Exhibiting At Your First Event

Last week I took part in our local Chamber’s first tradeshow or Showcase as they preferred to call it. A mix of thirty local businesses from Banking to Website Design, covering not just business but also the home.

Attending a trade fair or business event as an exhibitor can be a significant and costly decision. You need to have a balance between the cost and effort involved. It’s not just about the cost of the event itself but also the cost of the advertising, display materials, handouts, products, samples and your time in preparation and marketing for the event.

If you’ve taken the decision to book up your first event then here are a few tips, to make sure you get the most out of the event when you’re actually there.

1. What is your main objective for attending the event? Write it down.

2. Get rid of the chairs behind your stand. There’s nothing more off putting than someone sitting behind their stand, quite possible not even making eye contact with the people walking by. Stand up. Get onto the same eye-level as the people passing by.

3. Even if people aren’t going to buy, don’t let them just walk away or move straight on to the next stand. Entice them to try and buy. Have testers or samples available or something they can sign-up for, information they can take away.

4. Give something away in exchange for their contact details. Have a prize draw for some of your products or services.

5. Engage with your visitor. If someone takes the time to stop at your stand and shows an interest – start a conversation. You don’t need to launch into a sales pitch. Talk about your products – find out about them. Discuss the weather. Anything that will start a conversation.

6. Smile! There’s nothing worse than someone on a stand looking bored or fed-up and it can make a real difference to whether people stop and take a closer look or walk straight past.

7. Oh and if all else fails – have a bowl of sweets. It kept visitors and other exhibitors coming back. :)

Don’t forget to follow-up afterwards and also look at whether you achieved your objective (1), what worked and what didn't.

Meet Your Public

I had the opportunity to be on radio last week. That was certainly something new for me. Several brief interviews, which actually wasn’t that different from talking on the phone – headset on, voice on the end of a phone/microphone.

I spend most of my time working with clients over the phone, which works well but it can become very comfortable, working from home, networking online, writing emails and answering calls but I’ve recently rediscovered the benefits of meeting up with people face-to-face. Not only does it get me out and about – apart from my regular networking meetings but last year, I ran a couple of workshops locally and got a buzz from the synergy that gets created in a group. It’s no longer just about you, your knowledge and expertise, it’s about what else people bring to the group – challenges, ideas, inspiration.

While it’s a well-documented fact that most people don’t like public speaking, there’s no better way to get your message across than talking to people face to face, especially if your business is you and not a product. Whether it’s small or large groups – show your expertise. Talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to – I’m not necessarily talking about total strangers but groups of people that you may not usually approach. You might find a whole new audience.

It doesn’t have to be that scary. Even the most accomplished speakers get nervous and had that sense of dread when they first started. Build up your confidence with a small group of people you know, practice, get feedback and then find other groups to talk to, who want to hear what you have to say.

Alternatively, if you normally do a lot of talking, try a different from of communication

How Many Hours Do You Spend Networking?

There are more and more networks starting up all the time – social and business, online and offline. Every week I seem to get an invite to yet another network.

The perceived wisdom is that you should be in as many networks as possible in order to extend your influence across as broad a platform as possible. This might well be true but some of us actually have work to do as well, so deciding on the most appropriate networks for your business is important if you’re going to make the most of your time.

If you frequently attend offline networking meetings, take into account the cost and time involved in getting there as well as the cost of the meeting itself. If you have to travel an hour to attend an hours meeting – that’s at least three hours out of your day – given preparation and planning time. If you have the time available – that’s fine or if you can combine it with another meeting in the same area.

If you participate in online networking, manage your online time in the same way that you manage any other area of your business. What is your reason for being online? Set yourself specific objectives – posting a certain number of blogs or messages, growing your network or participating in groups relating to your area of expertise. Limit your time for each network

Networks – both online and offline can also be a source of advice, support and information as well as potential clients, customers and suppliers. Sign up for as many as you like, find the ones that work for you and then participate on the handful that give you the most value.

Don’t give up if you don’t get a response straight away – relationship building takes time and people need to get to know you before they’ll do business with you.

How Do I Look?

We form our opinion of someone in the first few seconds of meeting them. One glance and based on how they look, what they're wearing, posture and other clues, we're working out their occupation, social background, education, status and any number of other views, opinions about who they are and what they do. It's called stereotyping and although it's not an exact science and while everyone is unique we'd probably guess quite a bit about the person and be right.

We're meeting people all the time from different professions - how often do they conform to the social norm. If you walked into a room full of strangers could you pick out the accountant, the bank manager, the web designer, the PR person? If the Bank Manager turned up in jeans, T-shirt and trainers - what would you think?

How much does appearance affect the way you relate to a person, their skills and abilities to do their job? If you were interviewing for a job - how much would appearance and personality influence your decision?

There's a whole industry built around branding and image, so how we look and present ourselves is important - particularly in the business environment where there seems to be even more of a requirement to conform. In some companies - they even have/had a dress code - dark suits, white shirts and tie. The introduction of business casual has made things more relaxed from the more formal business attire of suit and tie.

