256 | 4 ways to measure trade show success excluding sales with Katie Hunt
If you’ve ever attended a trade show and felt disappointed in your sales, I have good news for you! The success of your trade show should not be solely measured by the volume of sales you get while you’re there. In today’s episode, I’m sharing 4 ways to measure your success at a trade show that don’t rely on your sales. Trade shows offer you the opportunity to maximize your time to seek client feedback, have meaningful conversations, enhance your brand recognition and visibility, and ultimately build new connections.
Today’s episode is brought to you by our Booth Blueprint class, available in the Proof to Product resource library. During this class, I'll walk you through three secrets to maximizing your trade show investment, and I'll tell you how to keep your wholesale orders coming in long after your trade show ends. Get access to this class and my workbook inside the Proof to Product resource library!
Measuring Trade Show Success
The success of your trade show should not be measured solely by the number of orders that you write, or the volume of sales that you have at a trade show. That’s not a popular opinion, but hang with me while I explain.
We want to build profitable, sustainable businesses, but that type of growth doesn't happen in just a few days at a single trade show. This kind of growth happens over years of developing your brand, refining your products, and building relationships with customers—trade shows are one piece in a larger, more complicated sales and marketing strategy.
4 Benefits to Exhibiting at Trade Shows
We know that sales are important for figuring out our return on our investment or ROI, but there are lots of other benefits to exhibiting at trade shows. While you’re at trade shows, you should focus on maximizing your time to seek client feedback, having meaningful conversations, enhancing your brand recognition and visibility, and ultimately building new connections.
Meet Your Wholesale Customers Face-to-Face
One of the biggest benefits of exhibiting at trade shows is the opportunity to meet face to face with your wholesale customers. This gives you a chance to ask questions about the products that they need in their shop, what their customers are asking for, and feedback on your products. Taking the time to have meaningful conversations that will help you build real, honest and true relationships with your buyers can be so valuable to your business! While you’ll want to have a sales pitch dialed in and ready, use your time at a trade show to listen more than you talk. The feedback you will hear will allow you to refine your product line or identify opportunities in the market for new products that you can create!
Brand Recognition
If people don't know about you, they won't buy from you. Trade shows are a great way to enhance your visibility, your brand recognition, and position yourself as a key player in the industry! When you ensure that your products, your booth, and your marketing materials are cohesive and really mirror your company branding, that instantly creates visibility for your brand–creating a memorable experience for our customers.
Collaborations
People prefer to work with people that they know, like, and trust. These relationships are much easier to form, nurture, and grow when you're in person together! Through years of exhibiting at trade shows, I have personally met and hired sales reps, collaborated with licensing partners, and found new vendors and new manufacturing partners to help me create the products that I wanted to create. It allowed me to dream bigger! These connections led to increased sales down the road.
Contacts
Trade shows are one of the best ways to get in front of a large audience, to meet with both current clients and prospective clients, all under one roof. Depending on the show you exhibit at, you could speak with hundreds of people in a single day, collect business cards, expand your network, and then follow up with more information after the show. By not following up, you’re leaving money on the table.
As a reminder, sales are just one way to measure the success of your trade show. Long-term growth is the key to building a profitable sustainable wholesale company! If you are interested in learning more about selling wholesale or exhibiting at trade shows, head over to prooftoproduct.com/papercamp and join our waitlist!
Today’s episode is brought to you by our Booth Blueprint class, available in the Proof to Product resource library. During this class, I'll walk you through three secrets to maximizing your trade show investment, and I'll tell you how to keep your wholesale orders coming in long after your trade show ends. Get access to this class and my workbook inside the Proof to Product resource library!
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Connect with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.
Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct
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