11 Non-Buyers Who Will Visit Your Trade Show Booth

As you prepare to exhibit at your next trade show, if you’re like most exhibitors, you’re focused on what you want to accomplish – not what may derail you from attaining your goals. Unfortunately, “Murphy’s Law” is ever-present at trade shows, so you’re likely to encounter challenges throughout… fortunately, many of those challenges are avoidable (or at least tolerable), with proper planning and preparation.

For example, instead of only considering the booth visitors you hope your team will spend their time with, let’s take a few minutes to identify those who are… let’s just say, less likely to help you accomplish your exhibiting goals, but most definitely going to show up at one point or another… this way, you can create a plan to improve your efficiency in those interactions and reduce the distraction for your team.

** Need help with your plan for non-buyers and buyers alike? Click here.

For example, here are 11 of the “non-buyers” who you can expect to visit your trade show booth:

1. Students and/or job seekers

Why? Many events offer free or discounted registration to students and many classes will offer extra credit for attending industry events. Also, many students have an interest in the industry they’re sending and they need jobs. Plus, professionals (young and old) know that jobs often go to those who “know somebody” involved in the hiring decisions (vs. going through the standard online process).

2. SWAG seekers (also known as “trick-or-treaters”)

Why? In most industries, SWAG (“Stuff We All Get”) is a popular attraction technique that not only attracts your target audience, but also other industry professionals and even some local people. Depending on the type of free promotional items you have on offer and how many “hoops” your visitors have to jump through to get them, these giveaway items can be quite enticing.

3. Salespeople (those interested in selling to exhibitors like you vs. selling to the attendees)

Why? Although there are rules against “suitcasing” and similar efforts, at most trade shows, there are still ambitious sales professionals who will go from booth to booth hoping to take “just a minute of your time” to tell you all about the widget, event, or service they think you need. I don’t condone this, but I do understand it – by choosing to exhibit, you’re saying a lot about your company’s offerings (and, therefore, needs), which means a lot of the "pre-qualifying" efforts these professionals would normally need to do is done for them.

4. Competitors

Why? Trade shows encourage collaboration, but they are also set up in a way that makes it natural to feel extra competitive. Whether they’re comparing their display/traffic/buzz to yours or holding their breath as they watch their biggest clients and prospects walk out of their booth and into yours, your competitors will be curious about your exhibiting efforts… often enough so to stop by themselves.

5. Show staff

Why? Part of the show management’s responsibility is to make sure you feel welcome and well taken care of, the other part is to encourage you to renew (or upgrade) your booth space for next year. In order to accomplish these goals, you’re likely to see sales reps and other show staff members passing by your exhibit space often.

6. Information gatherers

Why? Decision makers are typically stretched thin at trade shows, so in many cases, they’ll “divide and conquer” the exhibit hall with their colleagues (or send a “scout” to narrow down their list of potentially relevant exhibitors before visiting each booth themselves). Typically, these information gatherers won’t have much (if any) authority to actually purchase your solutions, but they are an important part of the process.

7. New (to the industry) observers

Why? Trade shows are a great place to discover what any industry is all about – from educational sessions to the exhibit hall, there is plenty of expertise to go around! Often times, these professionals are trying to soak up as much knowledge as they can and they’ll be genuinely curious about everything (even if they aren’t “in the market” for anything yet).

8. Speakers

Why? Speaking of education, many events will offer free exhibit hall access to those presenting the educational sessions, your speakers. Speakers (regardless of whether they’re “brand-side” or “supplier-side” professionals) need to keep up with the latest trends… and, sometimes, they just need a distraction from their session prep/debrief efforts…

9. Media

Why? Members of the media need story ideas for their publications and they need quotes from industry professionals to provide a more comprehensive understanding of hot industry topics to their readers. Trade shows bring all of these professionals together, so the exhibit hall is an easy place to meet the major players on both sides of the aisle – setting up interviews and gathering takeaways.

10. Potential partners

Why? Every trade show does their best to pull together a variety of exhibitors and sponsors that appeal to the attendees – that means you’re likely to be next to, across from, and just around the corner from other companies who serve the same audience, but don’t compete with you. These are your potential partners and, just like you, they’re looking for opportunities to maximize their participation (and keep themselves entertained, if/when the exhibit hall slows down).

11. Industry friends

Why? Trade shows are a great excuse to catch up with old industry friends – some you may only see once or twice per year – the downside is that each of those interactions can easily spiral from a quick hello to super long stories about kids, hobbies, and other personally enjoyable (albeit not very business-oriented) conversation topics.

As you read through this list, you may have had some particularly painful past attendee encounters pop into your head… instead of replaying how things got so off track last time (awkward!), start thinking about what you’ll do differently next time to (1) make lemonade out of these lemons (looking for the opportunities each one presents vs. the challenges), (2) optimize your interactions (to reduce the time you spend with each irrelevant contact so you have more time left over to spend with the relevant ones), and (3) polish up your in-booth processes (in order to feel more confident and “in control” over every exhibiting encounter).

One way you can do this is by joining us for this week’s Trade Show Summer School webinar, virtual roundtable, and one-on-one consulting sessions. We’ll be discussing this topic (“How to Engage Every Booth Visitor More Effectively”), specifically, and highlighting some helpful tips for you and your team to implement moving forward. Learn more and register here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Robyn Davis is a Trade Show Strategy Specialist and your teacher for Trade Show Summer School. She works with individual exhibitors directly and groups of exhibitors through their event organizers, teaching them the strategies required to improve their trade show performance. To learn more about Robyn and her company, please visit the WINH website, request to connect with her here on LinkedIn, or follow her on Twitter.