[quote=wlooney]

A few FAs and I will be working a trade show in a few weeks.  I have been contacting wholesalers for handouts, have ordered bags with our logo as well as marketing material.  Besides all that stuff (which I would imagine doesn't really 'sell' anyone) what else should we keep in mind and do while we are there.

Thanks

[/quote]

I'm sure all the attendees will just love having people there who are outside of their trade and are clearly trying to hook some fish with their cheesey approach.

Nice response inner child.  Should I try the mommy and daddy had $100 million to give me approach?  A response like that makes me think that might be the direction you took.  It is a home and garden show, and we are using our home loan booth.  It should be a great way to get in front of people who might want a HELOC (in which our rates are very competitive) and we can develop relationships from there.  The best part about your comment is that a broker in our office started out this way and gathered a significant number of assets.  I have also heard of people setting up a booth just to talk with all the other exhibitors (almost seems like a waste of money when you could just go).  I have heard that these people have a lot of success setting up appointments with that approach.  I can see how this could be advantageous though, since you will be setting up, breaking down, and running the booths all at the same time.  We are contemplating having dinner brought in on the last evening for setting up, to help develop relationships with the many business owners and contractors that will also be exhibitors at the show.   Thanks so much for your worthless response though.  It was much appreciated.   

[quote=wlooney]

Nice response inner child.  Should I try the mommy and daddy had $100 million to give me approach?  A response like that makes me think that might be the direction you took.  It is a home and garden show, and we are using our home loan booth.  It should be a great way to get in front of people who might want a HELOC (in which our rates are very competitive) and we can develop relationships from there.  The best part about your comment is that a broker in our office started out this way and gathered a significant number of assets.  I have also heard of people setting up a booth just to talk with all the other exhibitors (almost seems like a waste of money when you could just go).  I have heard that these people have a lot of success setting up appointments with that approach.  I can see how this could be advantageous though, since you will be setting up, breaking down, and running the booths all at the same time.  We are contemplating having dinner brought in on the last evening for setting up, to help develop relationships with the many business owners and contractors that will also be exhibitors at the show.   Thanks so much for your worthless response though.  It was much appreciated.   

[/quote]

You didn't mention that you were contemplating dinner. That changes everything.

I've considered working trade shows, but never have. Oh yeah, I've heard the sporadic success stories of brokers working trade shows, but it never tempted me to shell-out the bucks for it.

Let us know how it goes, you've got me curious.

[quote=doberman]

I’ve considered working trade shows, but never
have. Oh yeah, I’ve heard the sporadic success stories of brokers
working trade shows, but it never tempted me to shell-out the bucks for
it.

Let us know how it goes, you've got me curious.

[quote=My Inner Child]

You didn’t mention that you were contemplating dinner. That changes everything.

Thanks for the advice AllREIT.

[quote=AllREIT]
Unless you know the trade show well, be careful with this. You want to make sure you don't have scheduling conflicts.

[/quote]

We shouldn't run into a problem there because we would have food brought in the day/night before the show starts.  It would be for the exhibitors only, and it seems like a great way to get some one on one time with them.  We might have a conflict with bringing food into the venue where the the show is, but that's another story.  We will probably just bring the food anyway. 

[quote=doberman]
I've considered working trade shows, but never have. Oh yeah, I've heard the sporadic success stories of brokers working trade shows, but it never tempted me to shell-out the bucks for it.

Let us know how it goes, you've got me curious.

[/quote]

We are lucky enough to have convinced the FA in our office who had a lot of success at trade shows to help us set up and tell us what he did.  I'll take some good notes and let you know how it goes.

[quote=wlooney]

Thanks for the advice AllREIT.

[quote=AllREIT]
Unless you know the trade show well, be careful with this. You want to make sure you don't have scheduling conflicts.

[/quote]

We shouldn't run into a problem there because we would have food brought in the day/night before the show starts.  It would be for the exhibitors only, and it seems like a great way to get some one on one time with them.  We might have a conflict with bringing food into the venue where the the show is, but that's another story.  We will probably just bring the food anyway.  [/quote]

What I mean is you don't want to schedule your hospitality event opposite other more popular (or better catered!) events. I.e from major suppliers. Venue's like to be anal about food so as to ensure a monopoloy on the in house catering.

The classic disaster is if somone offers a shrimp cocktail buffet.

If you are in area where people eat bagel's n lox, you can do that and have a very well attended affair at reasonable expense.

