Buying magnet at trade shows

"The turnout in Surabaya was not as good as that in Jakarta," Shirley reported upon her return from TTC.

I've attended trade shows where sellers outnumbered buyers and it's a depressing sight. But worse, I've seen sellers swamped with inquiries from buyers who had no need, no budget and no buying authority, while the real prospects walked right by.

I have learnt to turn my booth/stand into a magnet for qualified prospects with buying power before the show opens. I use a combination of these influences: obligation, habit, personal invitation, recommendation.

Allow me to qualify this: many companies use traffic and activity as their measure of success and do everything they can to make sure they have lots of traffic in their booths. Lots of traffic doesn't mean the show is a success, and light traffic doesn't mean it's a failure. I'd rather have 10 people who walk to my booth and place bookings instead of 100 who only want brochures.

from right: David, Shirley, Francis (seated), Ernie