One of the fun aspects of this blog is that I have the privilege of meeting new people. Recently I was talking with Steven Leon of ShowStoppers about his service offering. www.showstoppers.com They create within a trade show a PR event. More than 1,000 journalists have attended ShowStoppers @ CES events for three consecutive years. Well, he was saying that some PR folks come to register for his event and they DO NOT have a business card on them. Incredible?

That leads me to another new colleague. Reno Lovison. His company is Business Card to Business www.businesscardtobusiness.com. He has written a book – Turn Your Business Card Into Business. Reno and I had a brief conversation about business cards and the world of face to face marketing at events. I can tell you I will have more conversations with Reno in the future. We are both on the same page when it comes to the basics like a business card. And we talk how this tool can be used brilliantly to obtain business. Listen in to our conversation and then let me know what you think.

PS  Do not forget to get your copy of my eBook – just click on the red book cover and enjoy!!

The turbulence of the economy will undoubtedly manifest itself on the trade show floor. There will be exhibitors who will not even go to the show, as well as a group that does go, but is not totally prepared. Then there is the elite exhibitor who is not only prepared, but is ready to demonstrate commitment to customers and prospects by following through AFTER the show.

In last week’s Tradeshow Week publication (www.tradeshowweek.com) the breaking news was:

According to the most recent Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Executive Summary, convention attendance in the city for the month of August dropped 22 percent to 574,184 attendees from 739,215 attendees in the same period in 2007.

Fewer attendees, fewer exhibitors – what does this mean for you?

Yesterday I was talking to my trade show colleague, Keith Resnick from Creative Training Solutions (www.creativetraining.com), about the state of the industry. In our conversation he shares what an exhibitor should do to get their mindset and goals ready for “show time”. Listen in as we discuss this very important topic. The question: In these uncertain times, how can an exhibitor generate maximize returns.

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Engaging in conversations at an event is the reason a company takes the time, money and effort to participate in an event.    The point of such conversation is to ensure that prospects or customers can share their business requirements and have exhibitors respond with appropriate information.  You may ask yourself how often this kind of quality dialogue actually occurs.  An even more important question is what is happening in the entire sales process in terms of communication between your company with customers and prospects.

The communications with your customers and prospects, if it is judged effective, helps move a company towards a solution that is a win-win proposition for everyone.

Keith Resnick from Creative Training Solutions (www.creativetraining.com) and I were discussing this fact recently and took the time to capture our conversation for you.  It is available below.  Keith is an expert in the field of effective communication strategies, especially for staffing a booth on at a trade show.

The personnel who staff the booth must have the correct skills to engage and converse with the attendees as well as knowledge about their company.  In our conversation he goes on to provide excellent pointers on how to initiate the conversation with the attendee.  It is not with a generic opening line like  “can I help you?” but rather one that elicits a thoughtful, informative response.

Keith reminds us that we all like to talk about ourselves.  And in this important booth exchange staffers must draw out the pertinent information that is on the attendees mind by asking “open-ended” questions.  Let the attendee tell you about why they are at the show and what they want to accomplish.  Then you can respond with the offerings your company has that addresses and meets those requirements.

Later in the conversation we talk about how booth staff need to be constantly “ON” – you never know who you will meet and where you will meet them.  It might be the booth, but it might as well be in the aisle, at a breakfast meeting, or cocktail reception.  There are countless stories of chance meetings that have turned into the “biggest fish caught” stories – that million dollar deal.

I would like to hear more stories about such chance meeting at a show that turned into business.   So please share your story with us.

Following up on leads captured at a trade show seems to be such a monumental task for many companies.  When I see the statistic from CEIR that 80% of trade show leads are never followed up, I just shake my head in disbelief.  Why?  Why?  Why?

Recently I was having a conversation with an acquaintance, Sherrie St.Cyr.  We met each other at the Women’s Leadership Exchange meeting in Dallas.   We were having breakfast and getting to know those folks around us.  Sherrie’s company is Million Dollar Follow Up!  That name sums up what she does – helping clients with the follow up process, including trade shows.

Last week we had a conversation that I want to share with you.  So please listen to the audio below.

One of her main points in the conversation, follow up does not happen because it is NOT PLANNED!!!  So each company must have a Plan for this activity or it does not get done.

I would love to hear from you about the plans you have and how successful you have been in this critical component of trade shows.