Marketing Information |
Determining Visitor Types
The trade show floor is full of different types of people with different agendas. Some people have specific goals for attending the show; others do not. As an exhibitor your observation and questioning skills will be your key to determining who may be a viable sales prospect. Familiarize yourself with the various visitor types likely to frequent the tradeshow floor. 1. Definites. If you have done a thorough job of preshow marketing, definite prospects and customers will visit your booth. 2. Demonstration Junkies. Watch out for passers-by who are attracted to your booth by a demonstration or other activity. These could be valuable prospects or time wasters. Ask a few short, open-ended questions to find out. 3. Curiosity Cats. These types could be curious about anything - what exactly your company does, a graphic, who designed your booth, and so on. Do not spend too much time with someone who is just interested in the design and construction of your booth or intricate details about your graphics. 4. Paper Lovers. Some people love to collect literature or just take any piece of paper no matter what it is. Are they attending the show to research the market for a boss? If so, they may be an influencer worth pursuing. 5. Eyeballers. These types are usually extremely friendly; they smile and their whole body language says, "please talk to me." Questioning will determine whether or not they are prospects worth pursuing. 6. Jeopardy Gigolos. Winning contests is their passion. They are always ready, willing and able to drop a business card into a fishbowl for any kind of drawing. Contests that require more than just a business card to enter will help deter these types from finding their way onto your follow-up lists. 7. Keepsakers. Any kind of giveaway attracts these types. They may even want more than one for family, friends and colleagues. Keen questioning will ascertain if this visitor has potential. 8. The Disinterested. Some people in the crowd will simply not be interested in what your organization has to offer. They often let you know in no uncertain terms through their body language; for example, walking by purposely avoiding eye contact or chatting with a colleague. Waylaying these types will only upset them. 9. Hawks. These people attend shows for the sole purpose of selling you their products or services. Publication advertising representatives are a prime example. They are unlikely to be prospects, but you never know. If floor traffic is slow, it may be worth asking a few questions, if only to find out who they could refer you to. 10. Job Seekers. Trade shows are an excellent place to network and look for organizations who may have present or future job openings. As with Hawks, you may want to spend time with them during slow, unproductive periods. 11. Nonentities. These types could be underlings in their organization sent to do some specific research. Never underestimate them. They may be extremely strong influencers. In addition, they probably know whom in their organization you need to contact. Time spent with them could be invaluable. 12. Snoops. Beware of the competition! These types often give themselves away by knowing too much or asking precise questions. Make sure that you do more questioning than talking so that you lessen the chances of giving away valuable information.Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: "Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies," working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. Go to http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com to sign up for a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
How to Turn a Marketing Calendar into Marketing Success! Do you have a list of marketing ideas that you'd like to implement, but just never seem to get around to actually doing some of them? Who has the time?Creating a marketing calendar is the only way to make sure you stick to your plans. Take it seriously - don't forward today's marketing to-do into tomorrow's list or you'll fall behind right away. Loan Officer Marketing - Why Realtors® Don't Read Your Brochures When you place brochures from every mortgage company side by side, you can't help but notice the similarities. Each piece mentions that they have every possible loan program available, proven & experienced professionals, fast & friendly service, a list of documents needed to process the loan, a promise of individualized attention and a commitment to professionally serve the client. What's Next? A Guide to Marketing Your New Business Coming up with an idea, seizing the opportunity, and setting up a business was the relatively easy part. Now you are ready for the challenge of finding your customers, or at least make it easy for your customers to find you. The Building Blocks to Effective Marketing The Building Blocks to Successful MarketingIt's More than Sales and AdvertisingBy Julie ChanceWhether you're a Fortune 500 company or a one person shop, to be successful, you must have a marketing strategy and you must implement it consistently. However, it doesn't have to cost a fortune and you don't have to be a creative genius. Starting Small Business Promotional Campaigns So you're starting a small business. You figured out what you wanted to sell or do and went out and got it all set up, had your DBA framed and on the wall and now all you need is for someone to buy your product or use your service. Radio Advertising Works With These Tips! Advertising on the radio can be an effective lead generation strategy. But like all marketing tactics, success or failure lies in its implementation. Marketing Without Ego Our ego can get in the way of marketing our business. From our need to be right, to talking about ourselves incessantly; coming from an attitude of arrogance to getting attached to the outcomes of what we do, these are just some of the ways our ego can get in our way. Shopping Comes Back To The Community THE GREAT BRITISH TRADITION OF STREET MARKETS IS UPHELD AT STREETTRADERSUNITED.COMHammer Force Ltd, a Croydon-based online service provider offers people who enjoy an alternative to impersonal shopping malls a chance to access a site which lists more than 708 UK markets, arranged by region in an easy-to-use format. URL Everywhere? Offline Marketing For Online Success Your URL (www) should be everywhere and more.I know many of you are going to think this is common sense, but how many of these are you using? Your web address should be on every piece of anything your business does, period. Marketing Secrets #101- Your Most Important Sale Which sale is the most important one you will ever get from a client?I'll bet you're thinking it's your first sale with a new client. Well, it's not. A Pass / Fail Test for Any New Market If you are considering entering a new target market, with anexisting or new product or service, it makes sense to firstsystematically analyze the market in question via somefundamental market evaluation criteria. It is not onlyrational but most cost effective to determine if a new marketpursuit makes sense for your company before any significantresources are further applied to the effort. The Truth About The Fallacy Of 7 Ted Nicholas is a marketer with a proven track record. He has started, operated and sold 21 profitable businesses, and is responsible for the direct or indirect publishing of hundreds of books and publications. The Lone Wolf is Blind When Advertising, it's not always better to be the lone wolf.Before using a certain medium to advertise, consider those that went before you. Marketing Effectively to More Than One Audience What's a small business owner to do if they have more than one audience to market to? Perhaps they need to attract clients but they also need to recruit business partners or vendors. Do they need two marketing plans or can they use one plan that tries to address both aspects?This is a great question that applies to many different types of businesses who find they need to market to more than one group of people. The Seven Keys to Marketing Genius: The Complete Guide to Increasing Your Marketing IQ How smart is your marketing? Do you follow the crowd or set your own standards? People are attracted to innovative leaders, not copycats. Besides, most companies throw thousands of dollars down the drain on ineffective advertising- can your budget afford such waste? Start your education today- follow these seven keys to increase your marketing IQ and outwit your competition. Insiders Secret to Selling Mailing Lists If you've got a mailing list of at least a thousand names or more, you're sitting on a gold mine. All it takes is for you to get the word out that you've got a mailing list for rent, at a competitive price, and you should be home free!First of all, you've got to have a bonafide list of customers - a list of names of people that have responded to an ad or bought from you. Making Networking Work Several years ago, "networking" was the hot buzzword. Everyone was talking about building their network, because this was the secret to becoming incredibly successful. Create Free Internet Buzz with Your Workforce There are many different ways to increase your traffic on the web. Just as there are get rich quick schemes, there are get traffic quick schemes. Everybody Loves Raymond....You Should Too! Popular TV Series Provides a Powerful Marketing LessonSmall Business owners spend a great deal of mental effort and time trying to dream up the next big marketing idea for their business. I'm all for that. Three Simple Keys Will Make Your Customers Stick Do you spend a lot of time and energy courting prospective new customers, hoping to pump up your bottom line? If so, you're probably missing an untapped source of sales that exists right inside your company -- there's truth in the statement that your customer list is your most valuable asset.There's a gold mine of opportunities to make easier sales and create a loyal following of customers that will return time and again by using your existing customer base to grow your sales. |
home | site map | contact us |