Getting a customer or a prospect to stop at a booth is a difficult task. Companies that attend trade shows need to be at the top of their game to be able to attract, and hold the attention of attendees walking by.
Each engagement with a booth at an event is an opportunity for the company that shouldn’t be squandered. Here’s what companies can do to convert their booth traffic into sit-down sales meetings.
Knowing your audience
Getting access to the attendee list before the trade show gives enough time to form a profile for the attendees. This makes it easier to highlight information that would be most relevant to the attendees, to increase conversion rates.
Having access to attendee information such as designation, company location etc., arms the executives manning the booth with the hook necessary to reel prospects in. They can then be engaged in a conversation, which could turn into a sit-down meeting.
Focusing on the first few seconds
When attempting to engage with an attendee, the first few seconds are the most crucial. What the attendee hears or sees in the first few seconds decides their level of interest in the product or service on offer.
The booth is a station for a series of elevator pitches to prospects. Based on the attendee information gathered, each pitch should strike at their biggest pain point, followed by the promise of a solution. They do not need to hear all the details. They just need to hear enough to pique their interest, which will lead them to commit to a meeting. The sales team can them swoop in and dazzle them with the nitty-gritties and close the deal.
Having a dedicated meeting space
A dedicated meeting space is an absolute necessity if companies have any hope of building their sales pipeline at events. The booth area is way too noisy with too many distractions. A meeting room can help with culling all that away, and help both parties focus on the deal.
A meeting room should have all the necessary facilities such as screens for presentations. It should be soundproof to block out ambient noise, and temperature controlled to ensure comfort. The needs might vary based on the product or service, but the basics have to be just right.
Since meeting rooms are highly valued at events, different sales teams would want access, which might lead to double-bookings. The presence of an SME can help close the deal faster, so they would be in demand too. Since meetings are so crucial to converting deals and due to the complexities involved, meeting management software
will come in handy. It helps meeting managers and event managers to easily manage any number of meetings, and make the most of available resources.
Designing the perfect booth
Everything described above would be a moot point if the booth does not attract attendees in the first place. Every other booth at the event is designed to ‘stand out’, so what do companies do to grab attendee attention? The specifics are beyond the scope of this article, but we have the answers in this Booth Design ebook that’s packed with some great insights.
