Memoirs - MJSAInstructions in great boothmanship from the Great Exhibitors In SHows Aficionado by Bruce Coltin G.E.I.S.H.A. Memoirs of a GEISHA.qxd 12/7/07 12:48 PM Page 58

Instructions in great boothmanship from the GGreat EExhibitors IIn SSHHows AAficionado

by Bruce Coltin

G.E.I.S.H.A.Memoirs of a

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kay, so the title is kind

of a reach. But the truth is that I truly am

an aficionado of great exhibitors—those

who practice what many of us grizzled

trade show veterans refer to as great

boothmanship.

Having been in the trade show busi-

ness for 25 often-turbulent years, not to

mention earlier years of being a frequent

exhibitor, I am at times referred to as a

trade show guru. I don’t like “guru”; it’s

way overused. Almost everyone these

days is some kind of guru. People prob-

ably call my barber a haircutting guru. I

would like to be known as The Trade

Show G.E.I.S.H.A. I appreciate your

cooperation in this matter.

So, what exactly constitutes great

boothmanship? Is there such a thing as

great boothmanship? And, if there is,

how do you learn how to do it?

If you’ve attended enough trade

shows, you’ve encountered exhibits

staffed by people who appear too busy

or distracted to talk to you. “Excuse me

folks, I see that you’re engaged in idle chit

chat, gabbing on your cell phones, licking

excess cream cheese off of your bagels, and

reading USA Today. Any chance one of

you could show me your new casting

machine?” Dysfunctional, unmanaged

booth crews are what you get when you

approach a trade event without solid

objectives, careful planning, adult su-

pervision, and an understanding and

appreciation of great boothmanship.

If you view a booth as your stage,

where you get to sing about the

beauty of your product, a trade

show will be your Broadway

mega hit. If you view a booth as

a cage, confining you and pre-

venting you from being out in

the world doing business the way

you like doing business, you’re

wasting your time and your com-

pany’s money. You’re sitting in a

cage of your own making.

In the days when I was a frequent

trade show exhibitor, the booth was

always my stage, and never my

cage. For me, trade shows created

unique opportunities. That brass ring

prospect who would never take my

phone call would sometimes end up in

my booth. If I would catch his name

badge as he walked down the aisle, my

mission was clear: get him to break

stride and exchange words with me.

Over the years, I’ve heard many

firsthand stories of important business

deals that began as an unexpected

booth encounter. When a salesperson

gets a phone call from someone she

never expected to hear from expressing

serious buying interest, we call that a

bluebird. We spend a lot of time chas-

ing people and getting doors slammed

in our faces, so we all tend to smile

when the occasional bluebird lands on

our windowsill. At trade shows, blue-

birds are all around you. If you’re deter-

mined to spot them and ready to sprin-

kle a few bread crumbs, you’re liable to

capture what days spent working the

phone or pounding the pavement

would not have delivered.

The exciting part of exhibiting at

a trade show is not seeing your

usual customers. Sure that’s part

of the experience…for some ex-

hibitors, that might be 90 percent

of their show objectives, but for

most exhibitors, the name of the

game is new business. That’s why

O

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great boothmanship means con-

necting with strangers—instantly

and solidly.

Ican go to any trade show, in any

industry, and immediately identify

the real boothmasters by the looks

on their faces, the sounds of their voices,

and by the ways they engage strangers.

Saying “hello” or “good morning” to

every passerby is certainly friendly, but

usually ineffective. When someone greets

me that way, I return the pleasantry and

keep walking. Being cheerful and friend-

ly is nice, but it doesn’t translate to “Can

we do business?”

What is the single most effective line

you can come up with that will almost cer-

tainly prompt a stranger to stop in her

tracks and hand you a few precious min-

utes of her undivided attention? Here’s a

hint. It isn’t: “Can I tell you about my wid-

get?” An exhibitor I know says about his

torch, “It turns water into fire.” Now that’s

intriguing! An exhibitor I met years ago

sold tax shelters. His first line to any booth

traveler was: “Did you pay income tax last

year?” When he’d get a yes or even a slight

nod, he’d follow with: “Can I show you

how not to make the same mistake this

year?” Was he the busiest exhibitor in the

show? What do you think?

