Trade Shows and your business

Trade shows in the U.S. are not designed specifically to write orders at the booth.  The exhibitor is there to show the line, “meet & greet” and plan customer visits to “talk turkey” later.  Overseas the thrust is to close orders that have been planned previously.

The exhibitors in the U.S, are the producers who mfg. the line.   Overseas the exhibits are frequently the distributors of the line.    They are the mainline of getting your product to be seen by the attendants who visit the show.  They write business ON the show floor.

In the U.S. the fabricators time the show well in advance of the buying cycle in order to gear up for delivery on time.
Overseas the shows are timed so that orders written ON the floor will be delivered at the time the product is in demand during the buying cycle.

PRE-SHOW PLANNING
Since the foreign mfg’s. write business ON the floor, the U.S. marketing plan has to be adjusted accordingly.   A thorough canvassing effort has to be undertaken to introduce your line to prospective as well as existing customers.

A well prepared e-mail, snail mail, webinars, texting, social media info, etc. goes out NOT necessarily to elicit a reply, rather to start the ball rolling with what you have to offer.  In tanded with that the sales team has to fan out with door busting personal visits to BOTH prospects at well as existing clients.  

IMPORTANT:  Invitations to be sent out via any means MUST be directed to the decision maker.   It is indeed an “invitation” and the customer expects to be treated as a guest.    Since you will expect to close some deals, all the more important to make it into a quasi hosting.

Overseas trade shows are always open to the public, either prior for a day or post show for a couple of days.   Purpose is to engage the end users - this is true whether or not it is a consumer goods show or an industrial equipment show.

We’ve talked this before:   1.    Catalogs in local language;    2.    Pricing as specific as possible (CIF is best - C&F is essential);    3.    Clear terms of sale - i.e. L/C, S/D, etc. and    4    Spelled-out logistics.

Do you want more help?   Contact:  Hank Samuel;  Certified SCORE counselor at:   dutchuncle2@gmail.com=

visit us at: www.scoresouthflorida.net