Going for Gold: Quick Tips for Sales Prospecting at Conferences and Trade Shows

In our experience attending hundreds of events throughout our careers, we’ve seen plenty of clever, innovative sales tactics. We’ve also seen a lot of precious time wasted on distractions. If you’re looking to profit from a conference or trade show, optimize your time with these sales prospecting tips.

1. Get Ready for Where’s Waldo: Trade Show Edition

On the trade show floor, your target personas come alive. Your marketing team likely put a lot of time into refining those target personas, so use them to identify your prospects in real life. Before the event, whip them out and memorize things like what your target buyer looks like, how they behave, and where they are most likely hanging out. The more you have, the easier it will be to identify prospects by a quick glance (instead of that awkward “I’m trying to look at your badge but don’t want you to know I’m looking at your badge” song and dance we all play on the floor).

2. Cover Your Ground

Once at the trade show, get familiar with the landscape. Make sure every team member is given the chance to walk the trade show floor on the first day. Then, encourage everyone to share their findings: what competitors are doing, where your prospect’s booths are located, the swag, etc. This will help everyone get a feel for other attending companies, make some pre-event connections, and drive some supplementary booth traffic if done strategically.

3. Qualify, Qualify, Qualify

Time is limited, so use yours strategically. Whether you’re at the booth, the Starbucks next to the conference center, or an after party dancing to some outdated hip-hop song, make purposeful conversation with your prospects.

If the conversation veers into time-wasting territory, divert or ditch out of there. That doesn’t mean you need to be aggressive and start hammering questions at every single person, but you should look to understand the value of the potential conversation sooner rather than later. Try a gentle conversation starter:

• Is anyone from your team speaking? If yes, you know they’re really invested in the theme of the conference. You can begin digging into the topic of the session. If no then ask a follow up: Do you know any of the speakers or anyone hosting anything?
• How many team members are here with you? This shows the approximate size of their company.
• Which speaker are you most looking forward to hearing? This allows you to find out who they know, their professional interest, and how prepared they are for the conference

While someone might be a really great person that you really connect with, you have to remember that you’re here for business at the end of the day. Focus on fostering the conversations and connections that drive revenue opportunity.

4. Fix Your Pitch

Dust off that elevator pitch and take it for a few spins around the block, literally. Take a walk around the venue and practice your elevator pitch with a few booths that aren’t your prospects to warm yourself up. Like pancakes, the first few rounds are always a little messy, so get those out of the way first.

If you’re looking for a little extra coaching for your pitch, our CEO, John Corrigan, recently published “Does Your Sales Pitch Suck? Here’s How To Fix It (Advice From A CEO)” on Sales Hacker.

As John said in a LinkedIn update recently, “TBH, when we first started SummitSync our sales pitch sucked. And it sucked again when we pivoted last year. But, thanks to listening, practicing, and honing it over the last few months, I’m gaining confidence…”

5. Get Your Head In The Prospecting Game

Whether you’re listening strategically for keywords in a conversation or scanning the trade show floor for target personas, sharpening your focus makes for a more successful trade show. Remember, your time at a conference is precious so use it wisely. Prepare for the conference like you would a final exam. Then find your flow state, get in the zone, or put your blinders on and get ready to crush your next conference or trade show.

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