When you think about the tradeshow industry, craft fairs don’t readily come to mind, but the craft industry is huge.  I know this side of the exhibit business well because I used the craft fair circuit in Phoenix to sell the products I made in my first business.  I started About Me of Arizona so I could stay home with my new son.  I made personalized children’s books on a computer that put a child’s name, family and friends in the story.  I produced those colorful, hardbound books in 4 minutes and delivered them to delighted parents at craft fairs, yard sales and swap meets.   The same rules for successful exhibit marketing that apply to a company selling medical software at a tradeshow also apply to the home-based business selling hand-made quilts.  Here are four tips that will increase the amount of each sale,  improve mail orders and encourage repeat sales.  They work well for anyone selling from a booth at a consumer show and are particularly effective for crafters.

 1.  Add-Ons:  The last time you visited a burger chain and placed your order at the counter what did the cashier ask you?  Would you like fries with that? Do you want to supersize? The easiest time to sell a customer is when they are ready to buy.  When merchandising your products consider ways to combine, pair, match or accessorize the items.  Make sure the matching earrings and bracelet are next to the stunning necklace.  Be sure the adorable booties are close to the hand painted baby bibs.  Make it easy to point out the silver holders that fit the beeswax candles they are buying.   What could you add to your inventory that would compliment your products?  Do you craft custom curtains.  Why not sell pillows to match.  Are you a carver of exotic wooden bowls.  Sell the polish to keep them looking beautiful.   Keep those impulse items close to the cash register and suggest the add on product with every sale.   

2. Reorder Forms: Make it simple and easy for customers to buy from you again. Conserve your expensive brochures and create an order form to give each customer with every sale.   Give them options to buy by phone, fax or email.  If you add an incentive and a deadline to make their next purchase you will see your sales increase.  

3. Labels:  Print up an adhesive label with your company name, phone number, email and website on it.  Place the sticker on the back, bottom or inside every item you sell. Whether your gifts travel around the country or around the globe your label will serve as an easy reminder to the new owner as to how to order another one.

4. Hang Tags:  Tie, pin, staple or attach something worth saving onto your product.  Include care instructions, ingredients, safety tips or a recipe.  Get friendly with a poem or interesting story or tidbit about what you’ve made.  Don’t forget your contact information too.

For more tips and information about the Exhibit Expert, Susan Ratliff go to www.susanratliffpresents.com

I think everyone is sick and tired of being sick and tired about the tradeshow industry.  I know I am ready for a new attitude. We are on the cusp of recovery or at least noticable improvement in the industry.  I know because my phones are ringing and people are spending money on new exhibits. People are calling me to help them with their tradeshow strategies and booth image.  My colleagues are budgeting for more shows and actually getting excited about the possiblilites of a successful year on the show floor.  Budgets for marketing are getting fatter and tradeshows are near the top of the list.  There are some good statistics circulating by the major industry researchers that should make us smile. You can get encouraged by reading some of the findings at www.exhibitcitynews.com.

Here’s a few of the findings: The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) announced that preliminary data collected for the fourth quarter of 2010 revealed an increase of 5.4 percent over 2009 for attendees. They say the positive trend of attendees actually began in the third quarter of 2010 with a 6.6 percent increase over the third quarter of 2009.
They also released a report that shows the overall exhibition industry gained 2.4 percent during the first half of 2011.  That is finally something we can get a little encouraged by.

What can you do to speed up the recovery and get us back to the heyday when prospects and profits were overflowing?  You can get out there and attend the shows again, sign up for a booth, launch a new service, introduce a new product, sponsor an event, have a party or book a hospitality suite. Bring your staff to the show and make it a bonding experience.  Take advantage of the educational offerings and attend the classes.  Be present for the recovery.  Contribute to the rise.  See you there.

Earlier this month I had a great time attending the National Speakers Association’s annual convention in sunny California.  There was an incredible line-up of featured speakers and each one was a powerhouse on the platform.  I heard favorites like Brian Tracy, Glenna Salsbury, Randy Gage, Larry Winget and Lou Heckler.  If you are not familiar with these talents of talk just google them.   For four days I immersed myself in the business of speaking and filled my brain with ways to polish my presentation skills. One of the benefits of attending the conference is to visit the tradeshow.  The exhibit hall is filled with a variety of products and services to help every level of speaker make money and become better at speaking in front of an audience. I was pleased with my discoveries and now know where I can get a custom cartoon drawn to add some humor to the power point I use when I teach my Exhibit Like an Expert seminar.  I also found out I can turn any one of my books into an e-book for only $99. My most exciting find was getting a one year membership, valued at $800 for only $199 from E Speakers.  Now I just have to load it up and figure out how to use it.

While I was smoozing with the exhibitors I decided to do a little investigative research and conduct a survey with the various booth staffers. I wanted to know if they were pleased with the show, the traffic and the assistance from the show organizers.

One common complaint was that the traffic was not as heavy as they had hoped.  I observed that the exhibitors were located in a separate ballroom a short walk away from the main ballroom.   This event was a conference with an expo attached, not a tradeshow, so attendees had to make a conscious effort to travel to the exhibit hall to visit.  I observed that much of the networking, meeting spots and group activity was concentrated around the coffee stations in the large foyer in front of the main ballroom.  I wondered why it would not serve everyone better to have the exhibits located around the perimeter of that foyer so they would always be where the attendees gathered.  In the heart of where the action was.

