Let me start with telling you that about 3/4 of all professional buyer going to a trade fair are not there to generate serious leads. They are there to get away from their office - trade fairs are perks for buyers. There is a reason organisers of sales fairs choose beautiful locations for these events.
Good buyers rarely depend on trade fairs to find products / services they are looking for. Good buyers know where to search for the products / services they need plus they get bombarded daily with new product / service introductions. I have know plenty of buyers who only spent 3-4 hours at a 2-day fair and spent the rest of the time in the city and at the after-party of the fair.
Be ready for the after-party
And that's the most important part startups often miss out on. Large competitors usually come with a large team and their core sales people safe up energy during the day and network at the after-party, while the small startup teams are usually exhausted after 10 hours at the stand or don't even know about the party. And trust me - there is always a party, it might not be an official event, but there always is one and the most important buyer and seller always know about it.
Of course during a party there is no point to tell potential buyers about your product. Which leads me to an important "don't" most startups get wrong at fairs.
Only talk products with technical buyer
Don't talk product features. Of course it is a gap selling basic, that you never talk product features but solutions, but even if you don't attempt to do proper gap selling, never talk product features unless you meet a technical buyer, who explicitly asks for your features and shows that he or she is a knowledgeable partner to discuss features.
Don't forget, most of the buyers you meet during the fair or at the after party are not there for a particular purchasing interest, but merely to do window shopping.
And they see a lot of stands with eye-catching displays and tons of information. You will see plenty of buyers walking around with small suitcases into which they stuff all the product leaflets and little gifts they get.
Believe me, it's not so they can go through all of them at length back at the office. It's so they feel good about "the work" they did at the fair. Best case those product leaflets end up in dust catching folders somewhere.
If you want to win at a fair, you need to find a different technique.
Startle your targets
Be bold in your conversations. Whether it is with visitors to your stand or people you meet at the after party. The target has to be that they remember you when you call them after the fair, because you have to be the one that follows up - forget the dream that you hand out leaflets and buyers call you after the fair.
And remember they have window shopped dozens of products / services with low interest. So don't put your hopes on buyers remembering your product or service - make sure they remember you and how you surprised them.
This is your only way in. Imagine how many calls they get after a fair, they are used to politely turn down your call - unless there has been a trigger that makes them talk to you.
Tell them for instance that you would need to be convinced that they could be a good customer for your product before you could tell them more. Let them do a readiness test.
But the best strategy is - don't go at all
Still my best advise to succeed - don't go in the first place. Invest the time and resources in proper customer research and implementing a proper outreach campaign. You will have more success this way. All you are trying to achieve at a fair is to catch their attention so you can stand out when you are one of many callers after the fair.
You stand a much better chance with a good outreach campaign in periods when buyers are not just coming back from a fair and get bombarded with even more phone calls then usual. Leave fairs to the large competitors with large budgets, who have to be there for brand upkeep.
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