How to exhibit successfully – 10 steps towards trade fair success powered by MEPLAN 10 steps towards trade fair success Editorial Trade fairs are excellent communication and business platforms – especially when they are well structured and professionally prepared. The initiative called „Your key to trade fair success“ provides you with rules, tips and tricks, to help you to achieve success at trade fairs. Our guidelines show you how to achieve your trade fair objectives safely and efficiently. You should therefore set fixed deadlines straight away, outlining your schedule for implementing the individual steps. Checklists, tools, useful sources and practical tips also provide you with an important source of help for efficient implementation of your trade fair project. This 10 STEPS brochure is a clear and deliberately short handbook, a companion for day-to-day work – it contains many valuable practical tips and real answers to the core questions relating to successful participation at a trade fair. Additional support for the realization of your ten steps to guaranteed success at trade fairs is to be found in the „Your key to trade fair success“ initiative for BAU 2015. Here you can gather further information from online trainings or checklists, which Dear exhibitors of BAU 2015, Editorial ........................................................................................ Page 3 2 1 Trade fair objectives .................................................... Page 4 2 Budget calculation ....................................................... Page 6 3 Stand design .................................................................. Page 8 4 Inviting visitors ............................................................. Page 12 5 Acquiring new contacts ............................................. Page 14 6 Employee briefing ........................................................ Page 16 7 Trade fair meetings ...................................................... Page 18 8 Lead management ........................................................ Page 20 9 Trade fair follow-up .................................................... Page 22 10 Monitoring success ...................................................... Page 24 can be sent to you upon request. More information at www.bau-muenchen.com/tradefairsuccess We wish you a good start to your trade fair preparations and every success at BAU 2015. Yours sincerely, Mirko Arend Exibition Group Director, BAU 2015 Ute-Désirée Hagedorn Managing Director, Meplan GmbH 3 important! Trade fair objectives What are your objectives for your trade fair appearance? Do you primarily want to gain new customers, promote your company’s image or present new products? The planning of your entire trade fair appearance depends on how you define your trade fair objectives: from your choice of stand space, through to the design of your stand, inviting visitors and looking after guests at your stand. How do I determine the objectives for my trade fair appearance? The practical and free Trade Fair Benefit Check from AUMA (Association of the German Trade Fair Industry) gives you a detailed online insight into the most important objectives of trade fair partici- 4 pation. Furthermore, you can find the right instruments to measure if you have achieved your trade fair objectives. You can find more information at: www.auma.de How do my trade fair objectives become a key part of my trade fair planning? From as early in the planning stage as possible, include all departments from your company that are directly involved with your appearance at the trade fair. Draw up your objectives for the trade fair together and communicate these to all parties involved, both internal and external. Determining your objectives is just as important for briefing your external service providers as for briefing your employees working on the stand. What are the advantages of clearly formulated and documented trade fair objectives? With correctly defined trade fair objectives, you ensure clear, thorough trade fair communication and always have binding guidelines for trade fair activities to hand. Your trade fair objectives also form the basis for the important task of measuring how successful the trade fair was after the event. The better defined your objectives are, the greater your chances of success will be. When defining your objectives, ensure they are in line with your corporate and marketing objectives. Establish your objectives in good time – the earlier the better. Define realistic objectives and reestablish and/or re-examine them before each trade fair appearance. Concentrate on objectives that are measurable in real terms. Establish how you wish to measure the achievement of your objectives. Communicate the trade fair objectives to all parties involved in the trade fair in the form of written documentation. The top 5 trade fair objectives of BAU exhibitors 1. Foster existing business relationships 2. Acquiring new customers 3. Follow-up business / concluding transactions / investments 4. Presentation and cultivation of company image 5. Market orientation The top 5 trade fair objectives of BAU visitors 1. Foster existing business relationships 2. Gaining new service providers / partners 3. Follow-up business / concluding transactions / investments 4. New products 5. Market orientation 5 important! Budget calculation A realistic budget calculation will enable you to create a solid financial basis for your participation in the trade fair. Rough estimates or much-sought-after “ballpark figures” always lead to compromise solutions that jeopardise your trade fair objectives. Therefore it is important that from the outset you have a reliable overview of the costs of your trade fair appearance. How do I obtain a realistic calculation? Which cost items should be included in my budget calculation? How do I make my appearance at a trade fair more efficient in order to reduce costs? The Trade Fair Benefit Check from AUMA not only gives you an overview of trade fair objectives, but also of the costs associated with a trade fair appearance. www.auma.de Anyone who plans early saves money. Nothing incurs more costs than changes at short notice or last minute orders. Check at all times how and where you can make use of existing resources. Ensure that your trade fair team stick to their budget through regular coordination. 