The Exhibit Source Blog

The first thing that comes to the mind of many small and medium small business owners when thinking trade shows is “expensive”.
 
That doesn't mean that trade shows can't deliver a great return on investment. The key to trade show success is how hard you are willing to work.

Many businesses are willing to spend big bucks travelling to and from and exhibiting at trade shows, with little other than a hope of traffic, orders and success. They certainly book appointments, but do they pull out all the stops?

A successful trade show can be measured in less quantifiable ways than orders written on site, such as new leads, enhanced customer relationships, brand building, product demoing, and sales training.

However, as well as these successes, it never hurts to get a show to pay for itself. Here are some ideas:

1. Contact your existing customers with a personalized message asking if they will be attending the show and requesting a formal appointment time. A call to action needs repetition from several methods to be most effective.

2. Contact the trade show association or organization and request a pre-registered buyer’s list for the upcoming show. Then, repeat the first suggestion about contacting customers with an introduction to your key product or service and how it can help run or grow their company. Request a formal appointment time.

3. Offer a free gift with a high retail value that can be acquired by you factory-direct at cost as a reward for showing up on time for a pre-booked appointment.

4. Overcome objections like; “I’m not booking appointments but I’ll stop by” with simple logic: “With all of our key staff on site and best products on display, we don’t want to run the chance of not being able to speak to you when you drop by. An appointment will guarantee you get our undivided attention.”

5. Use an online calendar to make sure no one gets double-booked and independent sales reps, if you have them, can see your availability in real time.

6. Advertise in a daily show magazine if there is one published on site. This is as captive an audience as you are going to get and the most likely chance that a print ad will translate into immediate action.

7. Offer show only specials.

8. Offer a daily prize in exchange for business cards dropped at your booth.

9. Rent the bar code scanner that some trade shows offer so you can scan the badges of buyers at your booth to ensure you get the most up to-date customer data. That’s your key to post show follow-up.

10. Deliver annual awards for “dealer of the year” or “distributor of the year” so that lesser-performing customers have something to aspire to.

11. Capitalize on celebrity endorsers, if you have them. Have them come for a picture and autograph signing or a meet-and-greet to draw attention and reward clients.

If this all sounds expensive, it is likely a still a fraction of what you are paying for floor space, flights and accommodations. A lot of it requires sweat equity more than dollars.

Using these ideas will allow you to book a couple hundred or more meetings over a four day show.  That kind of result practically guarantees the show’s success and return on investment.
 
An “if we build it, they will come” attitude is no more likely to work at a trade show than it is with a business idea. Exhaust your opportunities to confirm success before you get there.

Original article – The Globe and Mail

Many small to medium sized businesses participate in trade shows. For most trade shows the cost is tens of thousands. And that is before you pay your sales people.

According to the trade show bureau, it takes 3.6 touches to make an average B2B sale from a trade show lead rather than 6.7 touches from other leads.

So, are trade shows worth it?

For companies whose primary marketing strategy is direct sales, the general consensus is “Yes” trade shows are worth it. They must be properly executed, and when they are, there is no bigger marketing investment.
 
It is very important to pick the right show and have a customer focused strategy. But unfortunately, many companies execute a trade show poorly.

Your trade show displays should be a visual bill board. Your trade show exhibits must be part of the strategy of drawing potential customers and clients to your booth. But you must also have other effective strategies in place as well.
 
If your goal is branding and attracting customers, trade shows can be worth your while. But an attractive trade show booth displays are integral. One that can be assembled, transported and reassembled in the next location, can be highly effective and economical as well.

For information on trade show booths and displays, contact The Exhibit Source.

When planning your trade show displays, you need to think about how you are going to transport your booth once it is created. The Exhibit Source will help you design portable trade show exhibits keeping transportation costs in mind.

If you are considering a tall trade show display, consider having it designed so it can be broken down easily.

If using a transportation company to move your trade show display, be sure to incorporate the transportation expenses into your trade show budget.

The Exhibit Source can build high quality, trade show booths that are transportable. But here are some tips if you are using a transportation company to move your display.

Contact the trade show organizers and find out what the earliest available delivery and set-up times are. If you know this you can provide a bigger delivery window to the transportation company and get off-peak rates.

Instead of printing your trade show materials beforehand if the trade show is located in another town or state, have your marketing material made into digital files. You can have them printed near the trade show location to save on transportation space and fuel.

Contact The Exhibit Source for portable and impressionable trade show displays.

Trade shows are designed to let businesses meet numerous potential customers face-to-face in a short period of time.

Every size business does well at trade shows. Overall, booth space is inexpensive and small companies can usually afford attractive trade show displays. With creative marketing and trade show exhibits, small businesses can appear as substantial and profitable as larger corporations.

Those who use captivating and sophisticated trade show displays do well at trade shows no matter what their size, while those who show they are small and inexperienced can waste thousands of dollars and possibly do more harm than good.
 
Trade Show Benefits
 
The Trade Show Bureau claims that the average total cost of closing a sale in the field is $1,080, while the cost of closing a sale to a qualified trade show prospect is $419.
 
Generating sales leads is the most common reason exhibitors participate in trade shows. To do this, you need an appealing and compelling trade show booth. Contact The Exhibit Source for your display needs.

