Don’t Wait Til the Show Starts to Start Selling!

Don't Wait Until the Show Starts to Start Selling!

There's a lot of excitement building for BACE as we are a little over 2 months out from the event, but there is a lot that can be done between now and then to create opportunities, move them through the pipeline and get them closed.

For the few months leading up to the event, I often see marketing teams shift all of their activities and spend towards promoting booth visits. You have all seen the "Come visit us at Booth XXX. We'll be giving away a great prize." posts and emails. Yes, you want to generate activity at your booth, but these types of posts don't really gain the attention of your audience.

Trying to create what I call the "buzz" around tradeshows requires a good output of content (posts, video, blogs, podcasts, interviews, stories, case studies, etc.) that get your targets excited. Go back to the basics of understanding the pain your prospects may have, and how your products and services solve those pains. Create new content and leverage existing content to get views, interactions, and ultimately, inbound leads, all prior to the show. This will ultimately lead to a more successful event.

For sales reps, don't let the tradeshow become an artificial "next step" or roadblock in your sales process. All year long we do intro calls, demos, negotiations, and close deals. You don't need a tradeshow to move sales through the pipeline. While tradeshows are good for a lot of things, they are not the best place to complete every step of the sales process. If you are banking on tradeshows to fill your pipeline and hit your monthly quota for the month, you are probably going to be disappointed, especially if you did not do the work to get deals as close to the finish line as possible.

Also, incredibly important to remember - while BACE draws a big crowd, not everyone in the industry is going to be attending. Make sure you're not ignoring those who will not be in attendance.

Let me know what you think? Agree? Disagree? What have you seen that has worked for you in the past to make the most out of trade shows?