6 The Trade Fair Budget Planner® enables you to calculate your trade fair budget for the most important trade fair-specific costs. You should also examine calculations made after previous trade fair appearances and use these as a basis for your budget. www.bau-budgetplanner.com The most important budget items Stand space, stand construction as well as costs for technical services (e.g. electricity), security and logistics Travel and accommodation costs, meals and equipment stand staff Advertising and public relations for your presentation Plan your budget early! Consider all items: Stand space, fees, utilities (electricity, water, etc.), stand design, stand construction, marketing, staff, travel costs, catering, etc. Ensure that your budget is based on facts, not rough estimates. Check that the budget has been adhered to by means of a follow-up calculation after the trade fair. Visitor invitation, marketing and information media Catering at the stand Leadmanagement Specials such as events, advertising at the trade fair ground, special exhibits and activities 7 Stand design An impressive trade fair stand attracts visitors and arouses interest in your company. The budget and the size of the stand are not important for this. What is important is a coherent design that supports you in achieving your trade fair objectives. What characterises a good stand design? The optimum stand design reflects, first and foremost, your defined trade fair objectives. If, for example, your most important objective is to make contact with new customers, then the main focus of your stand design should be the interest it generates from afar and its eyecatching features. In all cases, your stand should have a clearly-formulated message to convey at the trade fair. 8 The main purpose of a trade fair is to enable discussions: it is therefore important to plan areas where meetings can be held in a pleasant atmosphere. What should be taken into account when dividing up your stand? Ensure that there is a clear division between communication and presentation areas, using plants, semi-transparent partitions or separate levels. Create a different atmosphere in each area, for instance by using different flooring or distinct lighting. Ensure that you have calculated sufficient space for the back office area, storeroom, wardrobe and above all refreshments. The catering should not disturb proceedings at the stand. It should not be possible to see into the kitchen or behind counters. Ensuring your stand is clearly organised for visitors is particularly challenging: information counters should stand out as the first port of call and individual stand areas should be distinguished by clear signage. Remember the principle “less is more” – avoid access barriers and ensure that you do not “block off” your stand. It should be ensured that there is sufficient room for exhibits and presentation material. What information does your stand construction partner require? The more background information you can give to your stand construction partner, the better the stand design will be suited to achieving your trade fair objectives. Depending on the trade fair, information on the position, size and type of stand space is important. Do you already have an actual idea as to how your stand will be constructed? Do you know the neighbouring stands? The people with whom you are working to build the stand will also find it helpful to see photographic documentation of previous trade fair appearances or examples of stands that particularly impressed you at other trade fairs. In addition, your stand construction partner requires precise information on which activities are planned at the stand (presentations, demonstrations, events, etc.). One issue will, however, be a deciding factor when it comes to your stand design: the budget you have available. 9 MEPLAN GmbH MEPLAN can provide you with cost-effective stand construction solutions, tailored to your trade fair objectives. www.meplan.com Free stand quick check! Stand design Systemised build SYSTEM Through its use of standardised materials (OCTANORM, Mero, Maxima etc.), the systemised stand build provides a way of creating a turnkey exhibition stand that it is easy to manage and cost-effective. The systemised stand build option is typically used for stands up to 60 sqm at an average cost of 52.00 to 120.00 €/sqm. Customised stand build DESIGN High-quality stand construction, unique tailor-made designs and first-rate detailing on fittings and features: in the conception phase of designer stands, architects, designers and marketing experts work hand in hand to create an extraordinary trade fair experience. From the initial idea in hand-scribbled design sketches to the final implementation stage: each step is individually tailored to meet customer requirements. A designer stand is the ideal solution for those unwilling to make any compromises regarding corporate identity. How good is your current exhibition stand? Send a picture of your stand and your hall location to [email protected] Our experts will analyse your exhibition stand concept, looking at its functionality, product presentation, visibility from a distance, pathways and CI conformity – free and without obligation. The average cost of a designer stand build amounts to 350.00 €/sqm. 10 11 important! Inviting visitors With targeted visitor marketing you can be sure that the customers you are interested in visit your stand. Nothing is less