Connecting with strangers is a crit-

ical part of the job, but it is far from

being the whole job. You need to

get into your presentation and you

need to qualify the prospect to be as

sure as possible that he and your

product are a reasonably good fit.

If you present well but qualify poorly,

you’ll waste valuable post-show fol-

low-up on unqualified prospects. If

you qualify well and present poorly, you

will be spending too much post-show fol-

low-up trying to rekindle interest in those

who left your booth without hearing the

great benefits that would have stuck in

their minds.

The booth amateur may get a visitor

to listen to the presentation, but then lets

him get away without learning anything

about him. Real boothmasters present

and question (or qualify) almost simulta-

neously, as in this example:

Linda: So, Bill, you’re looking for a laser

engraving machine?

Bill: That’s right. Actually, I’m just start-

ing to look into them.

Linda: Tell me a little about your

business. I saw you looking at

our top-of-the-line model,

which might be more than

you need.

Bill: We have a jewelry store in the sub-

urbs. It’s a small, family operation.

Linda: Are you looking to replace your

current machine, or will this be a new ser-

vice that you’ll be offering your customers?

Bill: This will be totally new for us. Some

of our customers have been requesting

this for years.

Linda: Bill, based on what you’ve told

me, I think we can rule out several mod-

els and get right to our LaserPro, which

should be perfect for your size operation.

Are you hoping to begin offering your

engraving service for the holidays?

Bill: My wife says we’d be crazy not to.

Linda: Sounds like a smart lady. We sell

more of these than all of our other mod-

els put together, mostly to folks like you.

Let me show you how easy it is to operate.

Bill leaves your booth feeling that he’s

had a two-way conversation and an

informative demonstration, rather than a

canned lecture. When you shake his

hand and say goodbye, you have a good

feel for when and how to follow-up, and,

thanks to his responses (which you

immediately write down), you know he’s

a hot prospect.

The show is over, and you’re back

at your desk. Now it’s time to con-

vert promising leads into solid sales.

One big problem: evaporating rap-

port. (It took me years to grasp that

concept.) It’s time to reconnect.

You had a great booth conversation

with Allison. She was mesmerized

by your purple tabletop widget

with the digital readout (PTW-D1). She

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What is the single most effective line you

can come up with that will almost certainly

prompt a stranger to stop in her tracks?

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told you that it was exactly what they

needed in order processing, and that Dan

would love it.

When you make the call to Allison, do

not assume that she remembers you

or the PTW-D1. In

fact, you should as-

sume that she doesn’t.

Assume she spoke to

other exhibitors, looked at

a lot of products, and got

back to a very hectic office.

Assume that her bond with

you and her enthusiasm for

PTW-D1 have started to evapo-

rate. Assume that you need to

reconnect. Begin by bringing her

back to your booth (not literally, of

course), and then, with that plat-

form firmly in place, use it to spring for-

ward: “Allison, at the show, when we were

looking at my four PTW models…by the

way, what did Dan say when you showed

him the brochure on the PTW-D1?” By

refreshing the potential customer’s mem-

ory—and impressing her with

yours—you’ll be on your way to

a solid sale.

Over the years, I’ve

learned a lot about being a

true boothmaster. I learned

from being in the booth and trying out

different lines to quickly connect with

those elusive aisle strollers, but I learned

even more by being one of those aisle

strollers. What memorable lines made me

break stride and exchange words? What

was it about a great booth presentation

that smoothly qualified me as a prospect

and put me on the road to being a buyer?

And, when back at my office, sitting at my

desk, how did that exhibitor reconnect me

to her, to the show, and to the product? Is

it more art than science? I’m not sure.

What do you think? ◆

Do you have an instructive boothmanship

story that you would like to share with our

readers? E-mail [email protected]. In

the subject line, put “Trade Show GEISHA.”

The real boothmaster gets

visitors to listen to her presentation

while asking the right questions

to qualify them.

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