A Simple Technique to Help Exhibitors Easily Cost-Justify Their Participation

May 18

Ask 100 exhibitors, “Do you think tradeshows are expensive?” What do you think they’ll tell you?  I’m betting 100 out of 100 will tell you “YES!”

Three reasons they think tradeshows are expensive are:

1. They’re not clear about what they’re REALLY buying
2. For the most part, they ONLY SEE what they spent.
3. They have NO BASIS for assigning value to their spend.

While tradeshows deliver many benefits, the one thing that really makes tradeshows valuable is the high-volume of face-to-face contact an exhibiting company can have in a compressed period of time.

Couple this with the facts that a.) the customer/prospect comes to them, b.) with a relatively open mind, c.) on their turf, d.) in an environment hyper-conducive to talking and doing business, and you would think that every exhibitor clearly understands the value proposition of exhibiting. But reality tells us they don’t.

A quick and easy method to help your exhibitors quantify the value they receive is to use the Cost Per Interaction formula. It’s simple and easy. First, get the exhibitor to agree that tradeshows are about face-to-face contact. Then,  ask the exhibitor approximately how many face-to-face interactions they feel they can execute in their exhibit over the course of the show. Finally , ask them what their total investment is and have them divide total show investment by total number of interactions.

CPI Example: 250 interactions/$50,000 investment equals $200 Cost Per Interaction

Now, compare their CPI to the average cost of a field sales call,  which according to the latest research by CEIR is $596 and you can help exhibitors easily cost justify the investment in your show.

Three Questions That Can Get and Keep More Exhibitors In Your Show

Mar 25

The biggest benefit tradeshows offer exhibitors is the opportunity to put their company identity, products and/or services, and their staff face-to-face people who can influence and make buying decisions for their products and services.

And while this sounds simple and obvious, ask your average exhibitor “when you fill out the space contract and send in the deposit check, what are you buying?” I’m sure you’ll have to press them to get them tell you face-to-face contact. Exhibitors are not crystal clear that trade shows are about face to face contact.

Here are three questions your sales team can and should be asking every exhibitor:

1. In how your company opens doors, builds relationships, and brings in new business, how important is face-to-face contact?
2. In how your company holds onto existing customers and keeps the competition outside the door, how important is face-to-face contact?
3. If I were to ask your sales team if they were finding it easier or harder to get face time with customers and buyers in the field, what do you think they would tell me?

Their answer to these questions will be 1. critical, 2. critical, and 3. harder than ever. And these are the very reasons why these companies need to be exhibiting at your shows. Help your exhibitors get clear about what they’re really buying how important it is to their company and you’ll get and keep a lot more exhibitors.

An Overlooked Group of Exhibitors That Can Grow Net Square Footage Fast

Feb 29

If you’re like most show organizers, you categorize exhibitors into two or three basic groups. First, is your bellwether or anchor exhibitors. Second, is your new or first-time exhibitors. And third, the rest of your exhibitors.

If you want to meet net square footage sales goals and/or grow your net square footage, there is a fourth group of exhibitors overlooked by almost every show organizer.

I call this group “Most Growables”  which I define as companies in your show, who when you compare their size or stature in the marketplace to the relatively small amount of floor space they rent, and the little or no sponsorship or advertising revenue they give you,  you scratch your head and ask “what is going on here?”

This group may be as many as 10 to 20% of the total number of companies in your show. They truly represent the best and fastest opportunity to grow net square footage and revenue in your show… if you have a game plan.

Here’s my seven-step game plan:

1. Make a list of your “Most Growable’ exhibitors
2. Plan to approach each exhibitor on the list with the proposition “we want to make sure every dollar and hour you invest in our tradeshow and media is visibly supporting your company’s marketing and sales objectives and delivering value far beyond cost.”
3. Identify the company’s primary marketing and sales goals for the next 12 to 18 months.
4. Interactively, have the exhibitor calculate their current Exhibit Interaction Capacity and compare it to the Profile Match in your show, thereby showing the exhibitor that you have significantly more of the right attendees than they can handle through their limited exhibit size.
5. Show the exhibitor the incremental cost of adding additional floor space to be able to handle more of the right attendees.
6. Break the incremental additional exhibiting cost down by the Cost Per Interaction per additional interaction.
7. Show them the leverage on the additional dollar invested and compare this to the average cost of a field sales call.

Follow this seven step plan for your upcoming show and harvest the additional net square footage and floor space revenue lying dormant in your most growable exhibitors.

4 Performance Metrics Every Show Organizer Must Pay Attention To

Jan 21

If your show is serious about, not just maintaining, but growing your show, here are four insightful metrics, you want to pay close attention to:

1. Exhibitor Retention: This is easy to calculate. Just divide the total number of new exhibitors by the total number of companies in your show and you have it. Example: 100 new exhibitors divided by 500 total exhibitors equals 20% attrition or 80% retention. If your retention is below 85% you may be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. While the average show exhibitor retention rate is 76%, striving for 85% exhibitor retention is the battle cry of highly successful shows.

2. Net Square Footage Per Exhibiting Company: Another easy metric to calculate.  Divide your paid net square footage by the total number of exhibiting companies in your show. Example: 150,000 net square feet divided by 500 exhibiting companies equals 300 net square feet per company. The average show has 364 net square feet per exhibiting company. If yours is much below this number, you have a lot to gain by implementing in exhibitor “rightsizing” program in your show.

3. Attendee to Exhibiting Company Ratio:  Divide your net attendance by the number of exhibiting companies in your show . example: 5,000 net attendees divided by 350 exhibiting companies gives you 14.3 to one net attendee to exhibiting company ratio.   You want to strive for a minimum of 10 to 1.  As always, the more attendees the better!

4. Percentage of Exhibiting Companies Marketing Participation In Your Show: A powerful way to leverage your attendance promotion budget and grow  show attendance is to get more exhibitors actively promoting their participation in your show.  And not just to your attendance lists but also their lists.  To calculate this metric, determine the total number of companies that bought some form of advertising , sponsorship , attendee mailing list, or requested any free exhibitor marketing opportunities. Divide that number by the total number of exhibiting companys. example : 23 companies marketing divided by 500 total companies equals 4.6% of exhibiting companies marketing. In most shows is this number is below 20%.  And in many shows, it is far below 20%. if you do not have a plan in place to increase the number of exhibitors marketing your show you are leaving a lot of revenue on the table and severely limiting your shows marketing reach in your industry.

So go ahead calculate these four metrics now.  Do it for every show and set incremental goals to increase these numbers and watch how fast your show and your revenue grows!