Any good salesman and marketing professional knows that you are only as strong as your network. These are roles in a company that centralize around personality, being detailed and memorable. When doing your pre-show planning before a promotional event, your team will want to review their local contacts and prospects.
It can make the crucial difference in how successful your brand is by taking some time to perform marketing outreach and picking up the phone to schedule valuable meetings. Choose your booth team wisely, they are your brand ambassadors on the trade show floor and should be natural networkers.
Check out the article at EventsInAmerica.com to learn more.
Now let’s talk event networking
I am a serial networker and I am guessing you have heard this before from many others, but in my case, it is absolutely true.
Networking has been a staple of business development since the dawn of time and it has been covered extensively in a good number of articles, blog posts and talk shows. Many of us have different approaches when it comes to expanding our web – be it for business or personal use. There’s a myriad of choices on how to approach networking; no wonder there’s a new blog post or web article published about it in what seems like a daily basis!
Recently, I was at a regular networking event when I started to think about all the different approaches we make to widen our reach. I considered how much value I place on the ability to network. Networking events are key socially and professionally – after all, it is okay to have friends in our business!
Everyone has ideas on what to do after a networking event but what should you do when you are actually there? When I hit up a networking event, I have a few basic rules:
• Treat the event as you would any work-related conversation. You should not walk into a networking event without doing some research on who is your host and who the other guests are.
• Keep in mind that just because people are there for the social component of the day (especially true for those of us who work from home), that does not mean you should be unprepared to talk shop. Have your elevator pitch ready for the one or two times that you’ll need it!
• Show up alone, but if you already know people in the event, make an effort to meet someone new within the first few minutes of being there. Nobody likes to be outside his or her own comfort zone – that is why it is called the comfort zone – however, that is not why you went out tonight! Spending the entire evening with the few people you have met before is called hanging out with friends. You didn’t need to put on your best REI khakis and closed-toed shoes for that!
• Most importantly, have fun! Networking is part of our job. Whether you are a vendor or show organizer, everyone at the event has an agenda so simply set that fact aside and walk away happy.
Networking is the ultimate long game – it takes time to cultivate a relationship and heading to these events is only buying the seed, not even planting it yet! Practice the tips above and watch your networking skills improve.
What do you think? How important is leveraging your personal network when planning to attend a trade show or other promotional event between brands?
We love talking about the best trade show booth designs and accessories that will help you network and generate leads better. Check out our storefront to browse our Tables that charge your visitor’s mobile devices to to iPad-ready presentation podiums that put lead tracking right at your fingertips, we have the options to empower your success.
Have questions for us? We love talking about trade show design and recommending you the best booth solutions for your company’s budget – big or small. Give us a call – the Monster Displays team can be reached at Sales@MonsterDisplays.com or call (888) 484-3344, we’d love to put our experience to work for you.
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