This is the second in a series of blog posts in which we’ll be looking at the trade show process through the client’s eyes, as we get ready for ExhibitorLive 2017.

So, you work hard to plan and design and build your booth. It perfectly represents your brand, and is inviting and engaging for show attendees.

Now what?

The most important part of planning for a trade show is preparing to have good, productive conversations with show attendees.

How we build rapport with prospective clients at ExhibitorLive

Your trade show booth, while important, can only do so much. It displays your products, engages attendees, and physically represents your brand. For it to really work you have to build relationships with show attendees. We’d like to share how we plan to do that at ExhibitorLive 2017.

As we noted in our previous post, our goal this year is quality over quantity. Last year, we ran a promotion that resulted in a lot of booth traffic that was difficult to manage.

So this year we want to have fewer, better meetings. How will we do that? We asked three of our salespeople to share their approaches:

Donna Merzigian: Share our Expertise

Having been in in the trade show business for a long time, Donna is able to impart some of that knowledge to show attendees. “There are a lot of details that go into a trade show -- material handling, installation and dismantle, and the union rules that are different in every city,” said Donna.

Donna sees it as an opportunity to get to know show attendees, engage them in conversation, and discuss Zig Zibit’s capabilities all at once. “We want people to learn about us and see what we can do,” she said. “A great way to do that is to share what we know and help them if we can.”

Dorian Dimitrov: Look for Pain and Gain

Dorian’s approach is to engage attendees in casual conversation and get them talking about one thing: themselves. “It’s not about Zig Zibit,” he said. “It’s more about their product and their company, and what their challenges are.”

As show attendees talk to him, Dorian says he looks for one of two things: pain or gain. The pain is usually related to costs, while the gain involves companies that want to better and bigger things with their trade show program.

Finding the gain is more powerful than the pain, because it means the client wants to do something new, and it gives Dorian a chance to explore possibilities with them.

Tia Mahoney: Be a Consultant

People don’t like to be sold to. They want to feel valued, like their needs are important to the salesperson they’re talking to. That’s the approach Tia takes. “I don’t want to try to sell them something,” she said. “I want to build a rapport and show that we care about their needs and challenges.”

That means, according to Tia, taking a consultative approach. “You have to put yourself in their shoes, and understand them and what’s important to them,” she said. That means asking specific questions about their trade show programs and being a good listener.

We’ve shared with you some of our approaches to meeting with prospective clients at a trade show. While different salespeople have different methods, what it comes down to is creating relationships.

More than just about any other business, the trade show business is built on trust. That’s what we hope to establish at ExhibitorLive.

Key Take-Aways

Your trade show booth is important, but it can’t do everything.
One of the most important things you can do at a trade show is establish relationships with prospective clients and customers, and there are several ways to do that.
Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about them. Find out what’s important to your customers.