Making an Exhibiton of Sales
IT was interesting to be working on the Enigin PLC stand at the recent SustainabilityLive! exhibition in the UK.
The purpose of the exhibition is to fly the flag for your business and display some, if not all, of the services, products and solutions you have to offer - boiling it down, sales in one form or another.
Not that many sales are likely to be made at the show, but the distribution of and gathering of contact information is the ‘name of the game” that will hopefully lead to a long term business relationship through sales.
As an exhibitor Enigin had paid out quite a bit of money for the space and other amenities at the venue and then for the dressing of the stand and the presentation materials.
With all this ion mind it was quite irritating to be stopped on the stand by visitors who had attended the show with the sole purpose of selling something to the exhibitors - not allowed of course but a rule that is ignored.
I would find I was talking to some potential clients when someone else would be hovering, looking at our exhibits and presentations. Once I had finished talking to the prospect I would attend to the waiting man/woman who would ask some pertinent questions and then reveal they had a service to sell to us.
I must admit sometimes it could be something of interest, but generally I switched off. They hadn’t paid the money or spent the time to build and then man the stand and yet they had walked in for free and started selling to a captive audience.
Now I approve of initiative in sales and what a resource when you have many, many companies that may need your services all in one place - but to go along and gather information about companies and other details that are usually readily available on each and every stand.
To be really clever a sales person should prepare some simple handout and, apologetically, offer very briefly this information and ask whether they could take a contact detail off some literature or a business card.
A simple but well designed postcard with your details and what you have to offer would do the trick. I did have one or two sales people do this and I did not mind, as long as they chose their time to offer it well, when I would be more receptive.
Salesmen need to show perseverance and that can annoy some people but a good salesman doesn’t expect someone he has never met before to say “Yes” at the first meeting, so introductions and getting to the point is important - that means gathering information so the sales person can contact the right person and make an appointment.
It is about building up relationships and trust as well as products, services etc.
That is why at Enigin we want potential Distributors to come and visit us - they get to see in person who we are, what we do and how they can join in the success that Enigin have and are building upon.
So do not become an annoying sales person - become a successful one, yes all sales require a certain amount of pushing but be careful not to push too hard as the natural reaction is to push back.
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