Trade shows. For a small to medium sized company, preparing for them can be time consuming and overwhelming. What are some of the DO’s and DON’Ts of  trade show exhibits? Deciding what to include in your exhibit and how to set it up is one of the first decisions you’ll have to make. But even prior to that: how big is your booth and do you have electricity?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can begin to think about the actual trade show displays, what you want and what you can do.

Don’t Jam Pack it. Often simple is better. Overcrowding a booth with products, logos, displays and information turn people away and don’t send a clear message of why attendees should stop there.

Make your message simple. What is the main objective? Is there one main product you want to push or introduce? Having fewer, but larger visual elements in your exhibit will reduce clutter and get more attention from attendee’s while creating a lasting impression.

Just a few products. Don’t bring your entire product line to the trade show. Just show the products you want to showcase or the products that make you the highest profit margin.

Moving trade show displays are better than static ones. Have something rotating or moving. At the least, have a tv showing a looping video.
 
If you have a large trade show booth, be sure to have an area set aside, with table and chairs to bring prospective customers to sit and chat.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your trade show display, contact the Exhibit Source. 

Are you heading to a trade show? Are you trying to make a window display? Do you want the foyer in your business to stand out? Display walls from the Exhibit Source are the answer.

You get maximum exposure in high definition. You also get two options.
 
Set up your wall display, with no tools, in 10-15 minutes. Maximum graphic exposure because the aluminum frames are hidden. You can even take advantage of both sides of the frame with two different graphics.

These wall displays are elegant and durable, but best of all, they are simple to use and transport. So many uses for portable display walls. Contact The Exhibit Source for more information.

Trade Shows can be expensive endeavors. It is important that you capture the right potential customer’s attention and draw them to your booth. In this scenario, a trade show exhibit that is different and captivating is always best.

The Exhibit Source is proud to announce the first ever fabric backlit pop up display. Our exclusive lighting system creates images with color and pop far beyond what traditional front lit systems achieve.

Grab customers’ attention! It has never been easier or more economical to own a 10 ft back lit trade show display.

Quality & value

Our Quick Fab™ is built from the highest quality components combined with a wrinkle resistant fabric graphic that stays attached to the frame. The ability to back light the fabric graphic, makes this the most reliable and versatile fabric pop up on the market. 

Lighting fixtures

Our exclusive Light Blanket creates a uniform glow to illuminate and draw attention to your graphics. Lighting fixtures use standard bulbs that can be found at most hardware stores. Light Blankets are easy to attach. Only one plug is required and will work with any standard outlet.

Portable & lightweight

The Backlit trade show display  is easy to set up - the display can be set up by one person in five minutes, with no tools, and the entire display, including the lights, collapses into a sturdy rolling hard case for convenient storage and mobility. Lights are wrapped in a protective fabric sleeve.

Contact The Exhibit Source for more information on eye catching exhibit ideas.

A business needs great planning to master the deadline-driven world of trade shows.

Too often, important marketing planning gets overshadowed by urgent logistics planning. Because of the flood of deadlines, businesses get more distracted by the “what to do” rather than the “why to do” it.

But, it’s just as essential to plan your marketing. Things such as your goals for the show, your marketing messages for your graphics and staffers and creating a promotional trade show booth that will get more of the right people to your space.

In regards to your trade show booth –
Four months out:

• Pick Booth Staffers: Review last year’s qualified lead counts by booth staffer to identify the staffers you want. Be sure they can attend. Ask your best booth staffers who else they would recommend.
• Research Technology: Consider how you can integrate technology into your trade show exhibit to help get more attention, tell your story, and facilitate better conversations between attendees and booth staffers.
• Invite Exhibit Builders: If building a new trade show booth, set appointments to meet with exhibit builders and give them access to your key marketing decision-makers.

• Choose Staffers: Finalize your booth staff choices.
• Order Services: Order any show services you need according to your list from the show book.
• Choose Your Exhibit Builder: Award the new build and then continue to quickly and thoughtfully respond to their questions and requests for graphics art to ensure timely completion of your new trade show exhibit.
• Order Promotions: Select and order any promotional items you will be mailing pre-show. Some can take only a few days, some can take over a month, depending where they are made and imprinted.

Did you know that your trade show booth display has about 3 seconds to stand out from the others?  In order to get the attention of the potential customer at a trade show, you need to set yourself apart in a crowd.

To get the job done, your trade show booth display needs to grab qualified prospects and draw them in. The Exhibit Source understands the importance of your trade show display, which is why we offer numerous options of display styles.

We offer ten foot and twenty foot displays that are lightweight and easily transported, effective displays “no tools required”, and table top designs with or without pop up enhancements. The Exhibit Source is perfectly able to help you design and create the perfect exhibit for your trade show booth .

Click “trade show exhibits” for more information.

If you are looking for a way to impress clients, create an inspiring atmosphere for employees, or if you want to showcase certain areas to guests, The Exhibit Source is the answer.

We do not just provide a complete selection of event marketing and trade show exhibits; we can help you with your corporate interiors as well. Corporate interiors that make a statement, add inspiration and stimulation, and promote your brand, image and message.

ImageWalls prints can turn any design - photographs, unique design, logo, illustration or quotation - into wallpaper for your workspace setting. In the past, the thought of custom wallpaper-wallpaper that you imagined or designed-was not practical for an individual or a small business. ImageWalls has worked with its lab to invent the technology to produce truly custom wallpaper for one wall or 100 walls at an affordable price.