Purple Bow Ties Loses Trade Show Leads

A man with a purple bow tie is standing in front of a booth.  His coworker is looking at a laptop resting on top of an oversized workstation while he walks on a treadmill.

The unusual configuration of the booth caught my attention, but this was the third time I had passed this booth while searching for a colleague lost on the trade show floor.  I tried to figure out the bizarre and unusual booth's presentation but just could not figure out what they were selling.

I asked the man in the purple bow tie what they did. He told me his company specialized in branding, and they worked with companies to help brand images for trade show booths.  He rattled off a list of clients they have worked with and then went on to explain how all the booths around him were doing it wrong.

"Collecting business cards is a waste of time and energy," he boasted.

"Show management is providing an attendee list after the show, why waste the effort of collecting cards when we will get all the information in a day or two," he exclaimed.

Instantly I hear the voice of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham with Walter saying, "Dumb-ass!" Walter was upset that somebody would actually leave in the middle of a televised show. That's how I felt on a trade show floor hearing that a paying exhibitor is not accepting business cards.

Then it occurred to me that this was the President of a company and not a Sales Manager.

It may be true that show management provides you a list of attendees contact information, but that's what it is... a list. The list fails to tell you who is interested in your service or product.

Here are 4 reason's you should always gather business cards.

1. Lead - This person is or knows of somebody interested in your product or service
2. Marketing - Statistical data can be analyzed, such as titles, geographic demographics, and markets.
3. Correct Data - Show managers hire vendors to do data entry, so information supplied may be inaccurate.
4. Social Business Etiquette - In business we start the trust and professional relationship with the introduction of a business card.

About the Author

Dale Obrochta puts a twist on lead generation and helps companies attract clients, generate leads, and create a successful trade show experience for the attendee while stuffing his client's pockets with qualified leads.

Ill-Prepared Exhibitors

I have talked to many people about Trade Shows, and I am always surprised by Sales Managers who are not focused on producing high turnouts at their booth. "It is way too early to talk about this event. We have months before this show," is a common excuse.

Pre-show marketing needs to be done weeks before the event. So when do you prepare the pre-show marketing material? Months earlier, trade show displays are created and produced, literature is developed, and staff is trained.

Pre-show marketing is a crucial component for drawing attendees into a booth. The focus of the sales force needs to define the message they want to send to the attendees. Are they exhibiting for new customers, shoring up old relationships, or making an appearance just for namesake?

Early planning allows branding the pre-show message into your booth display, customizing presentations, and permitting the entertainer to build and formulate ideas, ensuring better booth marketing.

Pre-show marketing planning should start right after you sign the contract to participate at the Trade Show. The people who fail are those who wait until the last minute, then complain that the show was a stinker and that they are not returning because they did not generate many leads.

About the Author

Dale Obrochta puts a twist on lead generation and helps companies attract clients, generate leads, and create a successful trade show experience for the attendee while stuffing his client's pockets with qualified leads.

Excelling in Trade Show Lead Generation

 There's been a disturbance in the FORCE.

Sales managers are starting to understand the dark side of trade show marketing. Trade show lead generation takes more than buying a booth at an industry show and having leads stuffed into their pockets.

Planning must be addressed, and the smart trade show managers are doing so, without hesitation. They know, to be successful in a trade show booth, you need to use all the marketing tools available.

Let's face it, drawing crowds to a trade show booth means nothing if you cannot attract the right people.

This is accomplished by pre-show marketing, a well-crafted SEO, and the ability to get a message delivered successfully. If you are not doing this, then your just spitting into the wind and hoping it does not smack you in the face.

Let's avoid the embarrassment of failure and learn the techniques that allow you to walk away from a trade show with pockets full of leads.

There's only one way to accomplish this.

Details are at...

http://putatwistonit.com/lead-generation/

Come to the dark side, it is not evil, it is only trade show marketing.

Dale Obrochta, Trade Show Booth Specialist

Colorful, artistic, and comedic all twisted together in one spectacular performance.

Dale Obrochta, AKA Magical Balloon-dude Dale

In addition to the tremendous success in corporate entertainment,  Dale allows your corporate audience to engage the child within while allowing your ears to detect a balanced sales pitch between a professional product representative and the good-humored visual artist.

