For David Lomas, CEO of M3 Media Group, one of the biggest opportunities for manufacturers exhibiting at trade shows is also one of the simplest: having better conversations.
“Companies can spend thousands of pounds preparing for an exhibition,” says David. “They think carefully about the stand, the graphics, what they are going to display and who is going to attend.
But how much time do they spend preparing for the conversations they are going to have?”
David believes the starting point is remarkably simple: take a genuine interest in the person standing in front of you.
“Rather than immediately telling somebody what you manufacture or explaining your technical expertise, ask them about themselves. What does their business do? Why have they come to the exhibition? What challenges are they facing?”
This creates a very different dynamic.
“Manufacturers are understandably proud of their technical knowledge, but sometimes we can be too keen to demonstrate it. The person visiting your stand doesn’t necessarily want a technical presentation.
They want to know whether you understand their world and whether you might be able to help them.”
David suggests exhibition teams need to prepare several questions before the event, that are built around the issues their target customers are likely to be facing.
Check out how one lady learned to get her questions right and achieved spectacular results from her conversations:
How Did Better Conversations Turn into £17,000 of New Business?
“This gives your people something to talk about other than products, and once you discover an issue that really matters to the visitor, you can explore it further.”
Most importantly, David argues, a good exhibition conversation should naturally create the next conversation.
“You don’t want to come home with 100 names that you still have to chase. If you’ve had a meaningful discussion with someone, we show manufacturers how easy it can be to book in a follow-up meeting with them to continue it?”
David leaves manufacturers preparing for their next exhibition with two questions:
How confident are you, out of 10, that your team is having the right conversations with visitors to your stand?
And perhaps more importantly:
How many of those conversations are resulting in the next conversation being booked in the diary, before the visitor walks away?
Sometimes improving exhibition results doesn’t require a bigger stand or a bigger budget – It simply requires a better conversation.
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