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Many businesses find that trade shows can be one of their best sources of new business and are also a good way to attract media attention. No single thing you do can guarantee that you will have a profitable show, however, there are a number of things you can do to improve your chances of success:
Research the history of the show – Will the show be adequately promoted to your potential customers? Do large crowds usually attend the show? Are there other big-draw events taking place during the same time period? Is the location of the show easily accessible for people interested in attending? Have companies who have participated in the show in the past done well?
Always set-up a professional looking exhibition stand – To attract convention goers to your display, you do not need the most extravagant display on the floor, but you do need to put some thought and effort into designing a display that entices attendees to stop and check it out. Look for inspiration on the Internet and ensure that signs, photographs, promotional materials, etc all look professionally prepared.
Pre-promotion – Start promoting your booth well before the trade show begins. You really do not want to put it off until the day of the show. Utilize your customer base. Send out promotional flyers and newsletters ahead of time to generate interest. Encourage people to attend and bring friends. Personally call your business contacts and prospects to set-up meeting times at the show.
Give away samples or have a gimmick – You do not need to spend a lot of money to have attractive gimmicks or giveaways; a large bowl of candy, or free bottles of water can bring people to your stand. If you can afford it, you may want to give away samples of your latest product. These are terrific items to give new customers or loyal customers. This way they have something to try out and desire more of.
Be sure to follow up with customers – Now you have made all these great contacts. What do you do next? Make sure you follow up with them so that you can convert them into a long term client. In order to turn these contacts into customers, you will need to record or take notes on your conversations; this way, when you follow-up with your contacts, you can reference what you discussed when you met. Do not let a lot of time pass before you make contact. You want to take action whilst you are still fresh in their memory. Call them up and capitalize on your trade show meeting within a couple of weeks.
Find Out More – Exhibition Stands
Tags: Business, exhibition stands, Sales, trade shows
Posted in Sales · May 31st, 2010 · Comments (0)
Employing millions of people, and generating billions of dollars, the telemarketing industry is a vital part of economies worldwide. If proper procedures are followed, and the services of experienced telemarketing companies are utilized, bottom line profits can be improved significantly. There is so much demographics and psychographic data available that the days of making random cold calls can be a thing of past, and you can contact only the people who are most likely to be interested in the products or services that you are promoting.
Telemarketing, used on itself or as part of a larger marketing campaign, has been proven to be effective. That companies are still taking this approach decades after it was first conceived is testament to that. For the most part, it works best when it is used alongside advertising, personals sales, etc. Most people think of telemarketing as just being a way to pitch a product or service, but that is just one thing that it can be used for. It can also be used to find out about prospective customers wants and needs and to find out what people think about a product or service that has already been launched.
Studies have repeatedly shown that telemarketing can get companies five times more customer contacts per day than face-to-face selling. For that kind of success though, the right telemarketing system needs to be used. This means moving away from the practice of trying to phone as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. Generally, the higher the volume of call made, the lower the quality they are, and the more unwelcome they are by the recipients. It is companies that take this approach which have caused the telemarketing industry to seen in a bad light.
A mistake that the less professional telemarketing services make is to operate on the ill-advised assumption that anybody and everybody is a likely prospect for the product or service being promoted. Even though this is a fact that is repeatedly proven by the negative reactions of those contacted and low close ratios, they continue to proceed down this unprofitable path. These days it is the quality of the calls that makes the difference, not the number of them, and this is the approach that professional, legitimate telemarketing companies take.
If you think that you would like to utilize the services of a telemarketing company, then there are plenty of good ones for you to choose from. Of course, there are a fair few that you need to avoid, but with proper research and background checks then it is not so difficult at all to find a telemarketing service that you can trust. Do some research, come up with a shortlist of companies, and then contact each of them and tell them what your needs and expectations are you. Long term contracts are not necessary, so it is something that you can try and then evaluate the results before deciding whether or not to incorporate it into your long-term marketing strategy.
Find Out More – Telemarketing
Tags: Business, Marketing, Sales, telemarketing
Posted in Sales · May 24th, 2010 · Comments (0)