When was the last time you stood in your exhibitors’ shoes?

I’m exhausted. We just finished exhibiting at AIME 2016 and I still can’t feel my feet. It’s really tiring being an exhibitor. Not only with all the planning you have to do before the event, but also talking & demonstrating to potential clients during the event, and now all the follow-up work after we get back to the office.

It’s hard to do what we preach – be a proactive exhibitor!

And it’s even harder to come up with ideas to make your stand “pop out” more than your competitors to attract the attendees that are trolling the aisles. Our Marketing & Sales Co-ordinator Deborah Boyle, enlisted the assistance of our stand builders The Exhibit Company to help start the creative juices flowing.

Together we came up with our bi-line:

We take the headache out of managing events

And then began the process of designing a full marketing plan around the event, from identifying our target group, to distributing an eye opening invite and carrying the concept all the way through the event and afterwards when following up our leads. Deb did an amazing job designing our invite & taking the concept onsite, right down to our “headache” lollipops, Event Health Check List forms & doctor’s coats:

Of course, being the “champions of lead generation” – all our leads were qualified immediately using our Info Tracker App which meant that we were able to electronically follow through and hopefully convert them as soon as possible. We had already created an Event Registration Check List that we also emailed to all the attendees that visited us during the show.

Lessons learnt from being an exhibitor:

1. Make your message clear. Use it in the lead up to the show, onsite and even after the event in your follow up.
2. The 3 Ps – Plan, Plan, Plan. You need to put aside time for your plan of attack. It has to make sense, be attention grabbing and hopefully will let you generate a ton of potential sales.
3. Customise your qualifiers. Make sure that whatever lead generation tool your are using, you have the ability to add qualifiers so that you are able to sort the leads and send the relevant documents immediately after the event (or during if you’re organised) before the leads go cold.
4. We love badges. Maybe it’s just because I’m getting older, but I loved the fact that I could read everyone’s name on their badge as they walked up to me. It helped me remember those clients names that I should already know, and allowed me to call out to those walking by that I didn’t know.
5. Make sure the whole team is on board. You need the buy-in from every team member that will be manning your stand. Uninterested team members don’t generate half as much potential sales as motivated team members do. And make sure they all get breaks & a chance to recharge.
6. Be comfortable. It amazed me to see so many exhibitors tottering around in stilettos. My feet killed me and I had Flats on. It’s not just the shoes either. If you’ve dressed up in theme costumes, remember you have to wear it every day of the show.
7. Finally – Have fun. There’s nothing attractive about gloomy exhibitors who are looking at their phones or standing around looking bored. It’s hard enough standing there for the 2 or 3 days of the show. You may as well have something fun that will attract attendees and keep you all smiling.

And another huge thank you again to Chris Lamb and Jess Wolodkowicz from The Exhibit Company for helping us achieve great results from AIME 2016.

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