Throughout the world, trade shows are held in hotels, town halls and purpose-built exhibition centres on virtually every day of the year. Whatever the trade: retail, wholesale, Information Technology, pleasure boats, cars, gifts, food and drink ... the list really is endless. If you are in business of just about any kind, there will be a trade show just for you.

Buyer or Seller?

Whether you are attending the show as a buyer or a seller, there are certain common hazards to overcome. As a buyer, you are going to walk for miles. Sometimes literally. As a seller, you're going to have to be on your feet for nine hours for three or four days. So comfortable footwear is essential. Ladies should take two pairs of shoes - heels and flats. Keep one pair in a bag ready to change into. Changing from heels to flats half way through the day can feel like putting on a whole new pair of legs. Men don't often have the luxury of changing into heels, a sexist attitude that makes Trade Shows a particularly hazardous environment, so just make sure your shoes are well broken-in and comfortable. With really big shows exhibiting in multiple halls you can slip into more comfortable if less stylish shoes between halls.

Peppermint foot lotion when you get back to your hotel will provide an experience that really does rival anything else you might ever do with your clothes off.

Parking

The larger shows attract tens of thousands of visitors and hundreds of exhibitors. This means the car parks are very congested. The extremely tedious chore of parking can be solved by planning.


Plan not to take a vehicle if at all possible.


For buyers, book a hotel either close to the venue or on a main public transport route. If a car is absolutely essential, arrive as early as possible. In a huge car park, it is easy to forget where you've left your car so tie a piece of bright material to the radio aerial so you can spot it from a distance.


For sellers, if you are setting up a stand do so early on the day preceding the show opening. Make sure your vehicles are loaded in such a way that they can be quickly unloaded. Many venues will only permit vehicles into the loading bays for one hour and charge a deposit of between £50 - £500. If you overrun by even a few minutes, the deposit is not returned.

Tips For Buyers

If the show is reasonably large, over 100 exhibitors say, don't try to do it all in a day. Book a hotel for two nights. Try and get to the show for the last two days. Get a good night's rest the night before and spend the first day just looking. Buy a show guide and take notes as you walk up and down the aisles. Take a trolley bag with you and collect the catalogues from the stands that interest you. Make sure your trolley bag is closed though, as some salespeople will slip catalogues in when you're not looking. The really unscrupulous ones will slip in empty coffee cups and litter because there never seem to be enough litter bins at trade shows. It may be an idea to forget about catalogues altogether and just collect business cards. Companies tend to have websites and they'll post on catalogues anyway if you ask them. Don't get drawn into chats with salesmen; you've got a lot to see. Remember to take sandwiches and drinks with you as the victuals available from the concession stands are horrendously overpriced. Once you have seen the entire show, make your way back to the hotel and start planning the next day's schedule.

Cheeky Tips

Get a free lunch on day one by making sure you arrive at the biggest, flashiest stand at lunchtime. Give the impression (lie convincingly) that you could be about to give the company their biggest order of the year. Insist on speaking only to the most senior person from the company and drop hints about your rumbling tummy. Chances are, you will be treated to lunch at the company's expense. If you can keep the illusion going, find out what hotel the company is using. If it is the same as yours, you may even get a free dinner.


At all times, play the 'big shot'. Never let the sales representative know that your shop is tiny and your budget barely reaches three figures. If possible, give the impression that you have multiple outlets. At the very least, this will get you the rep's full attention and possibly a free coffee and a sit down.


Collect every free sample you can, especially food. Don't be afraid to grab handfuls and stick them in your pockets. The food can replace an evening meal if you're on a tight budget and the other things can be sold on e-bay.

Day Two

OK, you've sifted through the catalogues and you know exactly what stands you are going to visit. When you arrive at the show prepared to do some buying, remember that you have the upper hand. As it is now the last day of the show, the reps are under pressure to get some orders in (see 'Cheeky Tips' above). For some weird reason, the last few days have been spent dealing with hordes of customers from massive multinational companies who have only been interested in cadging free food and samples. Try and arrange it so that you can see everyone and leave a couple of hours free at the end of the show.

Negotiations

You are now seated in front of the sales rep. Let us say you are buying a range of widgets. Don't get talked into buying the full, pre-packaged range of widgets. It's guaranteed that the range on offer contains around 20% rubbish. Sort out the rubbish in the range and insist it be replaced with widgets you actually want. The range will be on a special 'Show Rate', which usually equates to 10% off. That is the stated reduction. The sales rep actually has another 10% he can offer, so immediately ask for 30% off. Make it clear that this is only an initial order and dangle the carrot of future sales. Keep the pressure on the rep throughout. Remember, he is under pressure to get your order. His Sales Manager is watching from the corner of the stand so, at some point, drop in the line 'Perhaps I should just speak to your boss?'. This can have two results. Either the rep will cave in and give you the deal you want or, the Sales Manager will get involved. The Sales Manager likes to be 'Mr Big' and will often be authorised to give even greater discounts than the sales rep. It is also even less likely that he will know that your shop is tiny, so keep the act up.


Once you are sure you have achieved the lowest price you are going to get, it's time to push the boat out. Insist upon free stands, display materials and extra stock for demonstrations or display. Ask for as much as possible. Through gritted teeth, the rep will give you at least some of it, especially if you indicate that a lack of such extras could lose him the sale.


Repeat this at every stand you are interested in until your budget is used up.

