Where Did You Go Wrong?

We never think about where we went wrong until it’s too late. The trick to really learning from mistakes is to always ask yourself, “where did I go wrong?” Even if you just attended the best tradeshow of your life, you still have to pinpoint those things that could have gone better. Why? Because you can make your next event even stronger than the last one. Here’s how to figure out where you went wrong.

1. Did you get a lot of leads? Did you come home with a long list of leads to contact? No? That’s where you went wrong. Think about your display, and what you could do better next time to ensure that you get plenty of leads.

2. Did you sell any products or services? This one is tough because most companies won’t sell anything at an actual show; the selling comes after the show. But, you can still aim to sell something next time.

3. Did your trade show booth stand up or hold up? If you had booth problems during the last show, you need to fix those as soon as you can. Nothing looks less professional than a booth that just doesn’t stand up.

4. Did your employees enjoy the show? Sure, you want your employees to sell during a show, but you want them to have fun too. It is possible to make sure that your staff enjoys the show by allowing them to take breaks and have fun with games and such. Ask your staff what could have gone better last time.

5. Did your trade show booth stand out? If you didn’t get any visitors (or very few), there’s a problem. The whole point of a show is to stand out, attract new business, and show people that haven’t seen your product or service what you are all about. If your mark was off where your booth is concerned, it’s time to consider a new one.

6. Did you get marketing materials into hands? While we don’t think that your whole presence at a show should revolve around marketing materials (interactive displays are great too), it’s nice to send people home with a reminder of your company or who you are. You can do this by handing out materials, or by handing out promotional items with your logo and phone number. Either way, make sure to send people home with something.

7. Did you enjoy the show? Why pay money to attend a show when you hate every minute of it? If you didn’t’ enjoy any aspect of the show or it was too complicated (not set up properly), maybe you need to look for a different show next time.

8. Did you get your money’s worth? If the event organizers did a really poor job marketing the show you just attended, you may not have had the chance to pitch to too many people. It’s best to find out how marketing will be done prior to an event, but you can see how well an event was marketed by how many people attended. Sometimes, events aren’t worth your time or money.

Getting Your Display Right

While you can’t control certain aspects of a tradeshow (like the marketing), you can always strive to improve your performance at a show by taking note of the things listed above. If your trade show booth or display was part of the problem, you can fix that quickly by contacting Blazer today. We offer completely customized booth displays worked and designed by our professional design team. We’ll sit down with you, go over what you want to see, and create a display that really rocks the house.

The rest is up to you, but we’ll make sure that your booth is up to par! Come in and see the work that we do, check out some of the samples on our site, or call us to hear more about our new, used, and rental displays. And, remember, you can always make your next show better by looking back at what wasn’t perfect last time!