5 Ways Exhibitors Sabotage Their Success

Marlys Arnold [00:00:00]: You're listening to the Trade Show Insights podcast season 18 episode 4. I'm your host and exhibit marketing strategist Marlys Arnold, bringing you tools to improve your exhibit results on today's episode, brought to you by the Exhibit Marketers Cafe, I'm doing an audio version of an article that I recently wrote for the new Exhibitor News Network. When exhibitors fail to achieve their desired results at shows, they often blame it on a bad booth location or not enough traffic. But the truth is that exhibits in out-of-the-way locations can see amazing results and even a ghost town show can produce quality leads if exhibitors get strategic and avoid basic self defeating behaviors like these. 1. Neglecting to promote the exhibit before the show. Having a great display or being a household name in your industry doesn't guarantee a busy booth. Make a plan to invite people ahead of time, either online or off. Give them reasons why your booth should be on their must see list.

Marlys Arnold [00:01:45]: For example, highlight new product debuts, special in booth, activities on site, show special offers, or whatever else you may be featuring. 2. Overstuffing the booth with too many items, signage or staff. Don't make your booth look like a flea market. Although this tends to be a problem with small booths trying to cram everything in under the sun, even large booth spaces are not immune. Always look at your booth from the attendees viewpoint and see if it looks cluttered or intimidating. There are almost always items that you can remove without anyone noticing the difference. Also, be sure to rotate staff so they're not taking up all the open space.

Marlys Arnold [00:02:31]: 3. Ignoring interested attendees who approach the booth. I recently encountered an exhibitor who briefly looked up from the book he was reading to point out a feature of the product that I was examining, then went straight back to his book. Needless to say, I won't be doing business with that company. Another variation of this is when there's a team of booth staffers huddled in one corner of the booth chatting away, completely oblivious to any attendees who enter the space. Remember, you're paying to be at the show to meet attendees, so keep your focus on them. 4. Pitching instead of listening. Entering this kind of booth is like being trapped inside a late night infomercial. This booth staffer is so focused on plowing through a predetermined script that they fail to tailor to an individual attendee's needs. Your conversation with each attendee should be guided by the questions you ask, paying careful attention to the answers they give.

Marlys Arnold [00:03:33]: 5. Failing to do timely follow up. Generating leads and sales is ultimately why exhibitors do trade shows, so why are all those potential customers ignored after the fact? Sure, things get busy after the show's over, but neglecting all those leads is like leaving stacks of dollar bills in the empty convention center. Make a follow up plan before the show begins so it's easy to implement after. The sooner you spot and avoid these destructive behaviors, the greater your ability to maximize opportunities you've been missing. If you want to check out the original blog post, you'll find it on the exhibitornewsnetwork.com then click the Blogs tab in the header. I was also recently featured on their Trade Show Talk podcast, and you'll find that under the ENN Podcasts tab. If you enjoyed today's episode and would like more, you can subscribe to the Trade Show Insights podcast and automatically receive future episodes on your chosen device. Simply search for Trade Show Insights in Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or virtually anywhere else that podcasts are found, then click the subscribe button.

Marlys Arnold [00:05:03]: Trade Show Insights is protected by the Creative Commons Copyright License. You may feel free to share this recording with colleagues or embed it on your own blog, as long as it's shared in its entirety and is not used for commercial purposes. To learn more, please see the link in the sidebar of the show notes@tradeshowinsights.com well, that's it for this episode of Trade Show Insights. Be sure to check out our show notes and archives at tradeshowinsights.com. You can also connect with me using the social media links or the contact page on the site. I'm Marlys Arnold. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us next time for more tools to improve your exhibit results.