Dale has twisted his booth skills with Urschel Laboratories, Microsoft, UCAN Chicago, Peddinghaus Corporation, Optimus, Professional Research Consultants, Allstate Insurance, Bank One, Kraft Food, Target Corporation, Sherwin-Williams Company, Monmouth College, and DePaul University.

Understanding the importance of booth traffic, Dale works with staff to achieve the best results possible, allowing you to focus on other parts of the conference. All while creating a buzz on the trade show floor.

Putting a unique twist on trade show lead generation is what Dale does best.

  
Watch the Video that Puts a Twist to a Sales Pitch!

Staff Personality

Incorporate staff with outgoing, happy personalities that complement the trade show presenter. Show that your company is a team effort.

Not everyone is a morning person; some people need ten cups of coffee while others just need to lift their head off a pillow. Make sure you're selecting the right people to work your trade show booth.

People in charge of working a trade show booth need to have the personality to attract attendees to a booth.  Smiling staff, cheerful voice, and an upbeat look on life make for excellent booth staff.  The Marketing Manager has to be aware of the image their team gives to a bypassing attendee.

Big city conventions destination offer excellent nightlife, which temps your staff members to stay out late, and thus the next day is dragging.  The enthusiastic sales staff are now struggling to function, which can hurt lead generation.

When attending a destination with great nightlife, offset your staff start times.  Assign early and late start times.  This allows staff to plan their nights accordingly and will enable them to have fun, but also get the proper amount of rest.

Understanding your dynamic of your sales team will allow a Marketing Manager to design a perfect booth staff team whose best selling personality will always be at its peak performance.

Engaging Trade Show Attendees Increases Booth Traffic

A trade show presenter involves your visitor’s into the presentation. Better to have them busy doing something – anything – and they will stay longer in your booth.

Window-shopping is not really browsing from afar.  For people to enter the store, they need to have a desire or must pique interest.  Every day we drive by thousands of stores that have window displays, but out of those how many actually, make you stop and go into the store?  Trade show booths are similar in concept.  The goal is to stop people and have them enter your booth.

A car dealership places a 10-foot purple gorilla in the parking lot just to get you to look in their direction.  What do you have in your booth that draws attention, let alone causes attendees to stop and engage you in conversation?

Unlike a store or car dealership that has physical bounties separating them from the customer, vendors working a trade show booth only have inches and can talk directly with the perceptive customer. Engaging people into a conversation or activity will increase your ability to create booth traffic.  Activities like games, live presentations, balloon art, and variety entertainment, to name a few will bring a substantial ROI than having literature stacked on a folding table.

Engage, attract, become the talk of the conference allows a company to increase lead generation and improve their experience at a trade show.  Not engaging the customers is a rookie mistake and is the blueprint to failure.

Trade Show Booth Transforms into an Oasis by adding Water

Hydrating the Staff, a Simple Solution to Improving a Trade Show Experience

All day long trade show staff is working, the constant inaction with customers and the long trade show days fatigues booth staff.  Their voices get weaker, energy levels drain, and they need a refreshing drink. Water energizes the body, keeps the voice from disappearing and the staff hydrated.

Consider a trade show is like the Sahara Deserts, a wasteland of carpeted trade show booths covering a concert floor.  Construction dust lingers in the air from build out the day prior, traffic of people with different colognes, hair conditioners, and product fragrances fill the air you breathe. The constant chatter between attendees, vendors, and booth staff wear at your voice.  It does not help that you entertained vendors the night before at the hotel bar and are up early working the trade show floor.

Water, which makes up 90% of your body, is excellent for refueling the mind, lubricating the voice, and is an inexpensive drink.  Having water available in your booth will allow your staff to work better and reduces them going on excursion trips seeking out something to drink.  A case of water can be purchased at a local convince store.  Excess water can be passed out to other vendors or attends the last today of the show.

Transform your booth into an oasis by adding water and watch your competition wither away from exhaustion and fatigue.  

Dale Obrochta is a professional trade show presenter who uses promotional balloon entertainment to build trade show booth traffic. He is a leading entertainer in the balloon entertainment industry who consistently works trade shows and corporate events. Magical Balloon-dude Dale is balloon entertainment at its best!