7 TIPS ON HOW TO CREATE A
WINNING RELATIONSHIP
WITH BUYERS
By Rob Fortier
Once you decide to exhibit and start planning your booth, you’ll start to get excited about
meeting new buyers, and of course, making sales. Writing the order is the easy part. But for
some exhibitors, the act of having to sell their own products can be downright terrifying. The
exhibitors who are best at selling are the ones that understand that selling is all about creating
relationships. And the relationship you create with a potential buyer can start before they
even set foot in your booth.
To get you on the right path to creating profitable relationships, here are 7 tips to help
you make your best impression on buyers before, during and after the show.
1. Be a part of the buyer’s plan. Most buyers tend to walk a tradeshow with some sort
of game plan, whether that be targeting specific areas of the show, visiting vendors they
have pre-vetted, or just taking in as much as they can, going from aisle to aisle. Some
buyers will spend several days at the show, while others will try to cram it all into just
one day. That’s why it’s really important for you to try to get on the radar of attending
buyers before they step foot on the show floor. Be sure to use the free marketing tools
NSS provides, like the online exhibitor list and new matchmaking tool, CONNECT.
Buyers can preview your products and contact you about making an appointment to come
to your booth at the show. It’s also important for you to promote your appearance at NSS
in advance of the show. You can do this with direct mail, email, social media, press
releases, and phone calls. Buyers often go through their stores ahead of the show and
create a budget to refresh existing lines as well as bring in new ones, so do your best to
make sure you are a part the buying plan.
2. Go for visual appeal in your booth. If you’ve got a lot of great products (and you’re
exhibiting at NSS, so I know you do!), you might be tempted to show all of them off at
once. Don’t! You really want to make sure that your booth is visually appealing. You
can do that by not overcrowding walls and displays. Just as good graphic design requires
a little white space, good booth design requires a little breathing room too. You want to
make sure that your booth is well lit and is set up for good traffic flow. Buyers are out
there looking for something different, something fresh that will catch their eye. If your
Rob Fortier, Marketing Escape Artist, is a business and marketing coach that helps entrepreneurs
creates businesses they love exactly the way they want them. He can be reached at
www.RobFortier.com.
booth is visually overwhelming, a buyer might miss something that they may have liked.
There’s also a strong chance they might skip your booth entirely.
3. Handle buyers with care. Your booth is practically your home for the run of the
show. And just as you’d make company feel welcome at your real home, be sure to make
buyers feel welcome in your booth. Acknowledge them almost immediately after they
enter your booth (notice I said “acknowledge” and not “jump on”). If you and your booth
staff are already occupied and working with clients, say hello and let the buyer know that
someone will be available to help them in a few minutes. If a buyer feels ignored, they
may just decide to move on and not wait until someone is available. If you have helpers
in your booth that are not your full-time employees, be sure to train them in advance so
that they can not only take orders but answer questions about matters such as packaging,
ship dates, and pricing. Having someone in your booth who’s not knowledgeable and
can’t answer questions is frustrating for buyers.
4. Be easy to work with. If you can’t put a smile on your face or you are not excited
about your own products, how are you going to get a buyer excited about them? Buyers
want you to have good energy, so show them that you’re happy to be at the show, which
will make THEM happy to be there. Don’t start your interaction with a buyer by
complaining about how long the day is or how sore your feet are. Your interaction with a
buyer can send a signal of how you might deal with problems down the line if they
decide to buy from you. And consider some simple logistics- if they want to write an
order, is there a place they (or both of you) can sit down or do they have to stand holding
a catalog and try to flip through it? If writing the order is a difficult and awkward process,
they might not stay as long in your booth. If they are comfortable and can rest their feet
for a second, they might stay longer and will probably place a bigger order.
5. Great fulfillment makes for great relationships. Most buyers prefer all of the items
they order to ship together at the same time. If you split a shipment and the buyer has to
pay for extra shipping, that can make your product a lot more expensive as those costs
will be passed on to the consumer. Or if the buyer decides to absorb the cost, your
product may prove to be a poor investment, and you’ll stand a slim chance at a reorder.
Communication with the buyer is key. If you are waiting for something to come in that
might be out of stock, be sure to let the buyer know, and let them make the decision about
splitting a shipment. It’s also important to honor the ship date that the buyer requested. If
the buyer specifies a ship date, they don’t want it before then as they probably don’t have
room for it in the store or they might not have the money to pay for it. Be sure to include
an invoice in the box or emailed it ahead of time (and include the tracking number, if
Rob Fortier, Marketing Escape Artist, is a business and marketing coach that helps entrepreneurs
creates businesses they love exactly the way they want them. He can be reached at
www.RobFortier.com.
there is one). And for an extra touch, include a short card with a note, and perhaps a few
pieces of candy. You could mention that you’re excited to have your products in the
buyer’s store and thank them for the order. This can go a long way in making the buyer
feel more connected to you and your products.
6. Consider what happens after the show. Not everyone will take a catalog with them.
Many buyers won’t want to carry it around the show, so offer to mail it to them. Be sure
to have printed take-aways that go beyond business cards, such as line sheets (that
include pricing) or printed postcards with product shots and company information. These
items will help the buyer reconnect with your company later on- either during or after the
show. Include your booth number on every take-away item so that buyers can easily
return to your booth later if they so choose. Many buyers will go back to their hotel
rooms at night and take notes on all the vendors they saw at the show that day, so
physical takeaways are extremely important.
7. Make an impact. When displaying your products in your booth, consider how they
will look in a retail store. Buyers are in their own stores most of the time so they are not
necessarily out shopping and seeing what other stores are doing. They love getting
merchandising ideas at the show- it can be very inspiring. So put together displays that
help buyers visualize how they can best sell your products. If you are debuting products
that are new to your line, resist the urge to just make one or two designs of something
(like a mug or scarf), which won’t make much of a visual impression on a store shelf.
Remember that buyers are there to buy, and they want you to have a successful show. So
be friendly, have confidence, and ask for the sale.
Rob Fortier, Marketing Escape Artist, is a business and marketing coach that helps entrepreneurs
creates businesses they love exactly the way they want them. He can be reached at
www.RobFortier.com.