Event halls however are usually hectic environments, packed with business owners looking for products to improve their services and increase profitability. And with this busy environment, it is easy to get flustered and lose track of why you visited a trade show in the first place. Having said this, we have created some little pointers below to help you to manage your visit well, so here-goes…
Go With A Plan!
Download the event show guide if this is possible, look at the list of exhibitors and work out which stands you want to visit prior to the event. There is nothing worse than turning up to a busy event hall, with no idea where the companies are located within the exhibition and then spending half of your day looking round busy aisles to spot them! Also, if you can, try and arrange appointments with those particular brands if they are offering appointment scheduling, just to secure your time with them and to avoid delays with queuing!
Prepare Your Questions
Once you have identified the companies that you want to visit, you are then best to look in to some current factors in the salon that have room for improvement. Work out by researching the companies that you are visiting which of them may be able to help you out with these needs and note down some appropriate questions to ask the stand representatives.
Network
As much as you visit a trade show to find resources that will be beneficial to your brand, don’t forget that this is a perfect opportunity to target vendors that may be interested in your company too! The Professional Beauty exhibition is full of the salon interested and therefore what not a better opportunity to hand out your own business cards and build a relationship with potential prospects. Trade shows are such a sociable affair that you should be prepared to do a bit of brand-promoting whilst you’re there.
Collect!
Throughout the event you will visit countless numbers of stands, and sometimes you visit many that offer such similar services, you can forget which brand was which. Our advice here would be to take a little note pad and jot down some mini reminders whilst you’re visiting each separate stand. This way, you won’t lose track of companies that you may want to enquire with again and also, you save yourself time having to do extra research once you’re home. Most companies will offer you free giveaways, flyers or information brochures, which are also handy to have and make notes on. You’re best to collect sample brochures from all of the companies that you were extremely interested in, then it helps you to narrow down the products that you may want to follow up after the show. Don’t forget to also make a note of the names and direct lines of any professionals that you had a conversation with, as this way they are much easier to track down after the event!
Plan Yourself Some Time-Out
Trade shows are hard-work! You spend the majority of the day on your feet, gathering information over-load and sometimes you need to remember to just give yourself that 5-10 minutes break here and there to evaluate what you have found out already and to also re-energise. Grab a floor plan when you first arrive at the event and map out the local rest/coffee areas so you can plan your route and stop-offs along the way!
We hope these little tips will help you to enjoy your time at the event, and if this is your first time visiting a trade show, we'll be on stand C42 to answer all of your salon software questions. We'll be offering free demonstrations and salon management advice across the 2 day event so be sure to pop and see us!
Salon Tracker x
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