Don’t Hide Behind your Trade Show Furniture
Getting the techniques down for success at trade shows is kind of a trial and error process, and can vary at each event. One of the best stories I ever heard was from one of my bosses a long time ago about how he could pre-qualify a prospect without making eye contact, while appearing to be checking out the trade show furniture or staring at the trade show carpet in the aisles.
Trade Show Prospecting
Jeff, my old boss, was having trouble getting people to approach his trade show booth for some reason at a trade show that was open to the public. I can’t even remember the exact product right now, but at the time we were in the travel business together, which meant we spent a lot of time at trade shows either as guests or working inside a trade show booth. We lugged a lot of displays and trade show furniture around together, for sure.
Any way, Jeff said that every time he made eye contact at this particular trade show event, even though his exhibition displays looked great, his trade show banners were straight and his sales team were all neat and pleasant looking, the prospect would look away and sometimes change direction.
They would avert their eyes and suddenly be interested in the booth next door, their trade show furniture or banner stands – anything but his display stand. Years later, he still wonders what happened at that show, but is still pretty pleased, because he picked up a technique that has worked for him as he worked many a trade show booth since then.
From Among the Trade Show Furniture
Actually, I think that the first time he did it was an accident, as he said he was getting despondent. Jeff would look down at the convention hall floor in front of his booth and then kind of move his glance to where the traffic was coming from. Eventually there would be a pair of shoes that stood out from the crowd. Nicer, maybe more expensive, or just unique. When he would see a pair that caught his attention coming down the aisle between the exhibit furniture, he would suddenly look up and say to that person, ” I can’t believe how awesome those shoes are!” or some similar, enthusiastic remark.
Without exception that person would smile and say thank you and then Jeff would ask them a question to engage them in conversation, eventually being able to pre-qualify them and get their contact information. While pretending to stare at trade show furniture and carpet, and in the midst of all the banners and looky-loos Jeff was able to pick out some of the best prospects and get positive results from his trade show events.
The Moral of the Story
Working trade shows can be boring sometimes, just plain tough other times. Choose your shows and exhibition displays correctly, assemble the needed trade show booth furniture and trade show banners, and you can prevail. And why not find a similar kind of private game to play to help get better results? Have some fun with it!
We also have an article on why it is important to invest in trade show displays and what to do if people don’t notice your trade show booth at all.