If your company exhibits at trade shows, this is a must read. Written by Ken Krogue, a Forbes Contributor.
1) Never go to an event that you can’t generate more leads than you will need to pay for it… before you get there. We keep every contact and lead from years past and we reach out 6 weeks ahead of a trade show or an event and make appointments before the event even begins. Last year at Dreamforce 2012, we set 1057 appointments before the show even started. We walked home with 1900 qualified leads and 20,000 partially qualified leads. Use social media like crazy. LinkedIn and Twitter are awesome. Chatter is incredible if you are going to a salesforce.com event. But don’t spam. Just get to know people and meet them at your booth.
2) Look sharp… be sharp… And be kind… Be assertive and talk to everyone, and have your entire staff do the same. Don’t sit down. Don’t leave drinks and food around the booth. Be kind. Never be a jerk like many of the old timer sales types I see who still believe that outdated model of disqualifying is as good as qualifying. They almost push you out of the way if they don’t think you are important. In todays age of social media one person’s disgruntled voice can carry far and wide. Go watch “United Breaks Guitars” and learn what happened to the perceived value of United Airlines when one employee treated one person, a musician, poorly. The first YouTube video Dave Carroll made about his experience has 12,966,705 views and counting.
3) Trade leads with every other vendor at the trade show. Why? If you get 1800 business cards, and they do also, now you have 3600. 10% or 20% may overlap. That’s ok. Way more than you got on your own. And many of those vendors can become prospects or great partners. Competition is awesome!
See the other 9 Commandments… Read the full article here.