How to sell a franchise at an exhibition
An article about how to effectively sell a franchise at an exhibition.
Exhibitions are one of the franchise sales channels. There are a number of worthy exhibitions in which it makes sense to participate and present your franchise to a wide audience. Along with franchise sales, there are a lot of industries and areas where exhibitions are almost the main sales channel. By learning how to sell at an exhibition, you can significantly expand your sales by adding a new channel.
When preparing for an exhibition, take the time to carefully select and analyze the location where your stand will be located. Try to predict where the main route for exhibition visitors will be. You need to occupy a visible and walkable place.
Your company’s participation in the exhibition is a reason to invite all your existing clients and recruit new ones. Notify them, specifying the time and place in detail, and perhaps sending an invitation.
When preparing for an exhibition, take the time to carefully select and analyze the location where your stand will be located. Try to predict where the main route for exhibition visitors will be. You need to occupy a visible and walkable place.
Your company’s participation in the exhibition is a reason to invite all your existing clients and recruit new ones. Notify them, specifying the time and place in detail, and perhaps sending an invitation.
Performance at the "Franchise Festival 2018"
Video of Denis Estigneev’s speech at the “Franchise Festival 2018”. Topic: how to package your franchise. Real cases and tricks.
Each manager must have a plan for the number of sales as a result of the exhibition. Do you need to somehow recoup the budget for participation in the exhibition?
What handouts are best prepared for participation in the exhibition? The answer to this question largely depends on the industry of your business. Materials should be pleasing to the eye, informative, and it should be a shame to throw them away. Handouts must contain contact information so that you can calculate the conversion of requests from the total number of materials distributed. There is no point in handing out your brochures to everyone.
11 rules for selling at an exhibition
Memo to an employee who does not want to waste an exhibition
1. Talk to everyone you can.
Everyone at the exhibition is guests. Exhibitors are the hosts of this exhibition. Show hospitality and interact with everyone. This is an industry exhibition: there are no extra people here.
2. This exhibition can feed you all year long
Indeed, there are exhibitions that generate all the largest and most important deals in the industry. The only question is whether you or your competitors will sign them.
3. Make eye contact with everyone passing by.
The beginning of any communication is visual contact. Without it, the visitor will not see your interest in him and will not start a conversation with you.
4. Say hello to everyone you see.
This is a logical extension of visual contact. Well, I repeat: there are no extra people here. You need to communicate with everyone, you can greet everyone, it’s polite.
5. Be an interesting and open person
It's not interesting to communicate with a robot. Be lively and interesting.
6. You need support
There should be at least two employees near the stand in case you are busy. The flow of people at the exhibition comes in “waves”. If you are already busy with a visitor, someone should back you up.
7. Collect as many contacts as you can
Contacts are the result of your work.
Without them, everything makes no sense.
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8. Don't spend a lot of time on each contact.
With rare exceptions, no deals are concluded at the exhibition, but only first contact and initial negotiations. Therefore, it is more effective to work on quantity.
9. After the exhibition, contact everyone
It is impossible to predict in advance which contact will fire.
Chat with everyone.
10. Mind your own business
Be 100% focused on communicating with visitors.
No one will approach a bored employee.
11. Treat visitors
Treat visitors to your stand with your product, if possible. Don't be greedy!
Main mistakes when selling at an exhibition:
- Managers “count crows” and wait for someone to come up to them and forcefully buy from them.
- The manager is embarrassed to take contacts, and at the end of the day he has zero assets.
- Managers “count crows” and wait for someone to come up to them and forcefully buy from them.
- The manager is embarrassed to take contacts, and at the end of the day he has zero assets.
- Managers are not motivated to make sales and simply wait for the end of the exhibition.
- Closed and uncommunicative people were selected to participate in the exhibition.
One way or another, the result of a day of work at the exhibition should be 50-200 collected contacts. According to your sales funnel, you should expect meetings, deals, and sales. Any deviation from these results is a reason to reconsider your sales tactics at the exhibition.