Admittedly, I read a lot of trade show blog posts. Partially, because it’s my job, but also because I enjoy seeing how Classic Distributors, industry suppliers, and competitors tackle familiar topics. As you can imagine, there’s a fair amount of repetition. There’s only so many ways to list “critical” trade show supplies or how to handle leads. But, there’s also a lot of creativity.
I really enjoy the bloggers who take the familiar but make it entertaining and often bizarre. Then there’s someone, in this case Charles Dugan at American Image, who writes about a topic I haven’t read before — “Finding Your Voice at Trade Shows.” I thought I’d tease you with some of it and then link to his blog post. Hey, we can all use links to our websites. 😉
Finding Your Voice at Trade Shows
In many ways, the planning and creation of trade show booths are the easiest part of participating in a trade show. Sure, airports and hotels can be a pain, and getting to the show site a day or so early and putting up the trade show booths can sometimes be an effort and a time commitment.
However, once they are up, many participants seems to feel the hard part is over. You can often see company representatives sitting and waiting for potential clients to come to them. It is almost as if they feel that they have earned a rest after all of the preparation.
In reality, the interaction and speaking to customers is the actual trade show. Your trade show booths need to attract visitors, but the rest is up to you and your sales team. The personal touch is the part of your presentation that you can control during the show.
Many people have difficulty with speaking to clients, either by feeling too much anxiety or acting with too little sensitivity to the personal space and receptivity of the passing customer. Here are a number of things to keep in mind when actually speaking with clients, ideas to remember about your voice and what you can do to project the best possible impression through vocal salesmanship.
Never, ever raise your voice: No matter how loud the sales floor gets, no matter how far away the client, never raise the volume of your voice while working in your trade show booths. This isn’t a stock market, even though it may feel like it at times. If you are trying to get the attention of somebody, use non verbal tricks.
Make eye contact.
Smile.
If you are ten feet away, put your hand out to shake theirs.
Very few people will refuse to shake the hand of a stranger if it is offered with eye contact and a smile. In this way, you seem like a friend even though you are meeting for the first time. When they respond with a shake and a smile of their own, feel your anxiety melt away
Continue to the blog post . . .
Cheers!
–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com
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Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions and engineered aluminum extrusions (ClassicMODUL). Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100.
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