If you’ve figured out the big reason why you’re going to invest thousands, potentially tens of thousands of pounds in a trade show, congratulations, but you’re only halfway there in terms of SMART objectives and there’s still a bit more work to do. Just knowing you want to launch in a new market doesn’t tell you who you’re going to meet, how many you want to meet or how you’re going to communicate your expertise and start building those relationships that are eventually going to lead to profitable sales. So how do you set SMART objectives for what is considered such an intangible tactic? It might help to sit down at this point and imagine being back in the office the day after a show, talking to your colleagues who ask you ‘So was it a success?’. Imagine having an answer ready for them that starts ‘Yes, because…’ while you’re able to reel off all the great things that have happened and how they will specifically contribute to the delivery of your organisation’s business plan.
So here are some ideas that might inspire you towards setting your own SMART objectives:
• To distribute 3,000 samples of our new product variety to visitors
• To host five demonstrations with 20 interested buyers at each session
• To contribute to a live panel discussion featuring two of the key thought leaders in the industry
• To make contact with five high potential prospects and secure a follow-up meeting
• To give out literature and contact details to 100 interested browsers
• To ensure 2,000 visitors leave with our giveaway that reminds them what we do
• To meet the senior team from our top five customers
These are just generic examples and there will be hundreds of other examples that are possible based on the industry you work in. We will talk more about definite buyers and interested browsers in Chapter 4, but not every visitor to a show will be a potential buyer of your product, however well you’ve done your research, so it’s useful early on to manage expectations and understand what’s realistic in terms of contact. However, if you do know the average order value for customers you can start to add some more specific figures about the number of contacts you’re likely to meet, potential conversion rates and possible order values that start to bring your objectives to life, especially for a sales team who are always focused on the numbers.
Another comment we often hear in relation to setting objectives is ‘we want to meet everyone who attends’, which is an admirable if somewhat challenging aspiration. This is so often the default position for exhibitors who think that trade shows are all about meeting as many people as possible without considering the resource needed on the stand to talk to that many people, never mind the sales force required to follow up with them. In reality, research shows that on average 16–20% of a trade show audience will be able to buy your product or service (Bailey, 2004). Without any targeting or filtering, gathering contact details for every random visitor who attends the show becomes a value-less experience. Exhibitors fail to engage with visitors who have a real prospect of buying in the haste to move on to scanning the next person’s business card. It’s worth remembering that just one or two high-value contacts at a show could return more in orders than the cost of the show itself. We will go into how to engage and filter visitors in more detail in Chapter 4.
So, just to clarify, when setting SMART objectives, the key rules are:
• Specific: Who, what, how many?
• Measurable: Can you record it?
• Achievable: In the context of the resource you have available.
• Realistic: Be honest.
• Timely: Within the parameters of the event.
We’re not suggesting setting objectives is easy, it isn’t, especially with so many variables but it is massively helpful in informing all the difficult decisions you’re about to make and in evaluating how successful you’ve been. And don’t forget our earlier point about return on investment versus achieved objectives – we’ll talk in Chapter 5 about evaluating ROI, return of objective (ROO) and cost of objective (COO) which can only happen 6–12 months after a show (unless you’re lucky enough to be actually selling at an event). The benefit of setting these objectives is that it will give you an immediate review of how effective your tactics have been at the show long before any business has been done.
(Thimmesch, 2013)
3.2 Which show?
Were you baffled by the number of global exhibitions we mentioned in Chapter 1 – 31,000 globally certified every year (UFI, 2014)? And that’s not counting all the smaller regional and business networking events you might get the opportunity to participate in. So how on earth do you decide which is the right show for you? Well, the good news is that if you’ve worked out what you want to achieve from investing in a trade show, the process of selecting one (or several) should be much easier and then it’s just down to research, research, research! Think you don’t have time to do the research? Isn’t it better to spend 2–3 hours researching the right show rather than waste the time, money and energy involved in being at the wrong show for three days?
One point to clarify before we proceed is the terminology around trade shows and events, which can be confusing, even to exhibitors who have been working in the industry for years.
• Exhibition: Quite often confused with a public installation or museum collection, but in this context, an event with a number of organisations with similar interests, products or services in a central location, with the aim of attracting visitors who are interested in purchasing those products or services. May also include some elements of live theatre or knowledge exchange.
• Trade show: Can be used interchangeably with exhibition in this context, although little ‘trading’ is actually done in modern trade shows, with the emphasis being more on meeting contacts and establishing relationships.
• Seminar: Content-led events or elements of trade shows that focus on sharing expertise and adding value through educating and engaging with a visitor.
• Conference: Speaker-led event where the primary reason for delegate attendance is to hear from a range of experts or industry stakeholders regarding the latest news, insight and developments in a specific industry. Smaller exhibitions may take place around a conference venue from leading suppliers to the industry.
• Vertical trade show: Focuses specifically on an industry attracting only suppliers and exhibitors within a particular industry; e.g., automotive manufacturing show that only features those exhibitors who have a product or service which is used in the supply chain for making cars.
• Horizontal trade show: A broader show focusing on a wide range of industries that may be of interest to a general population; e.g., a regional business show that features a range of exhibitors over various industries attracting visitors with a wide range of interests.
Who?
In selecting the most effective trade show to meet your aims it will help if you can match the attendees with the ideal customer you want to attract. Any event organiser should be able to give you detailed information on who attends their shows (and if they can’t you should really question the quality of their