Do you dress to reflect your profession or who you are? Have you ever felt discriminated against or singled out because of your appearance?

If you're out for a meeting or sitting having a coffee in the next week - take a look at the people around you and see if you can work out who they are and what they do.

Emotional Infection

Reading the Tipping Point this week there's an interesting section on the 'dance' that occurs when we have a conversation with someone or a person is communicating with us. You're probably aware of the importance of non-verbal cues in communication, that words are just a small part of getting the message across and that tone of voice and body language are part of that message. In order to create rapport we mimic body language and tone of voice. This is often taught as part of NLP in sales techniques. Not the best use as people can sense when they're being played and if you try too hard it just looks stilted and unnatural and has the opposite effect of making the other person feel uncomfortable. We all have a natural ability to synchronise our movement and speech with the people around us but some are better at doing this than others and they are the ones that have powerful, winning personalities.

There is another important non-verbal cue in the way we communicate. We can infect the other person with the emotion we're feeling. You know that other reasonably well-known that if some starts to yawn, it spreads. If you smile at someone there's a good probability that they'll smile too. Even if the effect is indiscernible there will be a millisecond of a smile. There's a thought that emotion may be infectious – you can pass on your emotion to other people around you. If you're feeling happy or around happy people the chances are you'll pick on their emotional state in the same way that if you're around someone who feels down or depressed, you're likely to come away in a low mood. You can also influence your own mood by turning your frown into a smile.

If you're good at expressing your emotions and feelings then you may be more emotionally contagious. Try it this week – but only in a positive way – create a happy mood in those around you who may not be feeling quite so happy.

Even if you're not emotionally infectious, at least pass on a smile and see what happens.

Make The Most Of Your Time Online

Manage your online networking time in the same way that you manage any other area of your business or personal life.

What is your reason for going online? Limit the amount of time you spend there by setting yourself goals. Post xx blogs, connect with xx new members, connect with xx people in my network etc.

How much involvement do you want in the Clubs you are a member of? Some you can check every day, some you may only need to check once/twice a week. If you can, change the Settings to notify you automatically. Check the list of Clubs you’re a member of regularly and leave those you no longer use. Set your Email Notification settings to notify you for Private Messages so that you can quickly see new PMs.

Limit yourself to around 15-30 minutes at a time to read and comment on blogs, connect with people and make postings. Spread that time over the week and set aside your 15-30 minute chunks once a day. I have set times to do my regular club postings - once a week.

Responding to private messages takes priority, responding to blogs is a lesser priority and only gets done when I have time. I then get on with the important stuff and might come back to it later in the day - often in the evening when I have free time to read, respond and connect.

There's nothing wrong with taking a break from your other work to check what's going on online. Perhaps 15 minutes a couple of times a day. It's my equivalent of the 'water-cooler' conversation when working from home. Just make sure when you get to the end of the day you've achieved what you set out to do and didn't squander your time online.

Pick Up The Phone

These days most people use various forms of technology to carry out their business and to communicate. From email to Skype to texting.

It may seem quick and easy but it’s important that you think about what's most appropriate. Don’t assume an email will arrive in the other person's Inbox immediately. Sometimes there can be a good hour or two delay, depending on the ISP, route taken, time of day, email settings ... etc. Servers crash, connections go down. While the majority of emails will get through safely, they can go astray and never reach their destination or get filtered out by over enthusiastic spam filters, blocked by an ISP or just lost in the volume of emails that people receive every day. Also remember that the person may not be around to respond at the speed or in the time that you're expecting.

If you’re sending an important email, you can use the 'request read receipt' option but that doesn't always guarantee delivery and can be automatically triggered without the email actually having been read. If it's that important - follow it up with a phone call.

Skype is great for keeping in touch and having informal chats but if it’s important, it’s always better to talk over the phone or in person.

We get so used to using email. This week, why not pick up the phone instead. Actually speak to the person and see what difference it makes.

Staying In Touch

How many times have you been to a network meeting and come away with a handful of business cards? That might be some people's sole purpose but what do you do with them all?

You're unlikely to make a sale on the first contact. Customers and clients need to get to know you first and build up a relationship and the time needs to be right for them to buy. It takes approximately seven contacts before a prospective client will buy from you.

How are you going to build a relationship with your potential customers? What do you need to know about them - what do they want and need? Do they need your services or do they know someone else who might?

If your initial contact was brief - follow-up within a day or two of the first meeting. Send them an email, make a phone call, send an article or information that might be of interest or relates to something you discussed. If they expressed an interest in something you had to offer, arrange a meeting with them so that you can get to know them better and find out more about their wants and needs. This is the start of building a relationship. You don't yet know if they're either the right customer for you or if they're ready to buy.

Set-up a system that enables you to stay in touch with them on a regular basis. They are then more likely to come to you when they need your product or services.

How do you stay in touch today?