But I’m Not on an Elevator!?

By: Paul Pabian

Here is the scene: Staff is in the booth, give-a-way items ready, brochures and other collateral ready, banner is up, big screen TV is on and the slide deck is rolling! The doors open and here come all the show attendees, goodie bags in hand and anxious to get their hands on the first key ring they can or to spin the wheel and get a prize or to drop their card or get it scanned for the drawing for the latest iPad.
Wow, what excitement!

In reality, the oncoming meeting attendees really represent a host of prospects that MIGHT consume our product or service, but the question is how do we spend effective time with the people that stop at our exhibit and quickly cull out the prospects from the goodie gatherers.
Therefore, is it important to have the staff in the exhibit trained on an effective “elevator pitch”. What can we say in a few seconds that will encourage the after-meeting engagement where we can go into more detail about who we are and what we do?
So, what is an effective “elevator pitch”? I have seen people explain their product or service with all the technology and science behind it and have watched passing attendees move quickly along to gather their booth give-a-way and that pretty much ends the engagement. The attendee wasn’t really a prospect and the staff in the booth may have spent time talking to the wrong person and got little or no information.
Those precious few seconds spent with the show attendee would be get a more meaningful return with a short comment about the problem our solution brings and a couple of quick questions to establish value of the engagement. If the booth staff senses that this is a legitimate prospect, then gathering data for a post-show presentation would be the best move.
The ROI of trade show engagement does not necessarily take place at the show, but the name awareness and the first impression of the exhibitor staff might have an impact on a buying decision later, post show.
At Fotoshout, our unique experience gathers meaningful data that assists in long term brand awareness and lengthens the time for engagement, while in the booth, to give a meaningful elevator pitch and an opportunity to ask a few key qualifying questions that help determine whether further follow up is necessary.

Paul Pabian