Post-show: survival skills: trade shows involve a lot of handshakes, smiles and information exchanges. An action plan ensures your efforts don't blow away into thin air

Pool & Spa News, Jan 16, 2004 by Julie Sturgeon

You heard it here first: "Anybody who likes going to trade shows is a very sick person because these are hard work if you do them right," says Steve Miller, author of How to Get the Most Out of Trade Shows and a consultant in Federal Way, Wash.

After all, preparing for and attending the show are only two-thirds of the battle. After soaking in the new products, concepts and camaraderie, pool and spa professionals must put that information to work while resuming the normal business they abandoned temporarily to attend the show.

Creating an action plan to guide and focus your time on the trade show floor isn't enough. To get your full money's worth, you need an equally sound follow-up strategy:

* Take charge of the process.

It's tempting for trade show attendees to toss their expo materials in a corner, put their feet up on their desks and expect vendors to ring their phones off the hook. After all, good salesmanship demands that sellers make the first move to demonstrate their commitment to customer service. Right?

However, this path of least resistance leads to missed deals, says Cynthia Lett, director and CEO of The Lett Group, a consuiting firm based in Silver Spring, Md. "They probably made more contacts than you did and have a heavier workload to follow up on," she explains. "It isn't that they don't want to do business with you. They may not realize how imminent your need is."

As a compromise, mention to vendors that you'd like to hear from them by a specific date and flag it on a pocket calendar; pick up the phone yourself the day after if they fail to respond.

* Devote time to follow up.

A good place to start? When arranging your schedule to attend the show, extend the length of time you plan to be away by one day--a day you spend back in the office without interruptions. Devote the first eight to 10 hours to nothing but show follow-up. Be strict: Refuse to accept phone calls and ignore unnecessary meetings or other distractions. Even hesitating 24 hours means your experiences will be harder to recreate when you finally do grab a chair. "It's like learning algebra or geometry," says Al Rizzo, owner of Rizzo Pool Co. in Newington, Conn. "The teacher taught a problem in class, and you went home that night and sat at the kitchen table until you got it."

* Sort through the materials.

Regardless of when you carve our time, begin by organizing all the materials you collected, Miller advises. Prioritizing is crucial at this step. Products and concepts that solve an immediate problem for your business go to the head of the stack. Some may hit the trash.

Burt Greene, president of Dover Pools and Supplies in Toms River, N.J., devotes no less than an hour at a time to evaluating sales brochures when he pores over the pile with his staff. "Some of the things that seemed exciting to you when you first saw them, you eliminate when you get back," he says. "That's why you sit down with other people in the company and mull through it."

In an unusual twist, Rizzo refuses to take materials except catalog pages he rips out showing orders he actually placed with the vendors at the show. "The purchase orders are all tentative, so I can hand these forms to my department heads and give them 10 days to either agree with my quantities or adjust them," he says.

* Jot down key information.

Separating the sheep from the goats is less nerve-racking when you take personal notes to accompany the product sheets. Rizzo keeps track of conversations through coded notes on the back of each salesperson's business card. Once home, he converts the scribbles to a formal list detailing what he wants to glean from each vendor and grabs the phone to start scheduling appointments. He typically flies home with 20 cards in his briefcase.

Miller now carries a digital recorder to download his verbal impressions directly into typed notes on the computer screen. These details, in particular, help with the decision-making process:

1. Who you talked to at the exhibit

2. What you're looking for from this exhibitor

3. What the exhibitor promised to send Is follow-up

4. Action steps if you don't hear by the specified date

He also totes a pocket-sized camera to jog his visual memory of each product. He'll drop the photos into a file folder devoted to each specific vendor.

If you decide to use this approach, be sure to stick these folders in the order you want to follow up. Then enter the information from all business cards into your calendar system and business contact software. Be sure to flag them as trade show contacts.

* Build relationships with vendors.

Next, shake our your fingers and work out any knots: You're about to launch a note-writing campaign. "A lot of buyers don't realise they'll get a better deal if they establish a personal relationship with the vendor, rather them just cold-call for a quote," Lett says. "People do business in a more positive and cost-effective manner with people they like than with any Joe off the street."

Mailing hand-written notes is the greatest compliment anyone in this society can give another person in an era of e-mail, Lett adds. Just three lines expressing pleasure at the meeting, commenting on their product and asking for a phone call are all it takes, and are definitely worth the time.