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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Born in the mid 1950's and raised in a very small country town situated in Northern Victoria. Resident of Melbourne since 1980 and happy to stay living in one of the world's most liveable cities. You can view my professional profile at http://www.linkedin/in/danielwatson
Showing posts with label Deadly Sins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deadly Sins. Show all posts

Monday, April 12, 2010

Trade Show Mistakes Costing Business Dearly

 
Last week, I had the occasion to visit a major five day trade show, and what I witnessed, I found hard to comprehend.


I couldn’t believe some of the poor performances that I witnessed from many of those manning the booths for companies, most which had paid big attendance fees and were also incurring high daily expenses, to participate.


Deadly Trade Show Sins on Display


Just a few of the litany of poor performances witnessed included;
  • Three caffeine addicts having their mid afternoon coffees, chatting aimlessly about sporting performances, with their bodies facing the back of their booth, completely oblivious to to the six people who were reading their brochures and wall posters, and the one person in particular who obviously wanted to engage with the company, but after a minute of being ignored, just shook his head and walked away.
  • One young lady, left to man a booth alone, engrossed in a heavy duty conversation via her mobile phone, totally ignoring three separate visitors, in the space of two minutes.
  • The failure of 9 out of 12 booth staff to ask for a business card or contact details from myself after answering questions relating to their products or services.
  • Three sales people all dealing with responding to the questions being asked by one demanding enquirer, whilst ignoring everyone else who passed through their large booth, in the space of five minutes.
  • Young, inexperienced, female staff accosting passing foot traffic with pleas to enter their competition to win a pitiful prize. An affront resulting in the majority of people, other than young men, bypassing their booth completely.
  • Two young male spruikers, far more intent on picking up the cute hostesses at a neighbouring booth, than performing the roles for which their company was paying them to perform.
  • Two booths completely unmanned and without at least having substantial information boards, business literature, and business cards that those passing by, during the absence of the booth operator, could at least take advantage of if they had interest in the products on offer.
  • With two and a half days still to go in the show, far too many staffers displaying far too obvious signs of boredom and preferences to be anywhere other than in the booth they have been employed to man.
  • Apart from five or six well trained operators (perhaps actual business owners), the general reluctance of booth operators to step out from the bowels of their booths to actively engage with the traffic passing the front of their booth, was a too common occurrence.

Cost of Poor Trade Show Performance


The return on investment (ROI) for participating in a trade show has to be measured in terms of;
  • leads generated,
  • products sold,
  • contracts entered into,
  • contacts made, and
  • brand awareness created.
The performances I witnessed, as outlined above, will obviously have affected the ROI of the individual companies concerned, and may possibly lead to some companies electing to bypass the event in future, to the detriment of their businesses.

Failure to achieve an adequate return on investment in such a major, enduring and popular trade show is really unacceptable, and speaks badly of the management skills of those charged with conducting the event for their companies.


Preventing Poor Trade Show Performance


What gets measured gets done. This is a truism and if you want to prevent poor performance at your next trade show you need to;
  • Outline company expectations in term of the ROI expected from the participation.
  • Make all participants aware of the cost the company is incurring by attending.
  • Set individual targets for those manning the both.
  • Ensure adequate training is provided to all staff attending.
  • Monitor performance throughout the event and provide constant feedback.
  • Be aware of brand reputation when selecting staff to attend.
  • Debrief after the event to determine ways to do better next time.

Ask Yourself


How does your company manage its trade show participation?


Does your company set the required return on its investment in advance of committing the funds?


Are all of the staff deployed adequately trained, provided with performance targets, made aware of the costs involved, and effectively monitored throughout the show?


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