How to Succeed at Trade Shows, By Really Trying The Distributor/Merchant Perspective
February 1, 2007

‘Tis the season for trade shows, exhibits, expos-name your flavor. They abound throughout the country. It seems as if every industry provides its channel partners the opportunity to come together during the fall season.

For many, the "trade show" represents a chance to expand business relationships, increase awareness of what is happening within the industry, identify new market and supplier opportunities, and enhance relationships with channel partners, among other tangible benefits.

For others, the "trade show" represents a chance to get away from the routine workplace, fostering opportunities to get away from it all.

How do well-intentioned owners and managers of companies participating in these shows succeed? How much can managers "legislate" behavior to their organizations, directing employee (and manager/owner) behavior to optimize the "trade show experience?"

I have a few suggestions.

First, consider how much it costs your organization to send an employee, or several employees, to a trade show. Aggregate the salary, travel and other obvious direct expenses. Add to this the "opportunity cost" lost by having an employee on a trade show floor, as opposed to being in the workplace.

We recently sent four managers to a terrific industry trade show. Four of us, out of the office for three total days, it cost the organization almost $20,000.00 in direct expense. Imagine how much it would have cost if we had been accompanied by several other managers and/or sales employees.

Ø Point One: If you participate in a trade show, do the arithmetic. It will compel you to maximize your investment

It is essential to clearly define why you are attending a trade show. If the answer is, "because everyone else does," or, "if we don't attend, we'll be conspicuous in our absence," then I suggest you tighten up your objectives. The objectives should be measurable, much like you would expect your salespeople to have in mind when planning and conducting their sales calls.

Ø Point Two: If you participate in a trade show, have active, measurable objectives. Every interaction, meeting, workshop attended, etc., should have a particular objective that can be reviewed and measured, based upon the experience.

Discipline yourself to create trade show objectives that support your organization's goals. Appoint a manager to be responsible for organizing the firm's planning and activities at the show, from beginning to end. Often, companies assume that simply organizing air transportation, hotels, meals, etc., is enough. It isn't.

Ø Point Three: The responsible manager should consider himself the lynchpin for a successful trade show experience. He should not assume that his managers understand how they should behave, or how to optimize their time to its fullest. Organization starts with having clear objectives that are built upon the company's current and future strategic business plan and objectives.

Clearly defined objectives will flow easily into high payoff, measurable activities for your staff while at the trade show. Objectives that come to mind may include:

a. Increase market share with a particular customer segment

b. Increase sales/profit with a particular customer

c. Enhance working relationship with existing key suppliers/manufacturers who will be exhibiting/present

d. Increase awareness of how market trends, (importing, government regulations, industry consolidation, sales force use of technology, etc.), are impacting businesses similar to your business in other non-competitive markets

e. Expand product line offerings

f. Enhance marketing/sales approach to better serve existing customers

g. Improve operational efficiencies through improved use of technology

Ø Point Four: The responsible manager should work with his team to ensure that the company's objectives translate into active trade show planning and behaviors. These behaviors may include: Attending specific educational seminars; meeting with key suppliers; attending networking events with the company's marketing group, if applicable; determining specific trade show displays to visit; lining up key supplier trade show and/or off line meetings (dinners/lunches/breakfasts, etc.)

Ensure that the objectives that were established are reviewed and summarized for action once everyone returns home. Typically, trade show attendees return home, burned out and forced to get back into the day to day operations and demands of the business. Key learning and information may not be acted upon, and opportunities to communicate to others within the company who were not able to attend are lost.

Ø Point Five: The responsible manager must ensure that key activities listed in Point Four are assigned, and that each attendee assigned a particular activity summarizes his key learning, along with recommended action steps. While this may be implicit, this is often not done.

In summary, trade shows are challenging. Because companies don't attend trade shows every day, planning and executing can be difficult. Many companies simply bring managers/employees to trade shows, without providing their teams with particular objectives and associated activities to execute during the show. As a result, opportunities are lost.

If you consider attending a trade show as a series of high level sales calls, with every planned activity a chance to differentiate your company from its competition, then you will likely have a greater degree of measurable success.

If you consider attending a trade show an undisciplined affair, then you will miss many opportunities to improve your business, as well as differentiate your company from your competitors.