memoirs - mjsainstructions in great boothmanship from the great exhibitors in shows aficionado by...
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Instructions in great boothmanship from the GGreat EExhibitors IIn SSHHows AAficionado
by Bruce Coltin
G.E.I.S.H.A.Memoirs of a
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kay, so the title is kind
of a reach. But the truth is that I truly am
an aficionado of great exhibitors—those
who practice what many of us grizzled
trade show veterans refer to as great
boothmanship.
Having been in the trade show busi-
ness for 25 often-turbulent years, not to
mention earlier years of being a frequent
exhibitor, I am at times referred to as a
trade show guru. I don’t like “guru”; it’s
way overused. Almost everyone these
days is some kind of guru. People prob-
ably call my barber a haircutting guru. I
would like to be known as The Trade
Show G.E.I.S.H.A. I appreciate your
cooperation in this matter.
So, what exactly constitutes great
boothmanship? Is there such a thing as
great boothmanship? And, if there is,
how do you learn how to do it?
If you’ve attended enough trade
shows, you’ve encountered exhibits
staffed by people who appear too busy
or distracted to talk to you. “Excuse me
folks, I see that you’re engaged in idle chit
chat, gabbing on your cell phones, licking
excess cream cheese off of your bagels, and
reading USA Today. Any chance one of
you could show me your new casting
machine?” Dysfunctional, unmanaged
booth crews are what you get when you
approach a trade event without solid
objectives, careful planning, adult su-
pervision, and an understanding and
appreciation of great boothmanship.
If you view a booth as your stage,
where you get to sing about the
beauty of your product, a trade
show will be your Broadway
mega hit. If you view a booth as
a cage, confining you and pre-
venting you from being out in
the world doing business the way
you like doing business, you’re
wasting your time and your com-
pany’s money. You’re sitting in a
cage of your own making.
In the days when I was a frequent
trade show exhibitor, the booth was
always my stage, and never my
cage. For me, trade shows created
unique opportunities. That brass ring
prospect who would never take my
phone call would sometimes end up in
my booth. If I would catch his name
badge as he walked down the aisle, my
mission was clear: get him to break
stride and exchange words with me.
Over the years, I’ve heard many
firsthand stories of important business
deals that began as an unexpected
booth encounter. When a salesperson
gets a phone call from someone she
never expected to hear from expressing
serious buying interest, we call that a
bluebird. We spend a lot of time chas-
ing people and getting doors slammed
in our faces, so we all tend to smile
when the occasional bluebird lands on
our windowsill. At trade shows, blue-
birds are all around you. If you’re deter-
mined to spot them and ready to sprin-
kle a few bread crumbs, you’re liable to
capture what days spent working the
phone or pounding the pavement
would not have delivered.
The exciting part of exhibiting at
a trade show is not seeing your
usual customers. Sure that’s part
of the experience…for some ex-
hibitors, that might be 90 percent
of their show objectives, but for
most exhibitors, the name of the
game is new business. That’s why
O
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great boothmanship means con-
necting with strangers—instantly
and solidly.
Ican go to any trade show, in any
industry, and immediately identify
the real boothmasters by the looks
on their faces, the sounds of their voices,
and by the ways they engage strangers.
Saying “hello” or “good morning” to
every passerby is certainly friendly, but
usually ineffective. When someone greets
me that way, I return the pleasantry and
keep walking. Being cheerful and friend-
ly is nice, but it doesn’t translate to “Can
we do business?”
What is the single most effective line
you can come up with that will almost cer-
tainly prompt a stranger to stop in her
tracks and hand you a few precious min-
utes of her undivided attention? Here’s a
hint. It isn’t: “Can I tell you about my wid-
get?” An exhibitor I know says about his
torch, “It turns water into fire.” Now that’s
intriguing! An exhibitor I met years ago
sold tax shelters. His first line to any booth
traveler was: “Did you pay income tax last
year?” When he’d get a yes or even a slight
nod, he’d follow with: “Can I show you
how not to make the same mistake this
year?” Was he the busiest exhibitor in the
show? What do you think?
