How to sell successfully at trade shows

Here are 16 ways to attract serious buyers to your exhibit and to a sale:

1. Draft and memorize a one- to two-sentence differentiating benefit statement relative to your two closest competitors and without denigrating the competition.

2. Start with a specific benefit, rather than building up to it with general background, so the listener will listen sooner and longer. A specific detail ("Product with the fewest parts that need replacement") proves the general benefit. A general statement ("We are the people who care") is less credible and less memorable.

3. Multiply attendees' positive exposures to your benefit in everything you say, display, point at, mail, stand near or offer.

4. Make your phrase sufficiently interesting and brief so attendees feel they're in charge. They'll be more likely to stay and ask enough questions so you can recognize their main interests, level of knowledge, hot buttons and how they are making their decisions.

5. Offer real situational examples. Cite relevant and diverse customer experiences. Tell them what your customers actually said.

6. Give no more than three supportive benefits. Express each supportive benefit like a headline, a "billboard message" of no more than five to eight words.

7. Use everyday, non-jargon and non-industry-specific language, even if the attendees might know the jargon.

8. The most credible proof of your benefits is the third-party endorsements of three diverse customers who have little else in common other than their adoration of your product and their similarity with your prospect.

9. Remove all graphics and words in the booth and materials that do not related to the main benefit and supportive benefits so attendees will be able to take in the information within 12 to 15 seconds the average "pause-to-scan" time in such conditions.

10. Avoid opening references to weather, freebies, drawings or other topics not benefit-related.

11. Verbally and visually make an offer during the trade show or conference. This might include providing more information, having a time-limited or bundled-product order price, offering a consultation or other vivid benefit to move them closer to a sale.

12. Ask what they like best about your product or service. Whatever is said aloud is then believed more deeply by the speaker. Be a complete and supportive listener as they explain. Give uninterrupted eye contact, nod and offer other responsive gestures that are natural for you. Ask for more detailed information. As they elaborate, they move the topic closer to the top of their mind, and they also become more articulate and vivid, deeply believing in the reasons they've stated for liking your product. The result? You've moved them closer to being fervent and articulate fans. They are more likely to talk themselves closer to a sale and voluntarily tell others why they like your product.

13. When you first meet a prospect, find the quality in them that you can most like and admire and keep it uppermost in your mind as you talk with them. You are more likely to bring out that aspect of their personality when they are around you and less likely to react to their behaviors that irritate or otherwise bother you.

14. When you stand opposite someone, you are more likely to literally oppose that person. Instead, "sidle" whenever possible. Men instinctively "sidle" when together, shaking hands and then standing more or less side by side. Women instinctively continue to face each other or a man. When standing side-by-side, people tend to feel more comfortable with each other, themselves and their surroundings. They listen sooner and longer and more inclined to agree with each other.

15. Learn how to get people to remember what you say, even if they are not trying to.

16. Lastly, continuously nurture your best prospects, seeding in their minds your main and vividly stated differentiating benefit and providing ideas and help at non-sales times. Make every aspect of your behavior, booth and promotional material repeat, reflect and reinforce that benefit before, during and most important right after the trade show or conference and then later, again and again, to your hottest prospects.

Debra Rae Drew is executive director of the Reno-based Nevada Landscape Association.