The story told by Michael Bekker, Business Development Director.
We are a small telecom company who never attended a trade show before.
So, our experience based on designing a trade show booth and knowing how to act as trade show staff was close to zero.
We had to start from scratch.
We quickly recognized that with the costs involved in participating at the trade show, it was important that we got maximum outcome.
We decided to get professional training outside our business.
Although it would entail additional costs to the trade show budget, we considered it worth the investment as the chance of getting qualified leads would be greater.
Through our contacts [who had good experience with the Trade Show Academy and their concepts and insights designing trade show booths, coaching and training of booth staff] we decided to contact Jakob Dyrbye, the trade show expert.
Even though our exhibition stand is quite small Jakob welcomed us with open arms and we felt that we were taken just as seriously as if we were a billion dollar company with a large stand.
We were very quickly convinced that we had made the right decision to take on Jakob and The Trade Show Academy.
Jakob asked some critical but very relevant questions that helped us not only explain our message but make overall trade show objectives that we could measure.
Overall, it dawned on us that there was a lot that we would never have considered if we hadn’t received the training and sparring that Jakob gave us during the course.
We developed and designed the stand ourselves based on the guidelines Jakob had given.
And just before the trade show, we had a follow-up meeting with Jakob where we reviewed the most important points, so that we were well trained before going on “stage”.
At the trade show, there were of course a few nerves, but at the same time we felt that we were well trained and we knew what to do and say.
It’s of course always easier said than done, which we found out as the visitors started coming.
Rule no.1-ish: Always ask the guest what challenges they have and where we think we can make a difference for them.
Never tell about how amazing our products or solutions are (when we don’t even know it is what the guest needs!)
BUT that was exactly what we did at the start.
We quickly recognized the wrong approach and after an internal evaluation, it slowly started to work.
There were several points that needed to be adjusted, but Jakob had already told us that there will be times when it goes off track.
Because we were aware of it, we were able to correct it and move on to the next visitor.
And rule no.1 is completely the right way to approach visitors 😊
The trade show went really well and we gradually gained some experience.
We could even see the mistakes that some of the other exhibition stands had. In fact, there were so many stands
where we never found out what they were actually selling …but the sweets they had tasted great …
– Michael Bekker, Business Development Director, Dedicom A/S
We made an all over evaluation of our efforts at the trade show.
Despite the beginners mistakes, we were happy to state that the show had been a success.
Especially measured by the qualified leads we brought home and where several now are great customers.
A large part of our success can be credited to our right decision to contact Jakob Dyrbye and let him do what he is really good at.
Jakob supported us from start to finish and was 110% committed throughout and provided fantastic sparring and guidance.
– Thank you for that!
“Jakob conveyed the material in an easy-to-understand, effective and professional manner. He had familiarized himself with who we are as a company and our target group.
We left with a noticeable change – new and useful knowledge, a shared understanding and alignment, and concrete tools to strengthen value creation in our trade show work. I can highly recommend.”
– Mette Skovgaard Petersen
Head of Communication and Marketing at Wicotec Kirkebjerg
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