There’s no use going to a show if you don’t know why. Answers like, “because our competitors are there,” or “because it’s on our calendar,” or even “because I think we should,” don’t cut it. (Remember your department has a mission.) There’s a plethora of reasons why a company would want to exhibit at a show:
* write sales orders
* generate leads for future sales
* research the competition
* spot trends
* generate awareness and visibility within the industry
* build our mailing list with quality names
* find better or cheaper suppliers
* build rapport with current customers
* get press
* generate excitement around a new product introduction
* get additional partners
* recruit staff
From Steve Blank, Going to Trade Shows Like It Matters
At NGS, I thought we managed to generate awareness, build rapport with current (registered) customers, get press, get additional partners, and build our mailing list with quality names. We did many of the other things he suggests too. But I still need to work on going to trade shows with specific objectives and measuring the ROI in realistic ways.