Connecting with strangers is a crit-
ical part of the job, but it is far from
being the whole job. You need to
get into your presentation and you
need to qualify the prospect to be as
sure as possible that he and your
product are a reasonably good fit.
If you present well but qualify poorly,
you’ll waste valuable post-show fol-
low-up on unqualified prospects. If
you qualify well and present poorly, you
will be spending too much post-show fol-
low-up trying to rekindle interest in those
who left your booth without hearing the
great benefits that would have stuck in
their minds.
The booth amateur may get a visitor
to listen to the presentation, but then lets
him get away without learning anything
about him. Real boothmasters present
and question (or qualify) almost simulta-
neously, as in this example:
Linda: So, Bill, you’re looking for a laser
engraving machine?
Bill: That’s right. Actually, I’m just start-
ing to look into them.
Linda: Tell me a little about your
business. I saw you looking at
our top-of-the-line model,
which might be more than
you need.
Bill: We have a jewelry store in the sub-
urbs. It’s a small, family operation.
Linda: Are you looking to replace your
current machine, or will this be a new ser-
vice that you’ll be offering your customers?
Bill: This will be totally new for us. Some
of our customers have been requesting
this for years.
Linda: Bill, based on what you’ve told
me, I think we can rule out several mod-
els and get right to our LaserPro, which
should be perfect for your size operation.
Are you hoping to begin offering your
engraving service for the holidays?
Bill: My wife says we’d be crazy not to.
Linda: Sounds like a smart lady. We sell
more of these than all of our other mod-
els put together, mostly to folks like you.
Let me show you how easy it is to operate.
Bill leaves your booth feeling that he’s
had a two-way conversation and an
informative demonstration, rather than a
canned lecture. When you shake his
hand and say goodbye, you have a good
feel for when and how to follow-up, and,
thanks to his responses (which you
immediately write down), you know he’s
a hot prospect.
The show is over, and you’re back
at your desk. Now it’s time to con-
vert promising leads into solid sales.
One big problem: evaporating rap-
port. (It took me years to grasp that
concept.) It’s time to reconnect.
You had a great booth conversation
with Allison. She was mesmerized
by your purple tabletop widget
with the digital readout (PTW-D1). She
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What is the single most effective line you
can come up with that will almost certainly
prompt a stranger to stop in her tracks?
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Janu
ary
2008
told you that it was exactly what they
needed in order processing, and that Dan
would love it.
When you make the call to Allison, do
not assume that she remembers you
or the PTW-D1. In
fact, you should as-
sume that she doesn’t.
Assume she spoke to
other exhibitors, looked at
a lot of products, and got
back to a very hectic office.
Assume that her bond with
you and her enthusiasm for
PTW-D1 have started to evapo-
rate. Assume that you need to
reconnect. Begin by bringing her
back to your booth (not literally, of
course), and then, with that plat-
form firmly in place, use it to spring for-
ward: “Allison, at the show, when we were
looking at my four PTW models…by the
way, what did Dan say when you showed
him the brochure on the PTW-D1?” By
refreshing the potential customer’s mem-
ory—and impressing her with
yours—you’ll be on your way to
a solid sale.
Over the years, I’ve
learned a lot about being a
true boothmaster. I learned
from being in the booth and trying out
different lines to quickly connect with
those elusive aisle strollers, but I learned
even more by being one of those aisle
strollers. What memorable lines made me
break stride and exchange words? What
was it about a great booth presentation
that smoothly qualified me as a prospect
and put me on the road to being a buyer?
And, when back at my office, sitting at my
desk, how did that exhibitor reconnect me
to her, to the show, and to the product? Is
it more art than science? I’m not sure.
What do you think? ◆
Do you have an instructive boothmanship
story that you would like to share with our
readers? E-mail [email protected]. In
the subject line, put “Trade Show GEISHA.”
The real boothmaster gets
visitors to listen to her presentation
while asking the right questions
to qualify them.
Aelectronic Bonding, Inc80 Dean Knauss DriveNarragansett, RI 02882
401-284-4501 888-494-2663Fax 401-284-4504
abiusa.net [email protected]
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