Minesweeping

In the last two hours of the show, the sales reps are tired, hungry, longing to go home and utterly dreading the thought of packing up the stock at the end of the day. This is a great opportunity to grab some freebies. Anything the reps can give away doesn't have to be packed up. Avoid the stands where the reps have a desperate gleam in their eye. These are the ones that have had a bad show and they will pounce on anyone who looks like a buyer and almost beat a sale out of them. Find the stands where the reps are laughing and joking and be prepared to be bold. If you see something that takes your fancy, just ask for it. The worst that can happen is they will say no. Some of the smaller companies may even be open to selling stock off the stand. Quite often with bulky items, the company will actually spend more on shipping than the item is worth. They may well be open to an offer to take it off their hands. This is frowned upon by show organisers as it affects the 'Trade' nature of the show, so limit your bidding to high value items and try to be discrete.

Also, make a point of grabbing every spare sample and freebie you can, in the manner of 'That's mine', sweeping them into your bag before anyone can object (minesweeping).

The Seller

Working a Trade Show as a Sales Rep can be fun if you prepare properly. The object of the exercise is to sell more than your colleagues while doing as little as possible and still look good in front of your boss. Your work actually begins some time before the show.

Preparing The Ground

In the six weeks before the show, visit all your key accounts and promise them a special 'something' if they visit you at the show. It is worth investing in a case of whisky or a crate of perfume in order to hand out goodies on the day. This ensures that your best customers will make a point of coming to see you.

Setting Up The Stand

Setting up the stand the day before the show is possibly the most important task for the company. Complicated structures have to be built, carpet or flooring laid, furniture laid out and arranged to entice people onto the stand, stock displayed to greatest effect etc. A good stand can cost £20,000 just for the space, and the bill for electrics and fittings can easily run into five figures. The pressure to produce the perfect stand is intense and much blood, sweat, tears and snotters will be expended on set-up day.


This is why it is crucial that you shouldn't be there.

All that manual labour is tiresome and no one will ever thank you for it, so use any excuse an imaginative mind can conjure up to make sure that you do not arrive before 9pm on the eve of the show. Hotels stop serving dinner around 10pm so you will be sent straight there. Before hitting the bar, find out what rooms your colleagues are in and take a note of the room numbers. When you get to the bar, make sure you give a colleague's room number for the bill. This is especially useful if you have arranged to meet customers for a drink. Far better that someone else has to explain a large bar bill. Don't worry about overdoing the drinks. Although all Reps will be told to be on the stand by 9am, serious customers never arrive before 10am.

Days One To Three

Arriving on the stand at 10am(ish), find somewhere secure to hide your crate of whisky and/or perfume, your newspaper, your coat and any other personal possessions, then have a look at the stand. Find yourself a loiter spot near the back of the stand with a chair, from where you can see every customer. Next, check out the 'Show Deals'. There will be around a dozen, but probably half will be for stock that has lain in the warehouse gathering dust all year. Find the deals that will actually offer good value for the customer and concentrate on these alone. Remember, the object of the exercise is to get orders as quickly and painlessly as possible. By pointing out the less attractive deals to the customer before they figure it out for themselves, they will feel you are doing them a favour and will be far more receptive to the deals you actually want to sell.

Remember to switch your company phone off, but keep your personal phone on. Give a colleague that you trust your number with instructions to call you when you signal. This is useful if you get caught by a timewaster you can't shake off. When the phone rings and you answer, make it as dramatic as possible in order to give you an excuse to get away for a few minutes.

Smoking

Most shows are no-smoking these days, but if it is one of the rare species that still allow smoking, never smoke on your own stand. Go to a competitor's stand instead. Customers hate the smell of stale smoke. Remember to take strong mints.

Reading The Customers

By positioning yourself at the back of the stand you are giving yourself a number of advantages.

1. You avoid the timewasters and dreamers. These people are not actually going to place orders. Give your colleagues every opportunity to deal with them before they get as far as you.
2. You give yourself ample time to read the name badges. If the customer is not from your territory, you do not want to waste time with them. It could be you miss a real customer while you're being nice for someone else's customer.
3. By the time any customer makes it to the back of the stand, they are firmly on your turf. All year round you have dealt with the customer in their premises and they have had a psychological advantage over you, the visitor. Now, they are on your stand, surrounded by lots of goodies that they want to buy.

If you are approached by a new customer from your territory, be as nice as pie but don't waste any time. Get their details and get them off the stand once you have done enough to titilate them. Your time is all-important and should be spent actively selling as much as possible. Show them the best deals and tell them that you will call on their premises in the next week with the same special deals. These customers will not place orders at the show in any case. Let's face it, if they were any good and on your territory you would know about them anyway. If they are just setting up, they are only looking at all the options and will save the ordering for when they are back on their turf where they don't feel overwhelmed.

Obviously when your good customers come on the stand, you go to work. First giving them their gift while oh-so-confidentially pointing out the less advantageous show deals, you move them onto the good deals. You may even have written out their order for them beforehand. Tell them why this product is good for them, how much profit it will make for them and then slip in an extra discount. Done properly, the customer will readily sign the order.


If the customer has arrived within two hours of the show ending, offer to take them for a drink while empathising over their sore feet. This gets you off the stand and gets the customer away from your competitors.

More Bang For The Buck

Done properly, a good Rep will therefore only spend six hours on the stand compared with his colleagues' nine, but it will be time spent productively. By not wasting time with the 'Dreamer' customers and concentrating on only those customers who have previously been primed, and selling them only what you know the customer will want, it is almost guaranteed that you will have the best sales results.

Making A Clean Getaway

Almost as onerous a task as setting up the stand is breaking it down at the end of the show. This has obviously got to be avoided. Arrange for a good customer to call onto the stand 15 minutes before the end of the show. Introduce them to the Sales Manager (who also wants to get out of the hard work), and suggest that you all go for a drink to discuss the customer's future expansion plans. By doing this, you'll be in the bar knocking back pints while your colleagues are doing the clearing up.