Removing Friction from Your Trade Show Booth

February 14, 2019

Chloe Mortimer

Chloe Mortimer is the Marketing Manager for Events 720, a full-service exhibition company based in Australia that offers creative conceptual booths for exhibitors and customized exhibition solutions for organizers. 

“Friction” has become a recent buzzword used to describe a break down in the sales process. Anything that causes your customer to hesitate is friction. Removing friction ensures customers and visitors can easily buy from you. 

Visitors attending trade shows are looking to make deals, buy things in large quantities and sign contracts. Friction on your exhibition booth will inhibit deals at the expo and limit your contact with visitors. Use the guide below to remove the friction from your exhibit and increase your sales.

Attracting and Qualifying Leads

Incorporating interactive elements on your exhibit attracts attendees. Sometimes there will be an obvious way to do this, i.e. if you attend a food expo, you might offer free tastings. Conducting demonstrations on the stand can also be a great way to attract leads. 

Qualifying leads is crucial for your trade show success. The way to do this isn’t asking them to fill in complicated forms. The best way to qualify your leads is to simplify your conversations to include three questions.

These questions should form part of your conversations naturally, so you will need to assess what the three most important characteristics are to identify qualified leads. Quickly and easily assessing whether a lead is worth pursuing allows you to progress your sales process.  

Exchanging Business Cards

Handing out your business card and expecting the attendee to contact you creates friction. If you have qualified a potential customer as being worth your time, you should never hand them a business card hoping that they will call you. 

There are systems you can use such as iCapture that allows you to take a picture of a business card and instantly upload all details to your CRM, leaving you free to keep having a conversation with your visitor and follow-up with them at a later time. 

Business cards still have a place in networking and sales but used in the traditional way they add friction to your exhibition booth. 

Onsite Meeting Room

A meeting room in your booth is one sure-fire way to remove friction. You can schedule meetings ahead of the show and hold meetings with potential leads right away. This removes friction because there’s no guesswork – you can have a meeting immediately. 

If your budget doesn’t allow for onsite meeting rooms, good furniture is necessary. To remove the friction from your booth, consider the most appropriate place for the furniture. Ensure you properly communicate these needs to your exhibit builders, so they can help you achieve your goals. 

Ultimately, you want to remove any ambiguity on how your potential customers can speak with you. This makes it easier to have discussions, create sales and removes unnecessary barriers for your customers. 

Follow-Up Process

The more you exhibit, the more refined your follow-up process should be. If it’s been a while since you reviewed your follow-up process, then now is the perfect time to remove some friction.

If your follow-up process is ambiguous, it’s highly likely you are losing sales. Having a clear plan makes the follow-up process run smoother, as it allows for the potential customer to spend more money with you, due to fewer barriers. 

Removing the friction from your exhibition booth will allow your sales to grow from your trade show appearance. It will make exhibiting well worth it and encourage future growth for your company. Exhibiting takes a lot of effort and energy, so to really capitalize on that effort, you need to ensure you’re not inadvertently driving potential customers away. 

 

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MGM Resorts is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse culture, not just among employees and guests but also within its supply chain. The company prioritizes procuring goods and services from businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, people with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals and those facing economic disadvantages. This commitment is integral to MGM Resorts' global procurement strategy.    Through its voluntary supplier diversity program, MGM Resorts actively identifies and connects certified diverse-owned suppliers to opportunities within its supply chain. The company is on track to spend at least 15% of its biddable procurement with diverse-owned businesses by 2025, demonstrating that supplier diversity is not only a social responsibility but also a strategic business imperative.    Supplier diversity isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s good for business. A diverse supply chain allows access to a broader range of perspectives and experience, helping to drive innovation, entrepreneurship and resilience, while strengthening communities. At MGM Resorts, engaging diverse suppliers ensures best-in-class experiences for guests and clients. Supplier diversity ensures a more resilient supply chain while supporting economic development in the communities in which it operates.   The impact of MGM Resorts' supplier diversity initiatives is significant. In 2023, these efforts supported over 3,500 jobs across more than 30 states, contributed over $214 million in income for diverse-owned businesses and generated more than $62 million in tax revenue. The story extends beyond the numbers – it reflects the tangible benefits brought to small and diverse-owned businesses, fostering economic empowerment in their communities.    MGM Resorts also supports the development and business skills of diverse-owned businesses through investment, mentorship and education. Through the MGM Resorts Supplier Diversity Mentorship Program, the company identifies, mentors and develops diverse-owned businesses to fill its future pipeline, while providing businesses with tools and resources to empower and uplift. Since 2017, the program has successfully graduated 105 diverse-owned businesses and is on track to achieve its goal of 150 graduates by 2025.     MGM Resorts’ commitment to supplier diversity not only enhances its business operations but also plays a crucial role in uplifting communities and fostering economic development. This approach reinforces the idea that diversity is a powerful driver of innovation and resilience, benefiting both the company and the wider community.