Starting Conversations At Tradeshows

To all my friends out there who are about to go to Vive or any of the other trade shows or conferences in this season, here is your friendly tip on how to get the most out of selling there:

The number one reason people don't start sales conversations is because they don't know how to start sales conversations. They get all tied up inside—They second guess themselves, and then they never go up and talk to that lead.

So the best way that we can overcome that and make the most out of everybody at that show is by knowing exactly what we're going to say to everybody before we walk up to them.

We get up there, we say our line, and then we're off into a conversation.

So the tip here is, think of the opening question that you're going to ask every single person.

It's the same question every time.

For example, if I sell 3D printers to schools, my opening question at the entire conference might be "Tell me about your technology program."

This is so broad, it could go any direction. If somebody says, "We don't really have one," then I know there's probably not an opportunity to sell them a printer today.

But if they start telling me about how they've won all kinds of awards and it's a great program, I can naturally follow up by saying, "How does 3D printing fit into that?"

We're here to have fun. We're normal people.

We're not here to convince or cajole or walk up to somebody and be like, "Let me pitch you my product!!"

We just want to figure out how we can have a nice conversation that's also intentional and taking us somewhere where we want to go.

So think about this question.

Memorize it.

And as you're at the show, just ask every single person the same thing. All of that anxiety will go away, and you'll have so many great conversations.

Don't forget rule number one of any trade show and conference: Have fun!