Have somone coldwalk the exhibitors with "tickets" to your hospitality event. That can get good attendance. Make sure to be nice with the publicity team of the event, you may be able to get mentioned in the daily newsletter of the tradeshow.

I have been to many trade shows in my former career.  I think the most important things to do are to stand in front of the booth and make conversation with anyone who makes eye contact.  If they don't make eye contact, mention something about the bag they're carrying, their jacket, shoes... anything to get their attention.

As an FA I have done one show with the local chamber.  I only got one client from it but it paid for my booth and will hopefully lead to referrals down the road.  I had a raffle prize (Quicken 2007) and collected a lot of names, addresses and phone numbers from that.

Good Luck

[quote=justcheckin]

As an FA I have done one show with the local
chamber.  I only got one client from it but it paid for my booth
and will hopefully lead to referrals down the road.  I had a
raffle prize (Quicken 2007) and collected a lot of names, addresses and
phone numbers from that.

Good Luck

Trade show was incredibly successful thus far.  Lots and lots of people to contact who asked to be contacted about something specific.  I will add more in the next few weeks as far as assets collected are concerned. 

[quote=wlooney]Trade show was incredibly successful thus far. 
Lots and lots of people to contact who asked to be contacted about
something specific.  I will add more in the next few weeks as far
as assets collected are concerned.  [/quote]



I knew it would turn out well.

wlooney,



Can you give some more specifics as far as what you did, what handouts

you had, how you got names, etc. I am doing one in a few months, but it

is my first.



Thanks.

Your trade show display is one of the most important aspects of your trade show presentation. Just being there isn't enough to make attending a trade show worthwhile. You need to have a trade show booth that's going to draw and engage potential customers and contacts and your trade show display will play a big part in determining if your trade show experience is worthwhile. Here are some trade show display tips:

Think neatness and visibility when putting your trade show display together.

Use a display board to hang some of your products at customer eye-level to draw them into your display. Make sure your display is organized and tidy; customers will be turned off by messiness or by having to do too much searching to find what they want. Have all your prices clearly marked.

Broker24,

Number one, stand up and in front of the booth.  Only have a chair if there are 2 or more people working your booth (never have the same number of chairs as people).  Have a sign-up sheet for a giveaway.  Most of these people know they will be contacted and are ok with it.  Have logo things to hand out as well as marketing material.  Bring a little of everything, because you never know what someone might ask about.  You might consider having an individual sign-up sheet for each person.  We had a sheet for multiple signatures, and had a hard time taking notes on what we disused after the sheet filled up. 

Also, try and get a booth that is positioned against a back wall, and on the right side of the entrance.  I spoke with a few exhibitors who do trade shows on a regular basis and they told me there is a science to selecting your booth location.  People are accustomed to going to the right, just like they are driving.  If your booth is on the right hand side, more people will come close by you and see your booth.  

Finally, your display should look nice and eye level things will help catch a few peoples attention, BUT don't think that's going to help much at all.  You have to be out in front of the booth, in the isle.  Engage anyone who makes eye contact and ask them if they want to sign up for your prize.  Once they come over to sign, you can casually ask them how they are doing, if they are enjoying the show, and then transition to some investment related questions.  YOU HAVE TO REEL THEM IN!!! DO NOT WAIT ON YOUR DISPLAY TO DO IT!

Hope this helps.

Thanks. Incidentally, what type of trade show was it?

My experience from shows I’ve worked is that exhibitors are 5x more likely to become clients than any person walking the show floor.  Last time I got several retirement plan rollovers from the multi-level marketing guys who were about to become wealthy!  The downside - they are routine withdrawers of that money as their schemes haven’t worked out and they don’t want to admit it.

It was a Home and Garden show. 

Also, to follow up on what Beagle said (and I can't believe I forgot to mention it), talk with as many exhibitors as you can.  Get there early, stay late, and hang out in the exhibitor's lounge on breaks (if there is one & if you are working the booth with another broker).  I currently have as many appointments on the books with exhibitors as I do with attendees. 

I do about three trade shows a year. I have brought in $5 million AUM from

the trade shows, mostly senior expos and home and gardern shows. They

are long but can be worth your time.



3 ways to not waste your time:



1. Have a drawing of some sort and a seminar sign up.

2. Stand in front of your booth and hand people a pen to sign up.

3. Have fun, even though you are tired as everyone will agree success is

101% atitude.