Want to know what sales techniques will help your business achieve higher targets when you’re taking part in an exhibition?  Then read on to find out how you can make the most of your next exhibition.

Well-briefed staff

Brief your staff on the goals of the exhibition and ensure they understand the benefits of all new products you are presenting at the show. Also, provide them with a Q & A document that will help them deal with likely questions or issues that your target customers may raise. If you can, refresh your team’s sales training in the lead up to the exhibition, allowing them to refresh their skills and improve their sales, negotiation and presentation skills.

Let people know you’ll be there

Market your attendance at the exhibition from a press release to emails, social media updates, adverts and networking events – let your target customers know you’ll be there.

Stand out from the crowd

Let your stand, stand out from the crowd, If you can, look at photos from previous year’s events to see which stands made their mark.  Glance across a trade exhibition, and it’s amazing how many stands simply disappear into a sea of tasteful corporate blues and whites – why not try something different? It doesn’t have to be expensive, just engage a little creativity and perhaps try the unexpected, like Brigade Electronics 1970’s themed stand at the 2016 CV show.

Incentives for visitors

Provide visitors to the exhibition with an incentive to come by your stand and linger for a while. Of course, a competition with a fabulous prize is an obvious choice here, but there are less obvious, less expensive options too. Consider providing comfortable seating that would invite people to sit, stay and engage with your company or put on some complimentary refreshments.

Engage

Exhibiting at a trade show provides a great opportunity for you to reach a market crucial to your product. So, engage with the visitors to your stand. There is nothing more oppressive or off-putting to visitors than a gaggle of employees standing around talking amongst themselves and not helping prospective customers – it’s unprofessional and unhelpful. So, allow your visitors to browse for a little while and then approach them, ensuring they are given a timely response to any enquiries.

Discover their needs

Get to know your visitors and build up an understanding of their needs. By understanding the challenges they face, you can illustrate how your products fit the bill, solving their dilemmas. It’s not about a hard sell, but rather about showing how you can help them.

Provide concrete examples

Talking is what it’s mostly about – but it helps to have samples and concrete examples to show your visitors – it makes it all seem more real somehow. Providing a tangible rather than theoretical illustration of how your products can benefit your visitors, will help drive sales.

Follow-up

Arrange to follow-up with your prospective customers, and ensure you have all of the required information to do so, name, job title and contact details. Just having a few basic details will allow you to prioritise the visitors you had and get back to them in order of their purchasing power and likely custom. Following-up after your exhibition is crucial to making the most of your leads and closing sales.

So there you have eight techniques that would help your sales team achieve higher targets, next time you take a stand at an exhibition.