Over this past weekend I participated in a 2-day tradeshow event at our local expo center. It was a small event with about 100 vendors.
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll recall that I was very sick this past week. And Yes, I still went. I had already agreed to the space and I wasn’t about to lose the opportunity. As an entrepreneur, sometimes you have to do what you have to do: suck it up and smile.
Here’s me at the entrance to the show, with a smile on my face. 
Let’s start with this thought: What is one of the cornerstones of any business? Well, Customers, of course. How do we get customers? We prospect, we generate leads, and them we deliver information and value to those leads in exchange for (hopefully) making a sale. Pretty basic.
The trouble starts with how we generate those leads. There are all kinds of marketing tactics out there: yellow page ads, print and radio ads, direct mail, pay-per-click ads, etc. As marketers we can get pretty creative. I want to submit to you that there isn’t much better marketing than face to face marketing. We do this by participating in networking events and Chamber of Commerce meetings, etc.
I want to remind you not to forget about the Tradeshow or Community Fair, especially the smaller niche shows. If you’re a big company or have every worked for one, you may have been exposed to those gigantic industry trade shows where folks exhibit to end user prospects and the booths are elaborate and may even have booth babes and grand scale SWAG (Stuff-We-All-Get). That’s intimidating.
Therefore, a small company may not consider it an option. I want you to do the opposite and consider them. I started doing tradeshows back in the early ’90’s. I’ll never forget 1993 when from January – March we did one small event/tradeshow a weekend. Yes, that’s a lot of weekend time and we were tired but we collected hundreds of leads to prospect from, didn’t have to do any more marketing that year, and ended up making a ton of money while having happy customers.
This past weekend was a family/kid related event. Of the approximately 100 vendors there, most were independent small businesses or entrepreneurs with a niche in kid or family products. We had your network marketing company participants such as Tupperware, PartyLite and Scentsy. There was the purse maker, the photographer, the Edward Jones Rep, the Country Insurance Agent. All kinds of folks where there.
If the type of person you consider to be your client would go to the show, you should consider being there. One woman told me that she thought the $595/fee was a lot to pay. I disagree. If you have warm leads of people that you’ve spoken with face to face and you make anything over your $595 investment plus any costs, you’re ahead of the game. And if you don’t, then you’re out some time and I suggest you go back to sales school.
Think out of the box. If you’re an insurance agent, it still makes sense for you to go to the Home and Garden show. People who buy plants and new windows need insurance, right? Again, be creative.
I directly spoke and made a connection with a few hundred people this weekend and ended up with 75 solid leads to prospect from of folks who want to know more about my wares. It was definitely worth the personal contact and it makes a huge difference when following up. The upside: I’ll have those names in my database to market until they make a purchase or indicate they truly aren’t interested.
I’ll be happy to share with you some of my tips on a simple and cost effective booth set up and strategy.
Until then – happy prospecting.