Hidden Costs of Exhibiting

Submitted by Brian Keobke CME

Even the most seasoned exhibitor can be caught off guard with expenses that could potentially ruin a carefully planned trade show budget.

In this posting we look at the cost for some items at tradeshows that often have no relationship to "real world" pricing. Just like beer at a hockey game or chocolate bars at movie theatres, trade shows have their own unique cost structure. Some of the most common items missed in a budget are:

Drayage

You pay a courier to get your display delivered to the show but not to your exhibit space. What you may not know is that there is usually another charge to move the display from the shipping door into the exhibit hall and on to your rented space (think of it as a mini-courier). The cost for this service will depend on the weight of your display and the type of equipment required to move it. For example, a forklift is much more expensive than a hand truck or dolly.

According to Exhibitor Magazine, the typical costs to move 100 pounds of display materials (in 2003) is $68.27. The weight will also be averaged up to the next hundred pounds so that a display weighing 220 pounds would be rounded to 300 pounds for a cost of $204.81.

Set-Up Help

Many exhibitors arrive at a trade show with the intention of setting up their own display. However in several of the most unionized cities like Chicago, New York and San Francisco you may not be allowed to set up anything but a "simple display". A simple display is often deemed to be one that "can be set up in less than 30 minutes and without the use of tools". If your display is more complex than this you will usually have to hire union workers to install and dismantle the exhibit.

Electrical

Your exhibit package will usually provide a form that allows you to pre-order electricity at a reduced rate. While 750 watts (enough for two lights) used to be sufficient you may not have ordered enough power to support cell phone chargers, LCD monitors and notebook computers. The cost of ordering extra power on the show floor can be twice the price of what it is on the pre-order form. Also be aware that in a unionized facility even the cost to change a light bulb can be expensive.

Display Cleaning

If you expect your display carpet to be cleaned every night then you have to order this service. If you order cleaning or any other show service at the show make sure that you ask the price before work begins. One client at a show in San Francisco ordered vacuuming for their 50 x 80 foot display and as the workers began work he casually asked "how much will the vacuuming cost". The answer was $2,000 which brought about the immediate cancellation of the cleaning request. In most exhibit halls you are allowed to clean your own booth and a quick trip to Wal-Mart for a $300 vacuum netted a $1,700 savings.

Quick Factoid

If you were to draw a line across a US map from New York to San Francisco you would find that almost all of the cities above the line are Unionized work sites where you have to use the union workers even if you could do the work yourself. By contrast, all the cities below the line tend to be "right to work" sites. This means that you can usually set up the display yourself, hire your own "outside contractors" help or request the assistance of the union.

Have you encountered a "surprise" expense at a tradeshow? Let the trade show community learn from your experience by adding your comments below:

Lead Card. Don’t leave the show without it.

Submitted by Brian Keobke CME

Getting show attendees to approach your exhibit is one thing, engaging and recording valuable information is quite another. A simple tool like a lead card can help guide your conversation with an attendee and ensure you have the information you need to pursue a sale, long after the show is over.

A typical lead card is 4 x 5 inches in size and printed on inexpensive card stock. It provides blank areas to fill in the attendee's contact information, product and/or service of interest, date of requirement, budget and the best time to follow-up. For speed and accuracy you may want to have a spot where a business card or the print out from a badge reader could be stapled. You may also want to incorporate a simple "grading" system ranking the clients from A – D and overall impression on their urgency to purchase. The lead card can also be further customized to record anything you promised the visitor.

Once the show is over, take your lead cards and begin prioritizing them for follow up making sure that you call the A's before the D's. It is essential that the initial follow up takes place no more than 2 to 3 days after the show. This will ensure the attendee's visit to your exhibit is still fresh in their mind and their need for your product is still a priority. If you wait any longer then you will probably be behind calls from your competitors that collected the same information at the show.

Now, as most people know, trade shows can be hard work with lots of standing and numerous demonstrations. This is why it's so surprising that many exhibitors do not call the leads gained at the show! By way of example, a Toronto-based marketing publication attended a business solutions show posing as representatives of a fictitious company. They even printed business cards and set up a phone line.

After meeting with each and every exhibitor they expressed a sincere interest in each exhibitor's products and services. Before leaving a display they requested that they be called after the show to pursue an order. The study concluded with startling results: 80 per cent of all the exhibitors they visited did not follow up the "qualified lead". This example illustrates the high number of ill-prepared companies who go into a show without a post show plan and unfortunately they end up having very little to show for all their cost and effort.

In conclusion, the best way to measure the success of a tradeshow is by the number of qualified leads you generate and the sales that they produce. Using a simple lead card can be just the tool that makes your next exhibiting experience a successful one!

A Quick Consideration…

For those companies that rely on badge readers alone please keep in mind that the information contained on badges is often incorrect and it really does not tell you much more than the company name and contact. Pretty much the same as the Phone Book – and you get those for free!

Do you have a unique way of gathering leads at trade shows? Share your ideas with the Exhibit Industry by writing a comment below.

Why Go in Trade Shows At All?

By Brian Keobke CME

According to the Center for Exhibit Industry Research (CEIR) http://www.ceir.org/ more than 85 percent of the average trade show audience is made up of final decision makers or those who influence purchases.

Other statistics from CEIR indicate that 91 percent of show visitors believe trade shows are the number one source of information to help them make purchasing decisions. One reason for this is that at trade shows the attendee is able to directly compare many products in a category at one location. In other words, they can see you and all of the your competitors on the same day.

Some industry statistics would indicate that since the September 11^th tragedy attendance at trade shows has decreased. While in some cases this may be true, many exhibitors report that the "quality" of attendees has increased. It seems that after 9/11 the "tire kickers" are staying home and only customers with real needs are attending shows.

Compared with all the various marketing tools available in conventional advertising, direct mail and internet marketing, trade shows still represent the most efficient vehicle for achieving sales objectives. Why? Because they provide the best opportunity for personal contact with a large number of real buyers under one roof at one time... and they're attending in the show to find new solutions and buy!

Everyone has experienced the frustration of leaving a voice mail and even though you have an excellent solution to offer you never get a return call. The same is true when you send an e-mail or a direct mail piece and receive no response. At trade shows you can reach new prospects "face to face" that the sales staff has yet to call on or been unable to contact directly.

Perhaps best of all, even people who currently deal with your competitors are usually receptive to your presentation at a trade show.

Trade shows are also an excellent venue for clients to meet your senior personal and to strengthen relationships with existing customers in a way that would be difficult at "home".

Your chances of generating a strong lead and closing a sale at a show are excellent since you can present your product "in your trade show office" and develop a rapport in a manner you could never achieve with a phone call, direct mail piece or e-mail.

Do you have additional reasons for going in trade shows? Let the rest of the exhibit industry know by using the comment form below.

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