Trading spaces: from start to finish, these "booth basics" will help you make the most of that first trip to the trade show floor

Entrepreneur, April, 2003 by Nichole L. Torres

YOU' RE ABOUT TO ATTEND YOUR FIRST trade show to promote your cool widgets and to generate leads. So what can you do to make it an unforgettable sucess? Keep in mind, your first foray into a trade show is your introduction to the business community. If you're planning to find great leads--and if you hope to make your trip worthwhile--then listen up. Susan Friedmann, founder of coaching firm The Tradeshow Coach in Lake Placid, New York, and author of a library of how-to books for trade show exhibitors, shares her insights on exactly what goes into .a successful trade show.

Before you go, Friedmann says, make sure you're attending the appropriate trade show for your product or service. Will the show attract your target customers? Does the show have good attendance--enough to merit your investment? Call past exhibitors to find out what kinds of people attend the shows, and ask how well those exhibitors did.

"The most common mistake is that [businesses] don't understand the significance of trade shows," according to Friedmann. Before you even complete your registration, establish your goals for the event. Ask yourself why you are exhibiting at a particular show and what you want to come away with specifically. Set quantifiable goals. Just saying "I want a lot of leads" is not enough--set a number.

Also, think carefully about what you want to exhibit. According to Friedmann, many first-timers make the mistake of bringing every item in their line to the show, instead of focusing on the few most exciting products. "Seventy-five percent of people going to shows are looking for something new," she notes.

During the show, project a professional image and demeanor. This means arranging for someone else to. cover the booth if you need to get food or take bathroom breaks. It could be a friend or even a temp if the trade show is out of town. Be sure, though, to train any fill-in person to answer prospects' questions, notes Friedmann.

Remember, you're there to sell products or services, but it's essentially about making human connections. Ask questions, collect quality information, and find out as much as possible about your prospects. As you're speaking with each prospect, take notes on a small notecard and ask them how they would like you to follow up. This simple action puts the prospect in a comfort zone.

After the show, says Friedmann, "deliver on any promise you made on the show floor." Use the note-cards you wrote during the show to help jog your memory and to make sure you've hit all the bases. Evaluate the show and your participation. Did you get a return on your investment? Says Friedmann, "It's attention to detail--not just buying the booth and showing up."

A Room of One's Own

FINDING OFFICE SPACE ON A BUDGET JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT EASIER.

STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS MEANS finding a home for said business. And if you're looking for options with more versatility than your living room coffee table, you're in luck. That's because a few new developments in the executive suite market offer very attractive solutions for start-ups.

At ActivSpace in Seattle, founders Jude Siddall and Gary Romain have established a variety of lease units that growing businesses can use either as storage or as office space. The smaller-than-usual units, ranging in size from 100 to 400 square feet and between $100 and $700 per month in price, include heat, light, power, restrooms, water, Net access, windows and mailboxes.

With 10 locations in Washington, Oregon and California, ActivSpace (www.activspace.com) had a waiting list almost from the start. Even better, Siddall notes, is that some of her business tenants say their overall productivity has increased 40 percent since moving in: "They don't have to pack and unpack their work like when [they're working on] the kitchen table."

Businesses can also look into office space for sublease, says Barry Spizer, president of both CCIM Institute, a commercial real estate certification organization, and SRSA Commercial Real Estate Inc. in Metarie, Louisiana "Right now in a lot of cities, there's a lot of sublease office space in the market," he says. "Sometimes, the discounts are as much as 50 percent off regular prices."

Especially with the recent trend in company downsizing, there are quite a few tenants with years left on their lease agreements who are more than willing to sublet some of that space to cut their losses. And depending on your relationship with the current tenant, you may even be able to share things such as secretarial services, fax machines, kitchen facilities and so on.

Even so, this kind of agreement still has some drawbacks. Because you aren't the primary tenant, you really don't have a relationship with the landlord if any problems should occur. In addition, if the tenant ever defaults on the original lease agreement, you are both out of there, no matter how prompt you were with your payments, cautions Spizer.

Jorg Pierach, 36, founder of Fast Horse Inc., a public relations firm in Minneapolis, chose one other option: sharing space with another company. Pierach wrote the agreement to be renewable in one-year increments for maximum flexibility, he notes.