Recently a friend invested big money to have a stand at one of those Trade Shows that are put on when a posse of business speakers are part of a talking heads show over a day or two.

Now, my friend didn’t really make a great fist of the opportunity. So I thought I’d spend some time sharing my thoughts on how to make such an opportunity work.

It was only a one-day show but, at great cost, along with a handful of other exhibitors, he had the opportunity to set up a stand where people were going to have coffee and lunch. It meant that he really only had a few minutes in the whole day to take advantage of the situation. He needed to make his investment work hard!

The first question was whether he was he right in paying big money for a stand at this particular show? And, yes, he was, because the people that were going to be in the audience were the type of people he wanted for his product. They were exactly right. It ticked an important box… he had the right target market.

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But if he didn’t get the message across in the right way, he was still going to waste his time and money.

Next, he had to make sure that his stand was situated where the people were going to be. He only had a very short time to have a crack at them, so he had to be amongst them. He had to find out from the organisers exactly and precisely where they’re going to serve coffees and lunches and then decide where the people would be during those activities. No point lonely exhibitors hanging about outside in the lobby with everyone eating lunch elsewhere. Yet if often happens!

And, by the way, one of the best selling opportunities you get is first thing in the morning when people have registered and are waiting to get into the auditorium. You want to ask yourself, “What are they going to do then and where are they going to be?” If they don’t know anybody, they’ll be standing around looking for something to do or someone to talk to. What an opportunity! So, be set up and ready to go… early!

More trade show tips next week