For you my gypsy friends…a very good price! Wink…Clink..clink…clink!
- What exactly are you selling?
Well this is how it goes; you get to do trade shows, events, conferences that have a sales pitch side as well as a marketing campaign. Sometimes gypsies are doing double-duty on the sales side and managing the event; participating in the well-known dance craze called multi-tasking mania!
Sales is a tough gig no doubt but having the opportunity to do face-to-face sales with so many customers in one place in a short amount of time can put a sales account/territory/product-line manager on GO! If they are good!
You have done your homework and know your customers in the local area; who else will be exhibiting on the show floor; speakers that might be that high-level C/VP you have been trying to reach or techy that has been locked away; and you have done due diligence for possible attendees that might be new prospects. Check your social media sites for attendees; this is the new method of finding out where prospects are headed! Send out your own announcements via a variety of communication mediums to make sure you will get to see the clients you want to see. Use that fancy new mobile device! Everything you can do to get the word out! Beat the drum loud and shake that tambourine we are going in for the sale!
Competition you say…bahh…you are there to beat the competition with your exceptional products, service, and outstanding salespersonship…*yeah not a word at all! It is always good to know who exactly your competition is, and it is better to run into them there on the show floor, than in the corporate office of your customer as the food chain is established! OOOUCH!
If sales are being conducted at the show the deadliest words can be, live-demo! A live demo means you will hopefully have “technical” staff that does the setup and keeps the thing working. If not, and you are in sales, I can tell you I have walked the show floor many a time with clients keeping them away from the booth until we could get something fixed or if that wasn’t an option, to get it put away. Having such a temporary setup with a variety of issues in service, shipping, packing (who forgot the cables!) and power/internet availability; can really make a sales agent look bad, because the customer only sees, “it isn’t working and they can’t fix it!”
So getting to the show early to make sure everything is operational before you land your customers in the booth to see “spectacular spectacular” is a must. Make sure to take the exact sales materials you want to have on hand to make your sale. Often there is only so much you can ship to a show and if you are not in communication with marketing or corporate that actually packs and sends the booth and materials, only certain things are included and you are out of luck. Take a few printed pieces or a flash drive with whatever you want to use to help YOU sell. Leaving it to the, I can email you later message comes across a bit ill-prepared.
Granted, I know, boy do I know, people pick pieces of paper up and leave them they don’t want to carry them around the floor or back to the office. However, if you only take a few and give them the option to email a copy so they do not have to carry it, you are golden! You now have an email address, and have helped a potential or existing customer. All the while, establishing that brand and product/service visual material. People will remember an image and branding more so than just lip service!
Having meetings or appointments at the booth set up prior to the show can really make a difference on the ROI for you personally and for the organization as a whole. Cold-selling on the show floor – don’t be shy, get out into that aisle and say hello! What company do you work with?What do you do for your company? Have you seen our latest product? Nice hair, or head…or something…get out from behind the counter with marketing materials and get folks interested, the more people in the booth the better as this creates a “what’s in there BUZZ?” curiosity for attendees.
Go prepared and be able to explain exactly what it is you are selling. Know your new products, and what your differentiator is to that bahhh competitor down the aisle. No bad mouthing only positive dialog, things like we have real people or look a product and a service comparative. Do a little self-promotion and engage your customer with a giveaway, spring for a whatever, and add it to your business card and tell them if they email you they are entered to win, and if you get business because of them they win an extra whatever, whatever… and follow-up! This can be invaluable to your show manager to be able to tie a show lead directly to a sale and you have at least one LEAD! Yeah!
Definitely not easy, but if you are the Sales Gypsy supporting the clan, you want the best wagon so you gotta put on a great show to get those gold coins!
FYI – there is no SHY in SALES!
tradeshowgypsy 