessen the burden is to make sure only qualified prospects find their way into the booth:

The Coaching Tip

1. Raise your booth and make it a distinctive color. This makes it stand out, and there's less of a chance that casual strollers will 'stop in' without even knowing what your company does.
2. If you're demonstrating product, set up the demonstration so that it cannot be seen from the aisle. This eliminates 'gawkers' who have no interest in buying the product.
3. Use your graphics to draw in qualified prospects and weed out people who have no need for your product or service. For example, put an easel in front of your booth that reads: 'Stop in to find out how XYZ's Product outperforms other brands by 45 percent.' That teaser will draw qualified people in, and 'tire kickers' will walk on by.
4. Don't promote 'giveaways' on the outside of the booth. You'll attract crowds of people who have no interest in your product and you'll have to spend time with them. Keep giveaways inside the booth, so qualified prospects can benefit from them.
5. Develop qualifying questions. Even if you take all these precautions, tire kickers have a way of slipping through. Train your booth's sales staff to ask qualifying questions, so they don't waste their time on nonbuyers. Exam-ple: 'Are you in the market for our product right now?' or 'What brings you by our booth today?' These questions will encourage casual strollers to keep strolling.

About the Submitter

This piece was originally submitted by Coach Karl, who can be reached at Karl@KarlRuegg.com, or visited on the web. The original source is: Adapted from Business Marketing .

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