How to Increase Sales at Conventions, Trade Shows, and Conferences
- Written by King AshleyAnn
Hey Y'all Hey! Let's talk about how to make these sales at conventions, trade shows and conferences. You need to learn how to stand out to make sales when you are at these types of events. When you attend these types of events it gives you the opportunity to grow your business and a place to show up in real life especially if you're an online entity. It’s not enough to just have your booth and stand there, you need to be actively engaging your potential customers. If you're already making sales, let’s double it. I want to share with you tips on how to improve your sales and the overall look and feel of your booth.
Be Engaged and Be Uniform
As a solopreneur, we will ask friends or family to assist at our booth, but we don't give them any instructions on how things will work. The problem is that your team members are not engaging people and they are actually repelling people because they are sitting there on their phones not paying attention to people, missing out on sales. I encourage you to have a team meeting and prepare by educating them on products and services you want to push, different sales tactics, and different ways to approach people. This is your business and you have to tell your team how to assist you. Explain to your team that they cannot be on their phones and should not be sitting down. If they need to take a call, then they must step outside the booth or behind the curtain. It will be important for everyone to be wearing a uniform. It doesn’t have to be the exact same thing, but the same color scheme works well. This will help create uniformity at your booth.
Get A Mirror
If you have a product that can be worn then you need to have a mirror so that people can see how it looks on. I don’t understand why you guys are out here trying to sell clothes and accessories without a mirror. So if you sell clothing, wigs, bracelets, belts, or any of those sorts of things you need a mirror. You will need to have one directly inside or outside the booth. You will also need a full-body mirror and if you can find a double mirror that’s even better. So when people go to try on a jacket, bracelet, or necklace they can see how it looks and feels. If you sell dresses, blouses, or jeans then you need to have a mobile dressing room. You can make this dressing room whatever dimensions you want. To do that, get some PVC pipe, some pretty drapes, a fuzzy rug, two chairs, and a mirror. You want this dressing room to feel like they are in a boutique or store. Remember people are emotional and we buy based on how we feel. I know it may seem like a lot but you need to invest in your business and make this area nice, so you can increase sales. This is the difference between you making $1,500 and making $5,000 to $7,000 a day in sales because you are set up in a way that makes people comfortable, they are more likely to purchase from you.
Tiered Gifts
Stop with the pens. When you are at conferences, trade shows, or events you get tons of pens. You need to stand out. Instead of a pen, you should have tiered gifts. People who breeze by not spending much time get a free gift, a sample relevant to your business, or if you must have a pen give a notepad as well. The next tier gift is for people who spend 15 to 20 minutes at your booth or they exchange their contact information with you. This gift is going to be really nice, but inexpensive. You want to wow the person who just spent time with you. The last tier is for people who spend money with you. This bag is going to be big and flashy and they are going to get what tier-two people got. This is motivation because people know they have some exclusive distinction. When people see the bag they are going to ask “ where did you get that bag”?
Director Chair (Breakfast Chairs)
I don’t know what it is but people like director chairs, people like them a lot. Get two director chairs, a step and repeat banner, or a giant logo banner, and set up an area where people can come and take pictures. If you want to be fancy and it's in the budget get a small photo printer for physical photos. This attracts a lot of attention. This is a great way to get people to come over to your booth and start a conversation with you.
Discount Codes
When at trade shows and conferences I like to use live promotion discounts. This is an offer that is valid for a certain amount of time because you were in physical attendance at the event. So if you're only in town for the next 12 hours, that’s how long the promotion should run. Do not extend courtesy beyond the time limit. It is not fair to those who did adhere during the time of the promotion. You have to figure out how to structure your live promotion based on the product or services you are currently pushing. For example, I offer 50% off deposits when I do live promotions. I would say something like “This is just for the people who attended today and you have the next 12 hours to opt-in at this price point.” Whenever you do a live promotion it needs to be worthwhile, something where they can appreciate the value at that rate.
Product Demonstrations
If done right, product demonstrations can increase sales at conferences and trade shows tremendously. When people come up interested in your booth, you have the opportunity to give a one-on-one demo. You can offer them to taste test, smell this, try this, giving an authentic spill about your product. Do not give a generic spill, they are not effective. Prior to the crowded demo, have your team engage by having them float around talking with people and letting them know when the demo will start and that there will be free samples. You can say something like, “We’re going to be showing a live demonstration of this new product at the top of the hour and you should really come by and check it out.” You have to have people out there working the room for you. Crowd demonstrations work as well because you can create an experience, and if you do it right the energy will be contagious. If you sell lotion, pass it around the crowd, explain what they are smelling and someone will share how good it smells, and from there you build momentum. Choose someone out of the crowd to demo on and then show everyone the results. It’s the testimony, people like to be a part of things and it's a lot harder to say no in a crowd full of people.
In closing, conferences, trade shows, and conventions are a great way to get product and service exposure. Be different, be flashy, let people know who you are and why they should get your product or service. Remember to be proactive and not aggressive when approaching people. Make people feel good that they stopped by your booth.
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