Trade shows are an excellent way to promote and market your product, with these huge events bringing together hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of business together with potential clients.

Done right, they can generate many new leads for your company, but you need to be appealing to decision makers in the right way.

When you know what these kinds of people are looking for when attending a business expo, it helps to give you the upper hand as you can tailor your approach.

Here are just a few things to bear in mind when it comes to a trade show.

Related to attending a trade show:

• Trade Shows: How To Use Them To Get More Clients
• 4 Top Secrets To Stealing The Trade Show
• 5 Smart Ways To Spend Money To Make Money You Need To Know

An eye catching stall at the trade show

With so many stalls at a trade show, there’s no way that people will be able to visit them all. Instead, they will often make decisions based on the initial appearance of the stall. We’re often told ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ but unfortunately, people do.

You might have a fantastic business and presentation, but if your stall looks dull then you may well find hordes of potential clients simply walk right past. Have a professional company design something bespoke for you, or look into exhibit rental.

It should look interesting and draw people in- once they’ve shown some interest you can quickly win them over with your pitch and everything else you have to say. But you need them to want to take that first step.

An interesting pitch

Ditch the dull PowerPoint presentations and long, droning talks. Expos are a chance to get really interactive, you can make it gimmicky and fun.

Play games, run competitions, you could even do magic tricks if you wanted to! Find a way to link these things to what you’re doing. Spend some time really working out how you want to get your message across, and how you can give these decision makers a positive feeling about your brand.

If you’re selling a physical product for example, let them test it for themselves and be prepared to answer any questions that might crop up, no matter how difficult. Do some research online to find out the tactics of the most successful trade show stalls.

Friendly staff

It’s you and your staff that these decision makers will essentially be investing in or working with, and so you need to ensure you’re coming across in the right way. Staff should be friendly, upbeat and engaging. They need to be likable to win over the client.

Having a good product or service is the first step, it’s your fantastic workforce that will help you to stand out from your competitors. Particularly if this is going to be a business cooperation; the client will want to know that you’re friendly and easy to get along with.

Have your best salespeople and friendliest staff with you at the expo, it could genuinely be the difference between sales made and those lost.

Are you attending any trade show expos in 2019?

What advice would you give to anyone looking to do the same?