If you exhibit at trade shows you probably have more sales available to you than you realise. Click here to learn why

Why it pays to have a trade show expert in-house

If you own a small business, it pays to have a trade show expert in-house.

Here’s why.

Trade shows deliver excellent sales leads.

Buyers who make the time to visit an event attend because they are keen to find new products and suppliers make excellent sales prospects.

  • In research conducted by Event Track, 65% of attendees to trade shows said events help them gain a greater understanding of a product or service.
  • It takes an average of 3.5 calls to close a sale following an event vs 4.5 calls for sales unrelated to exhibiting (source CEIR; The Cost-Effectiveness Of Exhibition Participation)
  • 71% of SMEs won business using face-to-face marketing (Source; Display Wiz SME Survey)
An image of a small trade show stand with interested people talking to the stand team.
If you own a small business, it pays to have an in-house trade show expert. Here's how to ensure those skills remain when the expert leaves

Trade shows also speed the building of an accurate and current sales database.

Many startups have used trade shows specifically for this purpose.

But why do you need specialist event expertise?

Isn’t it just as simple as laying out some products and waiting for people to stop at your stand?

Yes, and no.

At a busy event, you can’t help but meet people.

Buyers attend to find new products and suppliers and they will often approach you with this in mind (as seen in the image above).

However, in every form of marketing, there are skills that, when applied, improve results.

Trade shows are no different.

One way to acquire exhibiting skills and knowledge is through experience.

That can be frustrating and time-consuming.

A faster but more expensive route is to buy-in skills using an external specialist like us.

However, those additional costs can be off-putting for many SMEs.

So they choose the experience route.

However, there is now a less painful and more time-efficient alternative.

It maps the exhibiting process.

You, or a team member, can see what needs to be done via one of our two training courses.

Either one will accelerate skills and results.

How to keep event marketing skills in-house

As a business owner, you wear many hats.

Sales, Finance, Product Procurement and Quality are all part of your role

With so many responsibilities, delegating trade show participation to a member of your team makes sense.

Apart from freeing up your time, you also keep event marketing expertise in-house.

With the Trade Show Stand Mastery courses we supply, you can do this with confidence.

There are two courses.

Part 1 is for complete beginners. People who have never seen a trade show stand, let alone organised one.

This course will take them from novice to accomplished manager in six modules.

Part 2 is for the more experienced.

People who have organised or helped organise event participation but want to learn more about smoother management processes and achieving stronger results.

One of the biggest advantages of our training is that you don’t lose the expertise when someone leaves.

Both courses are delivered by email, and we can send them to you for onward internal distribution.

If you always keep the originals, you can pass on the training to new team members.

That’s how you keep this invaluable knowledge and expertise in-house.

You can read what’s covered in each course via the links below.

Trade Show Stand Mastery Part 1

Trade Show Stand Mastery Part 2