Show managers often hear complaints from frustrated exhibitors asking a simple question:
Where have all the attendees gone?
At the Exhibit & Event Marketers Association's Red Diamond Congress held at the end of July, meeting participants heard a new perspective about attracting attendees: the 1% solution.
The One Percent Solution: Sell Your Way to the Top One Percent by Brian Osterhaus surmises that there is a simple, yet effective framework to build a winning repeatable process. Bob Milam, commonly referred to as "Trade Show Bob" stated in a PCMA blog post, "The conventional belief that big traffic leads to big results is wrong." He went on to declare that only a tiny number of attendees really matter to the exhibitor and that is who the exhibitor should focus on.
Miliam stated, "It's all about helping your exhibitors understand how to target those key attendees."
Given that the right 1% of attendees are your exhibitor's target, how might they attract them? And how can interactive technology tool rentals help in this process? Here are four ways exhibitors can help themselves succeed:
First, target your email and/or direct mail campaigns. Rather than sending correspondence to all attendees, try and segment meeting participants into one of two categories: 1) Individuals who have transacted business with you in the past or present or 2) Individuals you know are a good fit for your offering.
Second, make your booth a "beehive of buzz." One way to do this is to have a reason for them to stop by your booth, such as offering them the ability to charge their mobile device while learning more about your business offerings. Create a visual storyboard about your company, customers and product offerings through a video wall, touch screen and computer kiosk. The more visually attractive your booth is, the higher probability attendees will want to stop by and talk to you.
Third, ask good, straightforward qualifying questions. Your time is valuable and so is the attendee's. Don't beat around the bush. Ask them a qualifying question and then listen to the response. If they are not a fit, let them go. If you aren't sure, show them a short video and then ask more questions.
Fourth, if they are a good fit, ask if you can scan their information into your lead retrieval system. Once you have gotten to this point, you will be sending on qualified leads to your sales organization to follow up with. In addition, you can integrate your meeting notes into the system while they are fresh in your mind. Most leads are never followed up on because the volume is too great and the leads are weak. Wouldn't it be great to give your sales organization a fewer number of better qualified leads that they actually have a chance to close?
Terence Donnelly, Vice President of Sales at Experient sums up this exhibitor mind shift the following way, "If exhibitors have a poor return at the show, they blame show management, never themselves. If they don't get the the ROI (they are looking for), they're not going to exhibit again."
AV Event Solutions, now part of the SmartSource Rentals family, can provide your exhibitors with creative and interactive technology tools to get and keep attendees at their booth! Call them at 888.249.4903, submit an express quote, or start a live chat with one of their experienced account professionals!