efficient at a trade fair than chance and hope. their trade fair visit and make important appointments in advance. Use targeted invitations to ensure you have confirmed appointments. Why are visitor invitations so important? How do I plan my invitation campaign correctly? According to a current AUMA survey, a trade fair invitation from an exhibitor is the most effective way of addressing visitors. In addition, trade fair invitations offer an excellent opportunity to distinguish yourself from the competition early on and to generate interest. However, the most important thing to remember is that the time available to the trade fair visitor is limited. Over 80% of all industry professionals plan The most important rule first: start planning early, at least two and preferably three months before the start of the trade fair. Merely updating and adding to address data takes time – but is essential. Approaching your guests correctly is ultimately the highest priority. Categorise your addresses and establish who you wish to invite by e-mail, which guests you would prefer to be invited by a more personal 12 letter and who you wish to invite directly in person. Don’t forget when sending invitations that management staff and guests with a long journey to the trade fair need more time in advance to plan their appointment. Bank holidays and holidays should also be taken into account. The following must also be planned: Who should the response be sent to? Who is coordinating the trade fair appointments and how? Have your sales employees been informed of the trade fair invitations and will they be able to respond competently if they are approached by interested visitors? How do I distinguish my invitation from those of other exhibitors? Sending out a series of invitations achieves a much higher degree of attention. In doing so, you should use different media forms. For example, “save the date” e-mails have proven effective in the first instance, followed by a written letter and lastly a personal reminder call shortly before the trade fair starts. Create special incentives for visiting your stand at the trade fair. Voucher for tickets, an invitation to a stand party or presentation, or suitable give aways will help to increase interest in visiting your stand. What should I include in my trade fair invitation? Trade fair message Event: location and date Contact partner with contact details Topics, products and services, in particular new products Benefits for visitors Events, presentations, talks, etc. Company and trade fair logo Incentives (e.g. voucher for tickets) Response options Trade fair initiations contribute considerably to the success of your trade fair appearance. Invite customers and interested parties. A long-lasting impact can be achieved by sending a series of invitations to visitors. Create incentives for visiting your stand. Agree fixed appointments for meetings. Address your different target groups individually. Hall/stand number with directions to the stand 13 important! Acquiring new contacts Trade fairs are not only the ideal forum for you to keep in contact with your customers, they are also the ideal instrument for acquiring new contacts. How do I reach potential visitors before the trade fair? Anyone who wants to generate new contacts must in form potential visitors of their participation in the trade fair. Include the announcement that you will be at the trade fair in all your communications, for 14 instance in your e-mail signature, on your website, in advertisements or in newsletters. Ensure that you generate interest by announcing highlights – for example specialist talks from well-known experts or exclusive product premieres. It is particularly important to invite potential new customers. To do this, use addresses from your own database or from address brokers. Invite visitors who have an entry in the trade fair catalogue to make contact. Ensure, by actively working with the press in the run-up to the trade fair, that articles are written about your trade fair appearance or use the opportunity of taking out advertisements in special editions of trade fair publications. How do I generate interest from visitors during the trade fair? To attract the attention of your potential new contacts, these contacts must be able to recognise at first glance who you are and what your company does. Special eye-catching features on the stand or promotions can awaken the interest of trade fair visitors. Book advertising space on the trade fair premises to lead people to your stand. Working with other exhibitors, you can also leave information about your stand on the stands of your fellow exhibitors. Advertise presentations at your stand or in conference rooms at the trade fair. Use meeting points such as the media lounge or conference rooms for your appointments with journalists and customers. Include information on your trade fair appearance in your existing communications and use BAU’s advertising options such as catalogue entries and banner advertisements in newsletters. Offer simple possibilities for making contact with your company. Ensure that you are easily recognisable by using consistent communication. Invite former customers and representatives from the press to your stand. 