The big day is here: your booth is ready, your team is trained, and yourproduct shines. But without pre-scheduled meetings, you risk blending into thecrowd. Don’t leave it to chance!
Your booth looks impressive, your product is professionally displayed, you've promoted it on social media,
and even trained your team on what to say...
But if you haven’t scheduled enough meetings in advance, you risk becoming just oneof the hundreds (or even thousands) of exhibitors at the event.
Thechances of a potential client- busy with a packed, pre-planned schedulespontaneously visiting your booth are quite small.
Thepreparation for an exhibition starts long before the event itself!
Here aresome key steps we recommend to our clients well ahead of time:
1. Announce your participation
Updateyour email signature, add a banner to your website,
and use every other channelwhere clients engage with you.
This can spark conversations and encourage people to arrange meetings with you inadvance.
2.Prepare your LinkedIn strategy (and start early!)
You’ll likely promote the exhibition on LinkedIn, but the groundwork should begin muchearlier.
- Optimizeyour personal and company profiles: Ensure that any potential client who visitsyour profile sees relevant, engaging information.
- Researchand build a database: Identify relevant contacts and invite them to connectwith you.
- By the time you start promoting the exhibition, they should already be part ofyour network.
3. Build a database for scheduling meetings
Beyond the LinkedIn, it’s crucial to create a dedicated list of potential clients:
- Defineyour target audience: What types of companies and roles are you interested in?
- Conductmarket research: Identify key individuals and add them to your database (and,if possible, ensure they’re also connected to you on LinkedIn).
- Reachout early: Start contacting potential clients 2–3 months before the exhibitionto propose a short meeting at your booth.
- Crafta precise outreach script: Develop a message that introduces your business andclearly explains why it’s worth their time to meet you at the exhibition.
- Setclear goals: Define the number of pre-scheduled meetings for eachrepresentative, for each day of the event.
If you build the foundation correctly and well in advance,
the next steps willbecome easier, and the path to an exhibition filled with successful and focusedmeetings will be much smoother.
In our next article, we will discuss what you should focus on during and after theexhibition to fully leverage its potential.
Good luck with the base building! :)