Are Tradeshows still relevant?

StringGirl as a Tradeshow booth babe

Sitting in the Convention Center blogging--I guess that is part of the answer to the question of relevancy. My brother-in-law asked me if the show is worth it; and unfortunately I did not have a clear answer. Certainly if we did not attend at least one show in the sales region we would probably wonder if we have missed anything or anyone important. But I can't say that definitively. In the past 5 years I think I can only track back 4-5 definitive sales contacts that were started with the trade show.

However, I can also say that the tradeshow did allow us to make deeper contact with some people who were already engaged in the sales cycle. Maybe the show did offer a chance to quicken that pace or increase the overall turnover from that sale.

Time spent with customers, and gauging the reaction of prospects and non-prospects together is very valuable, practicing the shtick and the 30 second pitch is definitely a self improvement bonus I get from being at the show.

Go to the shows, don't be heart broken if you don't leave with a set of A quality leads, but don't let the boat sail by either without sharpening your saw on the pitch and freshen up on your selling to the non-believers.