15 important! Employee briefing How a customer meeting at the trade fair stand goes is a decisive factor for success. In order for your employees at your stand to act and respond as best they can, they must be given comprehensive training about your specific requirements in advance. What information do employees at my stand require? Exact knowledge of the defined trade fair objectives, messages and strategies is indispensable for working on the stand. The better your employees know what and who they are expecting at the trade fair, the better they can prepare themselves. Inform them of which target groups you have invited and which potentially interested parties will be attending, using the visitor 16 information for the trade fair. Detailed information on this can be found on the BAU website. www.bau-munich.com The trade fair stand is your company’s focal point for the duration of the trade fair. Therefore your employees should also know their surroundings very well: not only the exact location of the stand on the trade fair premises but also which competitors are at the trade fair, in what form and what products and services they are presenting. How do I ensure that everything runs smoothly at the stand? How do I best prepare my stand employees? It is essential that people have a clear idea of who is responsible for what at the trade fair stand. For example, who is the contact person for key accounts, who deals with enquiries from the press and who is responsible for organisational matters. A list of contact telephone numbers of the most important contact persons at the stand should be available, as should an overview of appointments, events and activities at the stand. It makes sense to establish an optimum period of time for a meeting in order to gain as many contacts as possible. In addition to this, agree upon a discreet sign with your stand team to cleverly bring unwanted “marathon meetings” to an end. Notify all stand employees in advance of how meetings at your stand should be documented. Trade fair training sessions are a valuable instrument for preparing all people involved in the trade fair for actual situations at the stand in advance, and for agreeing on the right method of communicating. A written brief which succinctly summarises all relevant aspects of your trade fair appearance is also a valuable aid for your stand employees. Use the day before the trade fair for a short kick-off meeting to clarify organisational details and outstanding questions, provide an introduction to the stand and repeat the most important communication guidelines. First impressions count – ensure that only your best-trained, most competent staff are present at the information counter. Create incentives for your employees which encourage them to achieve the trade fair objectives together. Use a system that makes it immediately evident, at all times, which employees are not present at the stand and when they will return. Make sure that the responsibilities on the stand are clearly distributed and communicated. 17 important! Trade fair meetings The possibility of face-to-face communication with interested parties, customers and partners is a significant advantage of trade fairs. Your preparation for the trade fair and your stand design should be geared towards generating numerous high quality meetings at the trade fair. How do I conduct a successful trade fair meeting? Trade fair meetings are dialogues. Avoid entering into a monologue about your services. Find out your customer’s requirements during the meeting. Do not merely provide answers, but ask targeted questions too. And don’t forget: trade fair meetings serve to maintain existing contacts and acquire new customers. It is therefore important to come to a joint agreement on how to move forward. Approach your visitors with an open question. Avoid general verbiage such as the question “Can I help you?” How should I approach my visitors? How do I examine the quality of trade fair meetings? Actively ask questions about the requirements of the person with whom you are speaking. Give your visitors a short while to orientate themselves when they first enter the stand. Make eye contact and then instigate dialogue with an open situation-related question. It is very important that the people involved in the meeting introduce themselves personally by exchanging business cards during the course of the meeting. An online survey after the trade fair is a cheap way for you to receive reliable feedback from your visitors. Used as a basis to optimise your next trade fair appearance, it is a valuable instrument for trade fair marketing. Prepare yourself for the appointment and inform yourself about the company for whom the person you are meeting works. Prove that you take the meeting seriously – by responding quickly after the trade fair. Intensive training sessions with all employees who will conduct meetings at the trade fair stand provide assurance and create uniform communication guidelines. Test how good you are with online surveys after the trade fair. Stick to the appointments that you have made. 18 19 important! Lead management SCAN2LEAD: A good start to a conversation, efficient Lead generation and more trade fair success for your company. In one quick scan, you´ve got all the details about each individual visitor coming to your booth, ready for further processing in your marketing applications. All this and more is provided in the Scan2Lead solutions for BAU 2015. The information provided by the visitor when registering online or at the venue is available to you in the scan. You can also, for example, add your own notes on each contact and save them. All the visitor information that you collect in this way at your booth is then available to you in your own personal web portal – organized, well laid out and statistically processed. From here the data can be transferred easily to your CRM system or the marketing systems you use, ready for further processing and use. How it works: With your own smartphone or tablet PC you can start straight away. Or you can hire one of our devices (e.g. iPad, scanner, laptop with scanner pistol). The days of writing down all the information by hand on lead sheets are now finally over – the Scan2Lead solution is not only faster, it´s much more accurate. Record contact data immediately and digitally at the stand itself. S2L Smart A Scan2Lead license that can be used on a smartphone (iPhone or Android device) and on a tablet PC (for hire if required). S2L Collect A miniature scanner which you can use to scan visitor´s details. S2L Station A preconfigured