Common mistakes of exhibiting
1 Planning is key
One of the biggest reasons that businesses are unsuccessful at exhibitions is that they haven’t promoted and marketed their presence in the weeks and months leading up to it. Not planning or promoting your presence is fatal to your success.Use signature blocks on your emails, develop a social media campaign to highlight your presence, and personally invite clients & suppliers to meet with you.
2 Not reading the exhibitor manual
Ensure you read through whatever information that the event organisers send you. Don’t just assume everything will be provided.
3 Not thinking about your objectives
How can you know if your exhibition stand has been a success or not and the return of your investment without some pre- stand planning beforehand? What are your reasons for exhibiting? How many leads are you looking to achieve?
4 Being shy
Choose confident friendly staff that are more than happy talking to strangers and are comfortable ‘interrupting’ people passing by in a cheerful, friendly manner. These staff are representing your business so excellent people skills are essential to make sure a lasting impression.
5 No training
Not training your staff to run the show behind-the-scenes could be detrimental to your conversion rate!
6 Your exhibition stand doesn't clearly communicate your business
Think carefully about your stand design and graphics. Always assume that people have no prior knowledge of your business. Pictures really do tell ‘a thousand words and so ensure your graphics clearly illustrate your offering.
7 Give people a reason to come to your stand
The power of a compelling incentive. Not creating a great, innovative reason for people to visit you on the day can have enormous consequences on getting the leads. Display the benefits of choosing you over competitors and the value they will receive from signing up with you.
8 Not making an effort or giving enough thought to your presence
Make your stand exciting and stand out! Think about what you could bring on the day to intice potential customers over to your stand, and maybe consider a competition you could run or something equally interesting!
9 Acting Disinterested
No matter how long your day has been, try to keep up a friendly smiley face and make eye-contact with potential customers at all times. Make sure staff are standing on their feet in an approachable manner and engage with as many people as possible…
10 Having Too Few Staff
It is important to have plenty of staff to cover breaks and make sure that people are always seen to as soon as possible.
11 Having Too Many Staff
On the other hand, you don’t want your stand to be over filled with too many staff wanting potential customer’s attention…
12 Staff Who Know Nothing about Your Product or Company
Ensure all staff working on your stand are completely knowledgeable of the whole company and its key information. Even if they are long term staff make sure that they are briefed with a coherent message and approach. Your staff need to be confident and be able to deal with any enquiries in a professional manner.
13 Compel your audience to visit your stand
Work on ways to compel your audience to visit your stand, it will dramatically increase your capture rate on the day. Being proactive never lost anybody a sale. You can’t remain at the edge of your stand and expect your leads to flock over. You can afford to leave your stand for 5 or 10 minute missions.
Get out and about, listen to the speakers, go to a workshop, engage with people at the café, when you are getting lunch, visit other stands and see how they are getting on – it’s not just on the stand that you can make contacts, be open and easy to approach. This approach will gain you leads.
14 Not Perfecting your Elevator Pitch
You will need to explain your business and its products/services countless times during the exhibition, so make sure you and your staff can explain the succinctly and effectively.
15 Not Listening
Make sure to really listen to any potential customers to answer as best you can any questions asked, and engage in a conversation with them.
16 Not having information to take away
A lot of people will not want to be overloaded with bits of paper, but if asked you should have some simple/detailed information that people can take home with them if they wish!
17 Being Cagey about Pricing
Be prepared to answer any questions about price and be upfront! Even if you offer a bespoke service, be sure you can offer them a rough idea on price.
18 Taking Forever to Record Leads
Contact customers that have left their details as soon as possible- Don’t leave them hanging around!
19 Spamming
If you are to send customers information, make it useful and exciting! Don’t end up sending the same content time and time again. Create interesting, innovative content that people will enjoy reading.
20 Exhibitors commandeering the time of other exhibitors
Respect that exhibitions are for strictly time for business, not to be used to socialise with industry colleagues and suppliers.
21 Uninspiring Tweets
Continually telling people during the exhibition to come to your stand, doesn't necessarily mean they will unfortunately. Give your social media messages some thought! Upload pictures and videos to maximise engagement.
22 Badmouthing Competitors
Be professional at all times- Focus on selling your brand to potential customers!
23 Packing Up Early
Packing up early at an exhibition is prohibited and you will be looked down on. You should be making the most of every last minute at your stand, networking and meeting. Packing up isn't just a potential health and safety issue but it reflects terribly on your organisation.
24 Not Following Up Leads Post Event
The final pitfall between you and gaining business from an exhibition is the way you approach leads after the event. Convert your hard work into strong sales and stop yourself from squandering the great work you did to capture new business prospects.
