This was my first visit to the IWF International Woodworking Fair. The show seemed to be well attended but many exhibitors faced the ongoing problem with trade shows, they had no traffic in their booth.
I look at many of these exhibits and wonder, “What were they thinking? This is a big expense, couldn’t they find a more effective use for their marketing dollars?”
I don’t know how they measure their performance or ROI from this trade show, but Hafele gets my vote for the best performing exhibit at the show.
Hafele had a larger exhibit with a number of different product areas. They were always busy with their salespeople engaging a steady stream of customers.
Here Are Two Exhibits That Didn’t Do As Well.
Ex-NFL Stars Attracted More Interest Than NASCAR
Columbia Forest Products Attracted a Lot of Attention With a New Product
There’s Nothing Like a Great Demo to Help You Sell
Winbag Inflatable Shim Crushed It While No One Cared About The Tool You Must See
More Deserted Booths
And Back to Hafele Doing It Right
What can you learn from Hafele about how to be more successful at your next trade show? Everything they did was about the customer. The impression they left was, “If you want to be successful, you should take a look at Hafele.”
Most exhibitors at building materials trade shows, don’t give the customer a very compelling reason to visit their booth. It’s more like, “We have some stuff. Do you want to buy some?”
My recommendation is that you either do a better job, like Hafele or stop wasting your money at trade shows.
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