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Product presentation

Few, very few people use the theory of USP (unique selling proposition) as the way of selling at the exhibition. Only (!) 3% of the respondents have heard of USP, offers and of "In what aspects are you better than others? »

(On how to tell about, to present a unique product, I’ve told above).

I asked, "Can you tell me right now why I should buy from you?” and “Can you list the qualities that distinguish you from other companies and products? " And I heard, «The buyers themselves know everything ... we are notable for price and quality. »


Five Secrets of How to Prepare Your Stand Staff to Work at the Exhibition

Notes and publications


Success of the exhibition depends on those who work in the stand. On how well prepared your company’s staff and temporary staff members are.

Yes, you can attract people by souvenirs, sales, and gifts. But to make these visitors your customers you should work. You should build interest for your product; you should convince visitors that your services are useful and necessary for them.

Moreover, you need to make sure that the visitors have fixed in memory the charm of your staff, their professionalism, and a desire TO WORK ONLY WITH YOUR COMPANY.

You can really do it!

How?

No doubt, trainings and seminars on how to work properly at the exhibition stand can always help.

And you can do some other things yourselves and achieve great success.


First, prepare scripts and cheers based on your USP and offers.
Ask if you may introduce your company and product. Portray working with you as a VALUE for a visitor.

Second, learn to enter a conversation. No direct questions on the forehead:

- Can I do something for you? Can I help you with something?

- No. Alas, nobody can help me now....

Make it more tactfully and delicately, ask open questions, use the technique of "Three Yes."

Third, be open to visitors; be ready at any time to enter the conversation. The conversation with a visitor, not the other staff members (“and let the whole world wait…”).


Fourth, learn to quickly identify visitor categories – how much they are your potential customers. Perhaps a vacuum cleaner has come up to the stand for another batch of waste paper or they want to make a counter business offer.

Learn how to quickly identify the needs of the visitors, and according to it redirect them to other staff members, as well as, to sift them out, if necessary.

And, finally, the fifth, learn to arrange the further contact after the exhibition.

To send the required information about the company or product, choose a special offer, arrange a presentation meeting.

At b2b exhibitions direct sales are rare. But you can make sales at subsequent meetings.

The return on your participation will also depend on how many of those meetings will take place.

The success of your exhibition will depend on how efficiently your stand staff can build visitors’ interest for future meetings.

So - prepare and - participate in exhibitions!

Staff Selection

Most knowledgeable and most attractive employees of your company should participate in the exhibition. You decide who exactly will be your company’s face. You may involve specially trained assistants to help you in organizing the exhibition at the proper level. In the latter case, we can help identify the function of each of the assistants, their responsibilities, and work schedule for each day.

The exhibition is attended by more or less motivated visitors who know what for they come there, what they want to see and get from their visit. That’s why when they approach your stand, they are ready to start a substantial talk, not “just to watch”. It gives you an excellent chance to show your product advantages, to show it in terms of meeting the visitor’s needs. To best demonstrate the product you should use active listening. LISTEN to your visitor – their problems, their discommodities, their difficulties. When listening, keep an active eye contact – look in the visitors’ eyes. If you don’t have enough confidence, look at the point between the eyebrows, as it is an easier way to fix your eyes.

It is actually so easy to get profits from an exhibition!

The one-two-three. Invite BEFORE the exhibition. Work AT the exhibition. Consolidate the result AFTER the exhibition.

And in the first two months after the exhibition you can see how orders come and money flow into your account.

You should communicate at the stand, show new products and tell about them in the way like this, "this is, this is, and this is a distinctive feature." Distinctive means different from others, unique.

Communication with visitors is a great opportunity to learn how the market is currently living, to conduct a lot of research on customer needs, to find out their expectations and then based on that offer a high demand product!

Organizing Participation at Exhibition


The responsible manager should be authorized to make decisions in all issues of exhibiting. These issues include:
1. The area that the exhibitor needs to present his or her goods and services. It requires some things to decide – what to exhibit, how to place the exhibits; besides, you should know the cost per square meter.
2. Project budgeting.
To avoid unnecessary expenses and maximize return on the exposition investments, it is better to divide the budget costs into two areas: direct expenses – payment for stand space, stand installing and dismantling, for special literature -, and indirect costs – the staff time to prepare for the exhibition, costs and expenses on work at the exhibition.
3. Choosing/designing the stand.
A stand is a construction that allows demonstrating your product. The exhibitor can bring the stand or can order its manufacture from the exhibition organizer. The exposition should be orientated to three-dimensional perception; it should be well-lighted and involve the existing models, movies – anything that attracts by its unusual nature. There should be space for the staff’s outerwear, and a room to receive visitors. It is advisable to have a comments book.
4. Preparing materials for the exhibition catalogue (as a rule, a few months before the exhibition).
5. Planning the exhibits and stands transportation, staff accommodation.
6. Making and printing the invitations to prospects.
7. Training the staff to work at the exhibition. They should demonstrate the new product in action, and explain its functions and advantages. Besides, there are basic rules for the stand staff:

