Win the show before you go – fill your calendar!
This is the episode of Trade Show University Pro Tips – it’s short, but it’s the most powerful episode you’ll ever hear!
Win the Show Before You Go to the Show… So what does this mean? It means filling your calendar with your most qualified prospects before you even get to the show.
Think about it. What are you primarily doing when you’re exhibiting at a trade show? Trying to connect with more qualified leads. Right?
Of course, there are other important reasons for attending exhibitions, such as promoting your brand, building connections, understanding your competitors, finding new suppliers, vendors and partners, and so on.
But at the end of the day, it’s about building your business. It’s about ROI.
So what you need to do is…
Find out the schedule for your next show. And by schedule, I don’t just mean the hours the show is open. I mean the hours from when you wake up to when you go to sleep.
If you attend the right trade show, your target audience will be there. You need to take advantage of this great opportunity!
So first, mark out all the times you won’t be able to attend. The times you have your booth set up, the times of any social events or other important events you need to attend, the times if you’ll be presenting or giving a speech. Mark all of these times on your calendar.
Next, look at your exhibit hall hours. Now divide those hours into 15-minute time slots and use them for meetings. Then fill those time slots with qualified leads.
Finish your presentation in 10 minutes or less. Then have them leave your booth with a few minutes of buffer time to prepare for the next meeting.
Unless you’re the only one manning your booth, this approach works really well. Not only will you be attracting qualified leads on a consistent basis, but there will be activity at your booth! So instead of waiting to find the next lead, you and your team can be talking to a steady stream of prospects.
Now you should have all the activities related to the show scheduled. The next thing you need to do is look at all the free time you have left and schedule them all. Breakfast meetings, lunch meetings, dinner meetings, late night drinks meetings, early morning runs meetings. Don’t leave any time out.
Are you exhausted at the end of each day? Of course!
Is it worth it? 100% worth it!
So how do you find people to fill your calendar? Here are some quick ideas I’ll throw at you…
- Your personal contact information
- The show website or app – They will at least list the exhibitors and speakers. I’m sure you can find a few people on the list that you might want to meet. Some apps will even list people who have registered so you can connect. Go through each name one by one.
- LinkedIn or whatever social channel your target audience uses
- Contact suppliers in the industry to see if they can recommend anyone to you.
- Use your opportunities!
The last thing I would recommend is setting up a specific calendar for gigs. I like using Calendly because it’s a free tool that lets you list specific times when you’re available. Send these people a link and they can go in and schedule their own appointments. It doesn’t get easier than this!
Calendly is just one option. There are others.
Think about how your next show will go if you intentionally and proactively fill your schedule with the right people!
Do it now!
To make a plan, we offer a free 15-minute phone call. tradeshowu.biz/Services
I’d love to hear great success stories from this program!
Contact me- jim@tradeshowu.biz or tradeshowu.biz/Contact
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