Aboriginal Buying Group

Many businesses these days have begun to recognize the possibilities for improvement that trade shows offer, especially as a means of expanding their existing customer base. Instead of making cold calls or working off a client list, business owners can take advantage of trade shows for what they are: a large gathering of businesses and consumers, all having an interest in a particular type of product or service. With that in mind, isn’t it safe to say that trade shows are an effective and efficient way to stay on the cutting edge in your field, while also generating a little word of mouth recognition? Participating in trade shows, whether once or twice a year, can help businesses (yours included) stay informed about new developments in their sector and can help exponentially increase the size of your potential client list.

Every successful business understands just how important it is to have qualified leads, and a trade show is perhaps one of the best ways to populate that list. Let’s say you own an electronics company and you decide to participate in and operate a booth at the upcoming electronics trade show in Las Vegas. Shows like these typically draw thousands of people each day, and it must be noted that their very attendance at these shows demonstrates they have at least some interest in electronic products. Where else can you find such a large gathering of potential customers? Trade shows allow you to get more leads in a single hour than you may get all week using traditional marketing strategies.

Businesses that participate with their peers in trade shows and other similar events stand a much better chance of “remaining in the loop” in terms of any new sales methods, product developments, staff tools, etc. The networking which invariably takes place at these shows can be just as invaluable as expensive training courses, yet much less formal and without the huge price tag.

Whether this is the first trade show you will attend or if you’re an old veteran of the trade show scene, to get the most out of this experience you should first spend some time and identify what you’re hoping to accomplish. Doing this will help you take full advantage of all that the trade show has to offer, leaving you more time to seek out new clients.

Whether your business is product or service-based, local or international, trade shows can be a great way to get noticed as a leader in your field and can help you generate quality leads which will quickly pay off. And while these shows may look like they’re all fun and games, the sheer number of face-to-face interactions with potential clients makes them well worth the time and cost of attending.

Learn More : Trade Show Displays

On contacting the trade show’s management you will receive further factual information about the event, which should include a floor plan showing how the trade show exhibit area is divided. Rental charges will also be included as well as an application for space. Also included will be promotional material about the trade show, which you should look at carefully.

When selecting booth space there are many factors to consider.

Your trade show exhibit space requirements should correlate to your:

(1) show objectives,
(2) what you are selling, and
(3) how you plan to generate leads and conduct business at your booth.

There are two basic stand choices at most trade shows, the floor space-only, for which you rent floor space and arrange your own stand design and construction and, the shell-scheme booth which is provided by the show organizer. Space with shell generally costs 10-15% more than space-only. One trap, which many exhibitors taking the space-only or free-build option fall into, is to book a stand site without any real appreciation of how much it will cost them to fill it. For space-only stands, the cost of the space represents, on average, only 20-25% of the total stand cost. It’s possible that the booth design and construction can account for a hefty 40-50% of the trade show budget and sometimes more.

One of the most common mistakes made by exhibitors is that they miscalculate the size of the booth space they need to effectively attract the number of prospects they would like to obtain.

If you only have one or two sales persons in an exhibit space then you should not book spaces over 200 square feet in size.

A comfortable area for people is 50 square feet for each salesperson at your booth, which is enough for your salesperson and his or her visitor. There’s another way to define staffing space and that’s to allocate about 30% of your booth area for your representatives
Don’t forget that your exhibit structure also takes up space as well as tables, chairs, desks and products. You must add this space to the space you need for people to get the total size of your booth.

Here are some other guidelines to help you determine the amount of space you require:
You should select a few of your top products rather than having a wide variety of products on your booth. These products should be ones that you really want to promote. By having just a few products you will be able to display and sell them more effectively.

Once you have selected which products you’d like to promote, you’ll be able to then determine how much space you’ll need to adequately show them.

However, you will still have to identify how much space you’ll need for such as things as tables, chairs, computer stations, etc which are required to look after your visitors and promote your products.

Too little space – your booth will be crowded – thereby discouraging visitors. Too much space and not enough salespersons will cause visitors to get tired of waiting and leave your booth for other exhibitors.

How much trade show exhibit space do you need? Well, you need as much space to ensure you achieve your objectives and no more.

The clock is ticking down, your team is down by 6 and a tense silence has fallen over the field. Then you hear it…”We want to see our team put some points up! We want to see our team put some points up!” The cheerleaders have taken hold and start to jump around, clap and scream. Everybody is standing and screaming along with them. The bleachers start to rumble with excitement. The players get juiced thanks to the cheerleaders. The ball is snapped…its in the air…the receiver catches the ball…breaks one tackle…then another…he clears the goal line…TOUCHDOWN!!!  The crowd goes crazy; the cheerleaders start their dance and lead the crowd in the victory song.

What would a football game be without the cheerleaders? They aren’t necessary to the game but they add a level of excitement that no one else could bring. So, why are the girls who grace us with their presence at trade shows often looked upon as tacky or a gimmick? They have the same job to do as cheerleaders. They are there to get customers excited about a product, get them interested and eventually to hopefully open their wallets.

The days of “booth babes” seem to be slowing exponentially. Women empowerment is on the move again and society is focusing more on ‘real beauty’ rather than superficial standards. This is not good news for the scantily clad babes of auto and gaming trade shows. There are always going to be women in this world who are going to make their living off their looks but their employment opportunities are being seriously limited. What better way to attract people’s attention to your product than with beautiful smiling women ready and willing to flatter your potential customers at the drop of a dime?

Think of all the chicks at car shows around the world. The world of fast cars wouldn't be the same without beautiful women. Call it a stereotype, sexist or whatever you wish, but these shows are generally geared towards a male audience. There is no better way to get these testosterone pumping men to open their wallets than to have gorgeous girls flatter them. Think about this for a minute…how empty would photos of bright, shiny sports cars be without a beautiful woman dressed in a bikini sprawled out on the hood? Very, very empty.

Let’s switch gears now and think about gaming trade shows. What video game doesn't have a sexy woman in it these days. Again, these shows and the games are aimed at a mostly male audience. Most of the guys attending these shows are geeky (at least by our typical societal standards) who only dream of having a scantily clad model as their very own. Bring in the booth babes. Many of these girls dress up like the characters in the video game they are promoting. Real life girls as video game vixens is every gamer’s fantasy. These girls make the guys feel good, tell them about a new game and hopefully in the end get the company a loyal new customer.

During such hard economic times, companies need to get creative in order to let their product stand out among the crowd. Some people deem booth babes as a gimmick and claim that their use degrades the reputation of the company. I think gimmick is a harsh word. Booth babes are just another marketing strategy used to appeal to a specific audience. So I say let these girls don their short shorts, fishnets and knee high boots. Let them loose in the trade show arena and sell their little hearts out. In the end, you walk away with higher sales and they can walk away knowing that somewhere, they are the focus of a guy’s dream and all they had to do was collect a paycheck.