Make Your Gulfood Event Effective This Time

Trade show is a great opportunity to network and showcase your business. But they also demand a serious investment of your money and time. In food industry, Gulfood is one of the main food trade shows. Therefore make sure that you're well prepared. I have been working with different food companies in International Business Development roles. The practices I learned and experienced can help you make your Gulfood effective and that will actually bring the results.

At tradeshows I use these strategies or skills:

·        Be Clear! What you Want:

First thing first, be clear, on what you want to achieve from the trade show, mostly small businesses come up with the lead generation and business development objectives. Further, you may include customer retention, relationship or awareness etc. Be clear on your objective, plan accordingly and communicate with your team.

·        Activate the Standing Mode: 

No one will notice you, if you are sitting behind the table. Stand in front of your table and communicate with the prospects moving around. Your company is paying tens of thousands of dollars and every minute is worth it. Motivate your team to put extra efforts and promise a day break after the show. 

At a trade show get your people (o's) out front to talk to the booth visitors (x's.) Never let them stand behind a table.

·        Use stools instead of chairs for your booth.

It’s a long day working at a trade show booth and your staff will get tired standing but with stools they can rest their feet between meetings while still looking engaged. Sitting in chairs can make your staff appear uninterested and well, lazy.

·        Know your key questions: 

This is very important. From your previous experience, write all of the questions that you get asked at your stall and summarize the answers for everyone who works at the booth or meeting rooms.

·        Monkey See, Monkey Do!

You’re a tourist looking for the best show in Amsterdam Street and you see one show stand has a longer line than the others. Which one do you going to?

Social proof generates trust. Seeing other people engaged with a brand makes them want to see what the buzz is all about. Get other employees into the show and have them surround your booth dressed as attendees. Have people interact with your exhibit and staff, but make sure there are always employees available to engage with onlookers.

·        The Business Card Pocket Trick: 

Keep your own business cards in the right pocket. Hand them to people and ask for their business card. Write notes on their card that qualify them. Then put them in your left pocket. A little human ingenuity goes a long way. If the card is of no use, still give respect in front and put aside later. For Suppliers visiting your stall, respectfully ask them to drop the card in a box well placed and told them that our Procurement team will contact them if required. Don't waste time speaking to them at the stall.

·        The Judo Trick:

This skill is very exciting. Judo uses the momentum and load of an opponent against them by going their same direction, then shifting them in the direction they want to go. Observe and listen, then take the conversation the way they were taking it. Don’t just jump in and start spewing your canned speech. They watch where you go, and start the conversation based on the context of where you go in the store.

·     Be Dramatically Specific: 

When you give stats, don’t use round numbers. They seem made up. When you tell people about your technology, tell them production capacity increased by 68.7% this year. When you set an appointment, say 11:45 on Monday morning at the bottom of the entry gate… not I’ll meet you in the morning in the entry way.

·     Dealing With Booth Cloggers:

Trade show will always have a certain percentage of attendees who are only out for the free giveaways known as freebies.

Learn to spot them, when they show up at your display booth so you don’t waste time selling to them when they have no serious interest in your product. Move on and don't be rude

·      Brief and Debrief:

This trick I learned from the Navy practice. Before a mission there is briefing session, all the participants are present and a briefing about the mission is provided. After the execution all the members are gathered again for debriefing session, importantly all the name and rank badges are put aside so that real feedback about the occurrence is provided, helping each staff to learn and improve for the future. At the end of each day organize a short debriefing session and exchange learning with each other.

·     Tricks of the Trade:

The target audience at the trade shows are mostly same. Why not exchange leads and contact information? This is one of the best trade show booth tips in terms of ROI. You’ll instantly double your sales opportunities.

I recommend partner with brands selling different services and products that happen to have the same target market. I don’t suggest exchanging leads with direct competition, as many competitors fighting for the same business can make things problematic..

·     Follow up immediately:

InsideSales.com learned the power of doing this after their landmark research with Dr. James Oldroyd and Kristina McElheran of Harvard Business Review. Together they found that you need to respond to leads very quickly. Real time is optimum, 5 minutes is best practice, and 1 hour starts getting too late, a day later is way too late.

Normally we take followups after going back to the home country, I suggest taking a followup at end of the day at your stand, this way you will be done with the job and also avoid the rush hour.

Summary:

The day has arrived. You’ve done the groundwork. Your goals are clear. Your people are trained. The doors to the event fly open and the visitors start streaming in. The people on your stand make the difference between a good event and a great event. A highly motivated, well informed team does more than any other factor to differentiate you from the other stands and make an impact on your market. Daily briefings are a must. Remind everyone of your goals, your key messages and the role of each team member. Report on your progress towards your goal. Most importantly, keep the energy up and the attitudes positive. Spend the optimum amount of time with visitors The key to success is to find the right people and spend the right amount of time with them – not too much (there are lots more to meet) and not too little (you need to get that lead or appointment). Speak fluent body language. Avoid crossed-arms position and back to the aisle. The staff who are so busy chatting with each other they ignore the visitors on their stand. Try this. Divide the total cost of your participation in the event by the number of minutes it’s open. Then remind yourself and your staff how much every minute is worth. Smiles, eye contact, open questions . . . it may be common sense but it’s not common practice! Focus on your targets. Chances are, your key prospects are a subset of the total audience at the show. 

P.S: Don't forget the promised day off to the Staff working at stand.

Sources Used: Harvard Business Review & Forbes.