EXHIBITOR 2015 is here, and whether you’re new to the floor, or a seasoned veteran, you can usually place each booth visitor into the following categories. Why have I defined them? Read on:
The Looky-loos: They are primarily attracted by bright shiny objects and are only interested in anything they can get for free.
The Talker: They love sharing the minutia of their life and business. They might be a good lead, but the word cloud swirling around their head makes that difficult to determine.
The Stoic: The longest sentence they utter is usually, “Uh-huh.” Your booth is an alien planet, and they treat you with thinly veiled contempt. Are they competition, conversationally impaired, or a robot?
The Real Thing: They know who you are and need your product or service; they share their timeline and their budget; they are willing to explore how you can help them; they make booth reps weep for joy.
Of course, there are hybrids, but why am I defining these categories? Because the majority of exhibit attendees are time-wasters, and keep your booth reps from engaging with QUALIFIED leads.
The answer? You’ll never be able to change attendee behavior, but you can PREPARE for it with a clearly defined engagement strategy that quickly qualifies attendees and identifies “The Real Thing” from everyone else. Gamification, interactive kiosks, live presentations … there are many options, and while this may sound obvious, it isn’t easy.
This is why finding a tradeshow professional is a must.
Is this a shameless plug for GetSynchronicity? Yes, pretty much. But it’s also a dose of truth. Why do you think highly-experienced marketers from Fortune 50 companies seek out tradeshow professionals to help with their exhibit marketing programs? Hint: It isn’t because we’re snappy dressers.
So, in honor of EXHIBITOR 2015, give your favorite tradeshow professional a call, and get the help you need separating the wheat from the chaff.
And I apologize to anyone I may have just called “chaff.”