Page 189 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

101 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

in general it was a good show. The man in the booth next
to me would report back that it was a waste of time—noth-
ing but people taking brochures. I have never been to a
trade show that was a waste of time.

I attended another trade show in Papua New Guinea.
Everyone considered this a junket. During the show I was
fortunate enough to have a booth next to the P&O Cruises
representative. As we chatted he told me about an unsched-
uled stopover that the Fairstar was making in Cairns in
8 weeks.

On the spot I got the information, faxed a letter to
their head office and received a booking for 270 people to
travel out to the Great Barrier Reef with our company.

These examples are not meant to embellish my own
sales ability. The point I am trying to make is that if you
are serious about getting business from trade shows, don’t
consider them a hassle. Never send your most inexperienced
staff member or juniors to work on the stand. If you own
the business you should be there.

Run a competition, build up a database and follow up
with the people that visit your booth. You may end up
with hundreds of new customers for a small financial
outlay. Research shows that a large proportion of leads are
never followed up after trade shows. If you’re not serious
about business, why bother going?

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