A number of exhibitors were hoping for a package price to be able to attend the luncheon or educational sessions. Each extra option was itemized and costly and exhibitors felt they were nickeled and dimed to death if they had any interest in participating in some of the fun offerings.  It was a missed opportunity for some additional mixing and mingling among the attendees and the valuable vendors that would have driven traffic to the hall and probably initiated more business relationships and sold more goods.  A large amount of revenue for  conferences  like this one is derived from the exhibitors.  It is well worth the effort to include them in all aspects of the event which keeps them happy and coming back the next year.

There was an effort by the conference management to bring attendees into the exhibit hall when they had lunch and breakfast there, but it was a rushed atmosphere and a tight time line to grab food and eat, so exhibitors were frustrated that tons of people were in the hall, but occupied with eating not visiting their booths.  A fun function inside the exhibit hall like an auction, cocktail party, ice cream social or networking game would have showcased the exhibitors and given them an activity they knew was their own, designed to drive traffic and make their booth time successful and valuable.  When planning your next event with exhibits, I hope you keep these candid exhibitor requests in mind so everyone comes away having a successful experience.  If you would like any other helpful suggetions for planning your event contact me at susan@susanratliff.com

I just returned from the National Speakers Association’s annual conference.  In addition to hearing incredible professionals tell amazing stories that inspired, educated and electrified me, I also spent a lot of time in the exhibit hall.  There were many companies offering a wide variety of products and services to help professional speakers, coaches and authors improve their business and profitability.  I highly recommend NSA to anyone looking to turn their talent for teaching,  training or motivating into a profitable business. www.nsaspeaker.com    www.nsa-arizona.com.      Anyway, I wanted to find out how happy the exhibitors were with the show.  The topic of long hours came up numerous times.  It was a 4 day conference with exhibitors setting up a day earlier. Some days they would start at 7 and end at 4pm.  That is a long day, but it is especially long if many hours are spent in a silent hall because attendees are in the sessions, which was the case here.

• Events scheduled in the exhibit hall would help to drive traffic to the booths.
• The morning coffee was stationed in the hall and several box lunch events were delivered and consumed in the exhibit hall as well, which drove traffic to the exhibitors

One of the complaints was that there was no reference to the exhibitors from the main stage. If announcers would have reminded attendees in all sessions to be sure not to miss the valuable resources in the exhibit hall it would have kept the vendors in the attendees minds all day.  Its a small gester that is easy to included in a program, similar to when performers mention to remember to tip the wait staff.  Event producers need to be reminded that much of the income generated from a conference comes from the booth fees.  Exhibitors deserve to be promoted.  Smart show organizers will make exhibitor satisfaction a top priority which will increase exhibitor retention and improve booth sales the next year.

Another suggestion that would work well for many events is to consider integrating the exhibitors into the conference instead of placing them in a separate hall or ballroom.  There was an enormous lobby at this hotel where much of the networking took place in the morning before the programs began and at every break.  There was plenty of room to put all 50 or so exhibitor front and center so they were included in the meet and greet process instead of being isolated where it took an effort for an attendee to walk down the hall and enter the exhibit area.  Just a thought for next year.

For more insights into how to make your next event productive and profitable, give me a call:  Susan Ratliff, The Exhibit Expert, susan@susanratliff.com   602-828-1177

You spend a ton to exhibit in shows.  Your long list of costs  include the real estate expense for that great booth location, the display and graphics costs for a professional impression, the marketing materials, give-a-ways and shipping fees to get everything to the show.  And don’t forget the time the sales staff spends out of the office and all the travel, accommodations and meals you have to pay for.

What you may not realize is that no matter where your booth is located, how impressive your display is, how cool your freebees are or how much pre-show marketing you did to attract attendees, it will all be wasted unless the people representing your company in the booth make a good first impression.  You think I am kidding?  Well here is a startling statistic from CEIR, the center for exhibition industry research. “80% of attendees base their opinions of your company on the actions of your employees at the booth”.  This is a
great incentive to provide advanced exhibit marketing training to the people who will be representing your company at the show. Unfortunately most businesses never get that memo.  The common practice is to send the sales team to work the booth. The assumption is that they’ve been selling for years so they should know how to sell on the show floor. This is somewhat true, but there are many differences between selling in the field and selling at a show.   Time to engage and qualify is limited, there are multiple distractions and the environment is noisy. A different sales strategy is required.  Unless taught otherwise, the sales person will
use the same pitch at the booth they use on the road or in the office.  The result is multiple representatives giving three different sets of information to prospects with no ability to determine why one person is successful booking appointments or selling products and the
others are not.  Without a consistent marketing message and call to action from each person in the booth you will be at a loss
to determine what works and what doesn’t.  Sales people are ego driven and take pride in their personal
techniques.  It is a difficult task to change someone’s behavior if they have been doing the same thing for years.  One way to get everyone on the same page and provide an opportunity to quantify results is by brainstorming with your team
before the show.  Develop a simple sales script that emphasizes customer benefits, showcases product features, highlights
services, qualifies or disqualifies and asks for the sale or lead.  If you write it down and require them to use it consistently, you will be able to track results from day to day.  A random approach by every different salesperson could never be tracked in that way.
Give it a try and let me know how it works out.

Susan Ratliff. The Exhibit Expert, www.susanratliffpresents.com