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BedTimes, EXPO Planning, August 2007

Make the most of upcoming show
It’s not too early to start planning your booth space

By Dan Coughlin

The largest trade show devoted to the needs of the bedding industry, ISPA EXPO 2008, is March 12-15 in Baltimore, Md. Though that is several months from now, savvy exhibitors already are reserving space in the Baltimore Convention Center, planning product launches and designing their booths.

Before you pull out the same banner, handouts and freebies you used at the last show, take out a blank sheet of paper or open a blank file on the computer and begin to craft a new approach.

iPod booths, not clutter bins|
In 1978, when my brother was 22, he bought a stereo system with a turntable, receiver and two huge speakers. He had several hundred albums, stacked in milk crates that reached to the ceiling. He probably had close to 5,000 songs crammed into his apartment.

In 2005 he bought his daughter an iPod. The iPod is about 6 square inches and holds 15,000 songs.

Apple’s iPod is elegance in action.

When you are thinking about putting together your next trade show booth, think about the iPod: It’s powerful, simple and easy to use.

Don’t fill your booth with tons of handouts, products and giveaways. Focus on the power of simplicity and leave lots of white space. Place the one thing that you want people to look at in the middle of the booth and leave the rest of the space clear and clean.

The 2 BBQs
To determine the one thing you want to highlight in your booth, answer the two BBQs, or business-building questions.

1. What’s the most important business objective for the attendees that your company can help to fulfill?

2. How can your company provide that outcome in a profitable manner?

Keep asking and answering these two questions until you land on a crystal-clear solution that your company can provide to meet a high-priority goal of attendees. Then make that solution the singular focus of your trade show booth.

Remember, the whole purpose of your booth is to attract meaningful attention from customers and prospects. It’s far better to be remembered for one thing than to be forgotten because you had too much going on in your booth. You want attendees to remember one thing about you that really matters to them. The elegant booth—one with a focused, powerful, relevant display—is the one that will remembered.

Build your relationships
Have you ever visited a booth where the person inside kept looking past you to see who else was coming to visit? Not exactly a warm feeling, is it?

There’s a proper etiquette at trade shows, and it has to do with personal attention. You’re far better off building five strong relationships than gathering 500 business cards. Relationships lead to opportunities and opportunities lead to cash flow. Business card-gathering often leads to cash output in the form of mass marketing.

When someone visits your booth or you meet a person in the hallway, focus your eyes on that person. Even if someone you know pops up in the background, don’t wave “hello.”

Make sure the person you’re talking to feels like the most important person alive. Listen to her situation so intently that you can write a note or email the next day that summarizes what you learned from her or about her. After the conversation, don’t rush off to meet the next person. Instead write down a few thoughts about the person so you can remember the details of the conversation far into the future.

One shining message
Think of eloquence in marketing as powerful and effective language. After you’ve answered the two BBQs, hone your final answer to a single memorable statement.

You don’t need 10-syllable words to be powerful and effective. You do need one clear, conversational message that people can remember you by. Each attendee may meet more than 80 people during a four-day trade show. When you follow up after the show, you want the other person to easily recall your face and your company’s message.

Practice your message over and over so it flows naturally and conversationally. Even if you speak with a person for only a minute or two, find a way to work the statement into the conversation. Then exchange business cards and jot down whatever you learned about the person. When you follow up with the person later, work your key message into the conversation again in a natural and relevant manner.

Leave BBV behind
While everyone else is handing out their company brochures and freebies that get stuffed into the bottom of the trade show bag, I encourage you to hand out BBVs, or items of business-building value.

One of the best tools I’ve seen was a simple, but striking two-color, eight-page document titled “Problems, Solutions and Results.”

Imagine a front cover with the words “Problems, Solutions and Results” followed by your company’s name. The back cover repeats the company name and gives contact information. On the inside, there are six pages of problems that companies in the mattress industry have encountered, the solutions you developed with your customers and the results that occurred after implementing your solutions. At the end of each story is a brief testimonial from a customer.

The key here is that trade show attendees need to relate to the problems. They need to say, “I’ve faced that problem many times.” The second key is that the solutions have to be presented clearly enough that people can imagine implementing them in their companies.

The value of value-added
Value-added marketing occurs when you give away solutions people can use without having to contact you. However, they may think to themselves, “If I received this much value for free, then what will I get if I pay for it?” That’s a very powerful way to get attendees to call you after ISPA EXPO 2008 is finished. And a warm call is a much better prospect than a cold call.

EXPO fast facts
ISPA EXPO 2008, the only trade show dedicated to components, supplies, machinery and services for the manufacture of mattresses and related sleep products, is March 12-15 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Md.

For information about exhibiting and to reserve space, contact Kerri Bellias, ISPA sales director, at   336-945-0265 or kbellias@sleepproducts.org.

Registration for attendees begins Monday, Oct. 1.

For more information about ISPA EXPO 2008, check www.sleepproducts.org/ispaexpo.

As a keynote speaker, Dan Coughlin provides practical advice to accelerate businesses. As an executive coach, he has spent more than 3,000 hours working with executives in more than 20 industries. His clients include Toyota, McDonald’s, Marriott, Coca-Cola, the St. Louis Cardinals, GSD&M, Boeing and AT&T. His latest book is Accelerate: Practical Management Advice to Boost Business Momentum. To reach him, email dan@thecoughlincompany.com  or check www.businessacceleration.com.

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