Keys to Having a Successful Exhibit at Marketplace & Academy

by Tami Murphy, Grand Prix International

“How do I make the most of exhibiting at a tradeshow?” This is a question many new exhibitors ask veterans in the industry. It’s also not a bad question for veteran exhibitors to ask themselves so they don’t get too complacent.

Attending a tradeshow is more than just showing up, putting up a booth, and talking to buyers who walk by. If this is your plan, you are missing opportunities and you are probably leaving money on the proverbial table.

A successful exhibitor puts in the work before, during, and after the tradeshow. Before the show, sales materials should be distributed, your booth layout should be tested, your staff should be trained on tradeshow expectations and, finally, your post-show follow-up plan should be in place.

Both sales reps and store owners spend time planning their time on the tradeshow floor before they arrive at Marketplace & Academy. If, as an exhibitor, you don’t provide them with the tools to do this prep work, you won’t have the best show possible. Weeks – even a month or more – before the show you should provide these important tools: your catalog, price sheet, and show special. If you want to really shine, you will provide an up-to-date assessment of what is in stock and estimated shipping dates for what is not in stock.

First, provide the sales tools needed to your sales reps a month or more prior to the show. Next, plan on providing this information to buyers in a variety of ways such as emails (with good subject lines like “Catalog, Price Sheet and Show Special for ASTRA show”), postcards (yep, snail mail), and social media posts with protected links to these sales tools. Again, these are catalogs, price sheets and show specials.

Notice, phone calls weren’t included on this list. Leave the phone calls to your sales reps. Taking a call from every exhibitor at the show equates to a lot of phone calls and a lot of time the retailer is pulled away from their customers.

Planning your booth ahead of time is also a great use of time. Find a space to mark off the size of your booth and set up your booth before showing up at Marketplace & Academy.

Your booth should be visually pleasing. You want the retail buyer to be able to visualize your product in their store, so help them by replicating that in your booth. Retailers are good at merchandising. If there is a retailer you know well, or who is a

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(continued from page champion of your products, snap a picture of your planned booth setup and ask their opinion on how you merchandised your products.

You can now also gauge whether your booth layout allows for good traffic flow. If you have a small booth and a lot of products to show, you’ll need to be strategic in how to place it and even what products to display. This leads to one consistent comment from retailers: have your best sellers and your new products open and out for display so they can interact with them.

Do a trial run with your booth staff. Can they walk a buyer through the booth and talk to them about your products? Do they know the show special or how to place an order?

Plan to have your booth staff on their feet the majority of the time. Everyone will periodically need to take a seat for a break. If possible, have them do it out of the booth. If it’s not possible, have the seat in a less visible spot. If there is a health reason a staff member needs to be seated, accommodate that and have the seat where they can best interact with buyers walking in and out of your booth.

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(continued from page 38) their heads down and on their devices. When that’s the case, you’ve potentially just lost a customer. With your staff not on their devices, they should either be talking with a visitor in the booth or standing near the aisle, smiling and saying hello to the people walking the aisle.

During the show, when people visit your booth, snap a picture of their badge (with their permission), take their business card, or write down their name and contact information on their order form or a contact list you are creating. This information is for your postshow follow-up and to be added to your mailing list for future marketing initiatives. If possible, write down a note or two about your conversation with each of these individuals. This will jog your memory after the show and will make your post-show follow-up more effective.

Post-show follow-up is as important as prepping for the show. the reasons you attend these shows, other than taking orders, is to develop a relationship with the stores. What better way to do that than engaging in a variety of communications with them? Send thank you emails to those who placed orders and give them any relevant information they need to know about the products they ordered. For prospective