What can I do to get meetings scheduled before a trade show?
Trade shows are a key component of a career as a sales professional. These events are the ideal place to meet new prospects, connect with potential clients that you have been courting and get yourself on the radar of other industry professionals. While trade shows hold a lot of potentials, it takes skill and persistence to successfully navigate through this arena.
To provide you with some of my own insight as a salesperson, I am going to offer you some tangible advice on how to successfully schedule meetings before a trade show.
1. Know your timing.
When you are trying to set up meetings with prospects who are going to be at the same trade show as you, one of the first things to consider before you approach them is the timing. If the trade show is in February and you try to start prospecting in December, most people are typically going to respond and say something along the lines of, “Hey, contact me a week before the show.” While you may want to try to get a head start on your prospecting, the reality is that most business professionals are not willing to think and book that far in advance.
My top recommendation in this arena is to start prospecting two weeks before the show. This both saves you time and is a better use of your efforts. I have also had a lot of success sending messages while I am on the way to a trade show. You can try using subject lines like “En Route to the Show” or “Stuck at the Airport” to get their attention. Lastly, you can continue your prospecting efforts during the trade show. Start sending out messages to your prospects the night before the show, since they are already getting in the right frame of mind. You can also publish tweets both before and during the show to let everyone know you are there and ready to chat.
2. Try offering giveaways.
Giveaways can be a relatively easy way to entice prospects to talk with you. Let’s face it, we all like to get free things. Whether you have a small or large budget to work with, this can be a successful initiative for any salesperson.
If you are working with a small budget, one of my favorite incentives is to mail a prospect a $5 or $10 Starbucks gift card that has been cut in half – literally. I then include a handwritten note that says something like, “Hey, Mr. Prospect. I will give you the other half of the gift card if you meet me at the show.” I have seen firsthand that this affordable giveaway can work, as I have received a 60% return rate by doing this with my own prospects.
If you are fortunate enough to be working with a larger budget, then you can afford to offer big-ticket items like an iPad or Kindle. When you are offering something as substantial as these items, you can ask for a little more from your prospects. I have sent out messages before that said something like, “Hey, Mr. Prospect. I will offer you an iPad for 30 minutes of your time, but we have to connect before the show.” Then you can get a 15-minute discovery meeting, and chat with them for another 15 minutes during the show.
While it may seem a little excessive at first to offer prospects such expensive items, it can really pay off. If you spend $10,000 on giveaway items, but you generate $1 million in sales, then the initial expense was definitely worth it. It all depends on your exact situation, so you need to do some measuring of your own to determine what makes the most sense for you.
3. Craft successful messages.
The key to successful messages it to make them personal – find a commonality, spend time with that prospect and get to know them. One of the easiest ways to implement this is to get creative with your subject lines. For example, if a prospect attended the same college as me, I will often use “Go Noles” as the subject line. It is far too easy for your messages to go unread or get deleted if they have boring or too salesy subject lines, so spend an extra minute or two on this detail to get your message in front of your prospect.
Additionally, I also recommend following a one-swipe rule. When you send a note to anyone, whether it is through email or LinkedIn, make sure that they can swipe it just one time on their phone. Your prospects are not going to take the time to read a thesis about what you are trying to sell. Make your message short, sweet, and articulate.
One more pro-tip is to avoid using the word “meeting” in your messages. Instead, say that you are interested in “connecting” or “networking” with them. These terms sound less formal, put less pressure on the prospect, and come across as more inviting.
Are you interested in learning more about how to successfully set scheduled meetings for a trade show? Stay tuned for a follow-up post on this topic with even more actionable items.