• Be amiable and friendly;
• give visitors a few minutes to look at the stand; do not talk to them right off;
• come up to them with appropriate observations, for example, “Have you seen our car?”, “Have you seen our brochure?”
• ask the visitors for which company they work and what their role in the company is;
• ensure opportunities to provide additional information;
• wear the symbols / badge of your company;
• talk with everyone who comes up to your stand;
• give visitors enough time to read the specific paragraphs that interest them;
• If you are busy with a visitor, smile or nod, welcoming the arrival of a new visitor;
• introduce visitors to the relevant members of your company, using the name of their company, as well as their name

ViP area or area for negotiation!
Strike while the iron is hot (Russian proverb)! You should have a separate area for those who are interested indeed. The place where you can invite them, offer tea or coffee and discuss the matter in more details. The table can be covered with the tablecloth with the company’s logo. Communication at the table is more concrete and binding; it creates an atmosphere for discussion. Give the product to the customers, tell them about the USP (unique selling proposition), and ask about the profile of their business activity and interests. Lead them in the dialogue to the product "fitting". This communication is aimed at enabling the customers to feel the product as their own, mentally find a use for it and integrate it. Such approach will help you not only get a "contact" and business card, but also a good connection!

Advertisement printed booklets

The success of the exhibition depends on how well you`ve been prepared, on the way the company executives and staff members are acting. For your event not to become a useless collection of models at the stand, but bring maximum benefits to the exhibitor, you should carefully consider the positioning strategy and try to attract as many customers as possible. How can you do that? Follow our simple recommendations!

Unfortunately, you cannot prepare for an exhibition on the phone. The stand cannot be designed and catalogue cannot be printed just at the behest of a magic wand. Participation in the exhibition takes a lot of time and attention and is divided into three steps: preparation, event itself and sizing up.

When preparing for the exhibition you need to run a “combat” staff briefing. It is the stand assistant who is the company’s representative, that’s why his or her professionalism, friendliness, sociability and smile in 32 teeth (a sincere smile required) largely contribute to the success of the event. After you’ve given the valuable guidance and carried out training with the staff, prepare a list of their duties at the exhibition, and send to all interested individuals the work schedule of the stand staff and of other personnel members involved in the event.
Beautiful female stand assistants are sure to draw visitors’ attention, especially of male visitors, but these amenities can distract from noticing and memorizing the brand name of your company.
At exhibitions of B2B format you should not sound proofless, but demonstrate live how the equipment works or show its work on LCD-panels.
The music properly selected will also help to create an enabling atmosphere for communication and favourably distinguish your stand from the others. Be imaginative and make sure that your stand is surrounded not only by satisfied visitors, but also by envious competitors!

The organization of seminars, "round tables", press conferences and presentations will contribute to your success as well.
A banquet or party after the exhibition will build closer long-term relationships with the most important and prospective customers and partners. Besides, to dine in a pleasant society and at your company’s expense is a double pleasure! Enjoy yourself to the fullest, because good mood is the key to effective work, if, of course, you will have enough forces after the rest.

How to prepare for an exhibition!

How to successfully participate in the exhibition without overlooking the details?

An industrial exhibition is the most effective marketing tool. If prepared right it ensures a large influx of customers. Visitors come to exhibitions with intent to find necessary products, partners, and suppliers. This is the very place where you can provide the complete picture of the company, with all the major members of the target audience covered immediately.

Let us touch on the major points of how to participate effectively in exhibitions in Russia.

Invite Potential Customers to Exhibition
IT IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE! Invite visitors beforehand. There is no doubt that the organizers are mainly responsible for inviting visitors and attracting qualitative groups of exhibition visitors. However participants should also contribute to increasing the number of visitors to their stand / booth. It is a great pity if you have prepared well but nobody will see it.

Involve Promoters
It is very important especially for large exhibitions and if your stand is not at the most visible place. The staff should not only be in the stand, but also walk around the exhibition hall, handing out leaflets and inviting everyone to visit the company`s stand! It is desirable for the promoters to stand out from the crowd and be a continuation of the company's image \ stand!

Design Your Stand
Keep in mind that the first thing people must see when visiting your stand is your company name. The second one is your product! It is certainly important that you have your own manufacture, that it occupies a large area, that you are socially responsible. BUT! You should begin with your product! It is also very desirable to design your stand using the elements of your product integration that means in fact to use ready-made solutions for customers. For example, if your target audience includes restaurants and hotels, the visualization should be something like “using the lighting as a décor element in a restaurant”. The product here should be clearly identified and “readable”. The picture of the interior doesn’t go well here, as it’s not obvious what it’s about. The best solution would be to reproduce the interior and integrate the product into it.
As for the stand itself, you should construct it in the way it would attract attention and have a special appeal.

The prospect may notice the stand while visiting the neighbouring one or passing by yours.

It is therefore important to build into the design some features that are sure to catch the eye, to grab the prospects. Being captured, they come closer and you can contact them. And then these visitors are yours!
A good solution here can also be a plasma display panel presenting the company and product. This presentation may also include the elements of product integration and ready-made solutions.

More often people buy from someone who offers solutions rather than just a product!

The plasma display helps to capture the visitors, to better introduce the product. It creates the appearance of “life at the stand”.

The rule “The most visited places are those where there are many people” is fundamental. It is the crowd effect, that’s why it’s vital to create at once the feeling of interest around you.

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This week we're gonna sort out clients and begin to e-mail them. It's gonna be hard and concentrated work!