Trade Show Tips

Planning To Take A Trade Show Exhibit To Your First Event? Don’t Forget These Tips

Corporate event planning can be complicated, especially in terms of trade shows. Before qualifying as an exhibitor, you need to worry about chair rentals for your personnel, table rentals for the products you want to showcase, and tarpaulins and brochures so people remember your brand.

A trade show exhibit isn’t something that can be actualized by Googling “event rentals near me” and hiring the first party planning service you can find. It can take months of preparation and years of experience to draw people into your booth. However, event planners like us know that everybody has to start somewhere, and we were once like you — floored at the amount of work it takes for people to notice your booth at trade shows.

If this is your first time, we’ve got you covered with a few tips that will teach you the basics. The planners of America’s most popular events, like Coachella or SXSW, live by these rules. If you follow them, too, your event might reach their level one day.

1. Research Your Audience

Trade shows tend to draw a lot of companies that serve people with different tastes and interests. Just because a trade show has a theme, like construction or gun accessories, doesn’t mean that people are not looking for something unrelated.

It is industry practice among trade show organizers to release the attendee lists to their would-be tenants, and you can capitalize on this opportunity. Attendee lists usually include the names, city addresses, and email addresses of your audience. Use this to your advantage by sending an email to attendees that you think will patronize your product.

For example, if you’re participating in a trade show in Austin, but you mostly service the Houston and San Antonio areas, send emails to attendees who live around those parts. You can hire outside help for your email marketing, as it can be hard to sort through the names and email addresses of hundreds of people.

2. Bring Your Best People

A trade show stand will cost your company hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Get your best people behind your booths and tables so you can maximize your return on investment. You will need sales staff who can smile in high-pressure situations as trade shows can be loud, crowded, and hectic, and they are no place for introverts.

It wouldn’t hurt to make your exhibit pleasing to the eye by finding a dependable tablecloth and party rental company. Never do business on a bare, unadorned foldable table, especially when you’re in front of potential customers, or they might think your company doesn’t care. The aesthetic of your booth should reflect your company’s professionalism and work ethic.

3. Quiz Your Personnel

Bringing your best people means bringing your most knowledgeable personnel. We’re in the age of the prosumer, where most of your potential customers have been busy researching your products on the internet before they ever talk to you in person.

They won’t approach your booth to ask for a repeat of things they already know. Quiz your sales staff on your products’ ins and outs, so they don’t show up unprepared. It helps to do a little role-playing to help your sales staff memorize spec sheets and talking points.

4. Conduct On-Site Research

You can learn as much from your customers as they can learn from you. Have questions prepared for wanderers who take a passing interest in your booth.

What do they find useful? What are they looking for in a product like yours? How much money are they willing to spend on such a product?

Trade shows are an excellent way to conduct a little on-site research on your prospective clientele. Most trade shows are also a yearly thing, so you can come back next year with all the new knowledge you’ve gained this year.

Final Thoughts

Your appearance at a trade show has to present an answer to three questions:

• Who are you?
• What do you have to offer?
• How serious are you about your products and services?

Freebies like pens, notebooks, and baked cookies will help your conversations along. Get all these and more by calling JCD Rentals today at 682.283.3445 to schedule a free consultation. Coming up with trade show plans and rental estimates has never been easier.