solution for your booth which displays the visitor´s details direct (incl. hired notebook computer and scanner pistol). Standardised meeting minutes can be immediately digitised, meaning that no information gets lost. To further optimize contact quality for you as an exhibitor at BAU 2015, before and after the show, BAU will also be offering a matchmaking service for visitors and exhibitors. This is a more structured, targeted and time-efficient way of making contact with new potential business partners. Information will be provided to BAU exhibitors on this separately. Contact for questions on Scan2Lead: Sonja Kiesel Fon +49 89 949-21251 [email protected] Gain a competitive edge by promptly processing your trade fair contacts after the trade fair. React a.s.a.p! Se n d in fo rm a ti on ! Record the following standardised data using a simple meeting sheet: contact data, visitor category (customer etc.), subject of meeting (e.g. interest in certain products), person responsible for dealing with the contact internally, next steps agreed, date and notes. ’t Don get! for 20 21 important! Trade fair follow-up Harvest time – this is when your effort at the trade fair bears fruit. What characterises good sales follow-up after the trade fair? Why is follow-up work once the trade fair is over so important? Good sales follow-up after the trade fair is characterised by quick responses and concrete action in relation to visitors’ requests. Your visitors expect that you will keep your promises and, for example, that information or quotes will be sent without delay. A thank-you letter sent directly after the visit also ensures a sustained positive impression of the visit to the trade fair. Your visitors will have many meetings at the trade fair – very probably with your competitors too. A study carried out by AUMA found that only 50% of trade fair visitors were satisfied with the follow-up work conducted by exhibitors after a trade fair. The follow-up work you do after the trade fair gives you the perfect opportunity to stand out from your competitors. 22 How do I benefit from the experiences of all involved in the trade fair? In addition to data from your trade fair market research, the feedback from all employees and service providers involved provides an important point of reference when optimising your next trade fair project. Feedback meetings and workshops should be held directly after the trade fair so that impressions, suggestions, praise and also criticism are not lost. www.bau.tradefair-success.com A quick response to trade fair meetings ensures a competitive edge. Keep your promises (such as to send information) without fail. Define follow-up procedures before the trade fair. Obtain feedback from all involved, through online surveys, feedback meetings and workshops. Professional recording of contacts at the stand is a basic prerequisite for follow-up work once the trade fair is over. 23 important! Monitoring success Do you want to improve each time you appear at a trade fair? Then do not leave this to chance. Analyse what objectives you have achieved and to what extent. Only in this way can you constantly improve your trade fair activities and continue to build upon your success. of you was can be determined through visitor surveys. Further important key figures are the relationship between the number of trade fair visitors overall and your active contacts, the number of contacts per stand employee and the number of contacts per target group. How do I know if I was successful? Where can I obtain parameters for comparison? Evaluating your trade fair contacts is certainly one of the most important sources of information. The documentation of your meetings gives you precise information on the number and quality of meetings at your stand. However, passive contacts are also to be judged as a success. Who noticed you at the trade fair and what their perception Reliable indications of the success of your marketing instruments can only be obtained from the continuous documentation of results over many years. Further parameters for comparison can be obtained from data provided by the trade fair organiser. 24 How can I determine my own key figures? Specific measurement parameters should be established at the time of defining your trade fair objectives. This ensures that at the planning stage it is established how and to what extent the required key figures will be obtained. In addition, market research measures undertaken during the trade fair can be used to obtain reliable information on the achievement of the trade fair objectives. With visitor surveys on-site or online, you can gauge, for example, the impact made by your stand, the level of visitors’ satisfaction with meetings and visitors’ willingness to invest. Selected key figures and methods of measurement Number of meetings – evaluation of meeting forms Quality of meetings – evaluation of meeting forms Meetings per employee – evaluation of meeting forms Number of stand visitors – visitor count Overall satisfaction of stand visitors – visitor survey Trade fair contacts are the measure of your success. What ultimately counts is the quality of your contacts. Differentiate between customers, interested parties and other target groups as well as between the potential of the respective visitors. Compare the visitor statistics for your stand with the data for the trade fair. When measuring success, refer to your specific trade fair objectives. In doing so, think about the fact that trade fairs have a long-term effect and in addition to generating contacts and revenues, there are many further advantages such as promoting your corporate image or increasing awareness. 25 Notes 26 27 Contact details for further information: Katharina Rehm Project Manager Trade Fair Consulting MEPLAN GmbH Willy-Brandt-Allee 1 D-81829 München Fon + 49 (0)89 949 283 16 Fax + 49 (0)89 949 281 59 [email protected] www.meplan.de