Trade Shows Require Strategy

RCS Influencer Rudy Gutierrez says that it is important to meet with your team and discuss a strategy for a successful trade show.

Without proper planning you risk making the mistake of attending a trade show and missing out on opportunities for quality visits with exhibitors and or attending presentations that are important to your company’s success.

Our team certainly is not perfect in this regard. We have learned throughout the years that we spend a lot of time bouncing back and forth without good direction. However, over the last several years, we have been diligent about discussing an upcoming trade show, meetings and presentations.

Set up a meeting with your team to review the trade show website and educational session schedules. Don’t all go to the same sessions but split up and take notes while you are there so you can share what you learned later with the team. At Shell Roofing Solutions, we map out a team strategy for every day and an individual strategy for each day.

During our preshow meeting, we review the exhibitor listings to see who is there and come up with a list of who we want to visit. We are always keeping in mind that the priority is to review new products, systems, learn from industry professionals and most important, solidify or reestablish relationships in the roofing industry.

Following the show, you want to set up a post-event meeting. This is where you can share with your team what your key takeaways were from the educational sessions that you attended. It’s also a good opportunity to review product information and literature that you collected as you visited with exhibitors on the show floor.

A well-developed strategy will make the trade show experience a fruitful and successful experience.

Rudy Gutierrez is president and CEO of Shell Roofing Solutions. See his full bio here.