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It's Only Common Sense: Get the Most From IPC APEX EXPO

It's finally here. After another year of hard fought "survival of the fittest” competition, we all come together again in San Diego, California to check out the competition, take a look at new equipment, learn about new technologies, meet up with customers, and, most importantly, get some new business.

Whether you are exhibiting at the show or just attending, you're making a sizable investment of time and money to be at the show, so make the most of it. Have a plan and set goals. Know in advance what you want to accomplish and figure out how to make it a reality.

To make sure you're getting the biggest bang for your trade show buck figure out why you are at this show to begin with. Sit down and ask yourself why you are investing the money and time. To help you out, here is a list reasons why you should attend IPC APEX EXPO 2013:                  

1. Sell your products; get more business.
2. Introduce a new strategic direction.                                    
3. Network.    
4. Find a new piece of equipment.
5. Attend a seminar and learn about new technologies.
6. Learn about the state of the industry.                               
7. Sell to other exhibitors (fabricators and assemblers).
8. Meet with industry media organizations and gain exposure.
9. Establish your position in the industry.                   
10. Establish a new image.                                     
11. Announce new products or equipment models.                 
12. Meet with existing customers.                 
13. Meet with new customers.                               
14. Acquire sales leads.        
15. Network and trouble-shoot with other professionals.
16. Perform market research.                                
17. Discover new reps and distributors.       
18. Find new employees .
19. Scope out the competition.

Obviously, one of the main reasons to attend a trade show is to acquire new customers. A trade show is a great marketing tool--a great way to sell your wares if you will. If you're exhibiting, make sure you do everything possible to draw potential customers to your booth. Once you have them there make them feel comfortable:

1. Make sure the booth is open and welcoming. Don’t make it hard to enter by creating a barrier between you and the customer.
2. Don’t make the customer feel like he is crashing your party. Don’t have too many of your people hanging around all wearing the same shirt like some sort of exclusive club the potential customer is not a part of.
3. Put the customer first. Sure, you sales guys have not seen each other in a long time, but catch up some other time. Talking to each other is not going to get you new business. Talking to the customer will. Make sure that the customer, is the focus--its why you’re there in the first place.

Once you have the customer in the booth, make sure you do more listening than talking. Remember, it’s all about the customer and her needs. She has taken the time to stop by your booth for a reason. She has a requirement and suspects that you might be able to fill it. It's your job to find out what she needs and the best way to do that is to ask the right questions:

1. What are your needs?
2. What is your biggest problem right now?
3. What other problems do you have?
4. What are you doing to deal with problems?
5. Who are you using right now?
6. Will they be able to handle your future needs?
7. What do you like about their service? What do you dislike?
8. What would motivate you to make a change?
9. How much would it be worth for you to solve your problems?
10. How can we help?
11. What we can do?
12. What's the next step?

Become familiar with this set of questions and ask them at appropriate times in the conversation. Make them specific to your particular product and market. And, remember this is a conversation with your potential customer--not an inquisition. Keep it casual, but make sure you get the information. Most importantly, when the conversation is over and you’re alone, write down what you learned so you'll remember it. Include this information in the follow up package you send to this customer.

One last thing: Make sure you learn from the show experience by taking note of what worked and what didn't. Create a short exit form to fill out when the show is over. This should be a requirement for any trade show, big or small, that you attend. Gather your team and discuss the show. This gathering does not have to be complicated--just make sure it at least covers these questions:

• How did it go?
• What did we accomplish?
• Did we meet our goals?
• Would we come back to this show again?
• Any other comments specific to this show experience?

Finally, have fun. This is our industry’s biggest annual event. Consider yourself lucky to be there and enjoy every minute of it. It’s only common sense.