Trade fairs – nothing except expenses?
Trade fair appearances are complex for companies. In addition to the pure exit costs for participation, the exhibition stand and external stand personnel, the own personnel costs for the preparation, implementation and follow-up are a particular cost item. So, if companies are going to exhibit at trade fairs despite this great effort, it must be worthwhile. . But when are a company’s trade fair activities worthwhile?
Complex target bundle of a trade fair appearance
Whenever the expectations and objectives associated with the trade fair appearance are fulfilled as much as possible. The adjacent graphic shows an overview of the most important trade fair objectives with selected partial dimensions. In companies, these goals and sub-dimensions are often neither explicitly conscious, nor operationalized and fixed in writing. To make matters worse, individual departments often prioritize and pursue different sub-goals.
Resolve conflicting goals in advance
To avoid frictional losses during the trade fair, it is therefore important to identify and resolve potential conflicting goals between employees at the trade fair stand in order to guarantee an efficient use of resources. With the objective view of a consultant, CUSTOR therefore supports companies in preparing for the trade fair in target setting, formulation of goals and concrete operationalizing of these targets.
Trade fair activities with added value
At a trade fair, the following applies particularly: “There is no second chance for a first impression.” Errors that are made there while contacting stakeholders can hardly be made up for, or not at all. And since most trade fairs only take place once a year or even every second year, the chance of benefiting from a certain learning curve are unfortunately also very small. It is therefore necessary to familiarize all employees representing the company at the trade fair with their tasks beforehand and – where necessary – to coach them. Furthermore, experienced companies use their participation in the fair to conduct their own trade fair market research. Thus they make the most out of their trade fair activities and generate real added value for their companies.
After the fair is before the fair
A consequent follow-up of leads generated at the fair often does not take place, since in many companies it is necessary to quickly switch back to day-to-day business after the fair. In the end, due to the lack of clear target formulation and appropriate measurement, no one can justify whether the trade fair appearance was successful – the gut feeling of the management is the deciding factor in the evaluation and consequently in the continuation of the company’s trade fair activities. And often the findings and ideas for improvements are left behind in day-to-day business accumulated during the fair.
Successful with CUSTOR's Trade Fair Consulting
It all sounds familiar to you and you want to change it in the future? CUSTOR supports you in making your trade fair appearance more successful, from preparation to implementation and post-processing.
