A REAL fitness professional thinks about business and personal development opportunities.
Most personal trainers I know plan their trade show trips months in advance and for a variety reasons:
- Continued Education Courses
- Reuniting with friends that you only see at trade shows
- Industry information
- Free stuff
- Try new things
- Wear workout clothes and not workout
- Networking
What I want to talk about today and the only reason to go to these things is NETWORKING. Besides all the fluff and the pissing competitions going on; networking should be at the top of EVERY personal trainer and fitness professionals agenda whenever they plan on hitting a trade show.
How To Network Like A Rock star!
You're going to need to be prepared and I've compiled a list of MUST HAVES for the next time you're planning on hitting a trade show...no matter how large or small it is.
- Your strategy; what do you want to come away with?
- Current Business Cards
- Notepad and Pen for notes about meetings
- Walking Billboard (your OWN business), or appropriate for whatever business you're representing
- Hygiene!
- Your Unique Selling Point (USP). Have a one sentence spiel memorized!
- Camera
- Phone and professional voicemail set up
- Suitable bag for carrying and organising paperwork and business cards (yours and the ones you collect) so that they don't get damaged or lost
- A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
- Open to GIVE more than you plan on TAKING from the trade show
Most people from what I noticed were only concerned with getting as much free crap that they could handle and as a side note; carrying 12 kilos of vendor promotional bags and paraphernalia is not a good look when walking into a business meeting.
What to do after the trade show:
What you do after the trade show is just as if not more important that what you do at the thing. Pending your organisational skills, you should be sending thank you notes to people and organisations that you spoke to and making calls to EVERY connection that you made.
This is a warm call, so there should be nothing to be scared of. Get your name out there, I guarantee you will be one of the few that actually does follow up...
Trade shows are so much more than just an opportunity to bleach your hair and buy $4.00 waters, they're the perfect opportunity to develop your brand and change lives.
Bring on next year!
Ben
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI was at Filex on Friday, wish I'd known you were going to be there, we could have met up. Next time.
Lara
e-assistant services
I was at the expo on Sunday meeting up with a few people. Would have been good to meet up with you!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips, Ben! I've been participating in trade shows for years and one other important consideration is your booth design. It's key for attracting traffic. If anyone needs a good source, I've used Northwest Creative Imaging for my pop up displays and highly recommend. Good luck to everyone for a successful show!
ReplyDeleteHey guys; thank you for the comments!
ReplyDelete@Lara Yes I was there all 3 days, pretty sure I tweeted it, but was super busy. What did you think of FILEX?
@Kaz I saw some of your pics actually...after the event mind you. It seems I should have made more of an announcement. I didn't really see much on the net of people who were going (more importantly, people that I would really enjoy catching up with), definitely next time :)
@Diane Thank you so much and you're right, 100%! Consumers notice the smallest things and if a booth can scream the POD, the USP and any other abbreviation you care to think of in a clear and simple way then watch out competitors!