Shownotes
How To Attend Trade Shows To Get Wholesale Accounts
Here's what you'll learn in this episode ...- The biggest mistakes small businesses make around trade shows
- One crucial goal you must track when attending a trade show
- The key to knowing what people need and what they’re looking for
- How to make connections that actually help you land new wholesale accounts
- What to do to make attending trade shows a positive and successful experience
- How to choose the right shows for your business
- The importance of pricing for wholesale vs. direct-to-consumer
- And lots more!
Listen to this positive and upbeat conversation to learn how to attend trade shows and get wholesale accounts for your handmade products!
Resources Mentioned
- Ep 399 - Is Wholesale The Right Sales Strategy For Your Handmade Products?
- GBU Episode Topics Directory
- Merchandise Shop
Jim's Contact Links
Website | Instagram | LinkedInJoin Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
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This is Gift Biz Unwrapped Guest,
Speaker:episode number 400.
Speaker:Wow. There's something here that is just so amazing.
Speaker:And then I just got to learn more and more about
Speaker:trade shows and what made them so magical.
Speaker:Attention. Gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers,
Speaker:pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is Gift Biz Unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host Gift Biz gal Sue Moon Height.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue and I'm so happy that you've joined me today.
Speaker:Smack in the middle of what I know to be a
Speaker:super busy holiday selling season.
Speaker:Before we dive into the topic of the show,
Speaker:I wanna make sure you're aware of a resource that I
Speaker:have for you.
Speaker:You'll find this particularly helpful if you have to delay your
Speaker:listening during seasons like this.
Speaker:In these past seven years,
Speaker:we've covered a lot of ground.
Speaker:How to start and grow your business.
Speaker:Stories from many of you who have done just that.
Speaker:How to choose and use social media sites,
Speaker:build your website.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:there is so much information here for you,
Speaker:but not necessarily easily at your fingertips.
Speaker:So I've created a tool for you that categorizes by topic
Speaker:the episodes of this podcast,
Speaker:but only the ones that stay relevant over time.
Speaker:Because yes,
Speaker:there are some from past years that just don't make sense
Speaker:for us anymore.
Speaker:Today the world is changing so fast,
Speaker:right? You can use this tool to zero in on whatever
Speaker:topic you need at the moment.
Speaker:Do you wanna hear from others in your industry specifically?
Speaker:How about details on Pinterest or setting up an email strategy?
Speaker:You can now easily find the right episodes and create your
Speaker:own priority listening roster.
Speaker:Consider this your Gift Biz resource center at a glance.
Speaker:It's a Google Sheet best viewable by your computer versus your
Speaker:phone. Make sure to look on the bottom where there are
Speaker:five separate sections for easy topic reference.
Speaker:Kind of like chapters of a book.
Speaker:I've never seen another podcast do this and I wish they
Speaker:would. It makes finding the shows that you need based on
Speaker:what you're working on right now,
Speaker:so much easier.
Speaker:To access this free resource,
Speaker:go to gift biz unwrapped.com/topics.
Speaker:Today. You've landed on part two of a back-to-back series I
Speaker:have on wholesale.
Speaker:If you missed last week's show,
Speaker:definitely go back and take a listen.
Speaker:It's not necessary to hear that one first,
Speaker:but these two episodes together will strengthen your understanding of different
Speaker:facets of wholesale and help you determine if it's something that
Speaker:you should go after this coming year.
Speaker:Perhaps you've already gotten started and have your products in several
Speaker:local boutiques.
Speaker:That's amazing and a huge congrats to you based on your
Speaker:product or company vision.
Speaker:Local and regional retail shops may be how you'd like to
Speaker:continue, or depending on your product,
Speaker:you might want to find bigger wholesale opportunities.
Speaker:Either way,
Speaker:exhibiting at a trade show brings you face-to-face with buyers who
Speaker:are looking for new brands to include in their stores.
Speaker:But what's involved and how does it all work specifically with
Speaker:trade shows today I am so excited to share with you
Speaker:a conversation with Jim Cermack.
Speaker:Jim is a trade show trainer and consultant who helps businesses
Speaker:make more money at their shows and events.
Speaker:He's also the host of the Trade Show University podcast where
Speaker:he and expert guests help exhibitors and show planners get better
Speaker:results. Jim understands that the investment of money,
Speaker:time, and resources is huge and we need to make these
Speaker:shows work.
Speaker:Jim, welcome to the Gift Biz Unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Sue, thank you so much.
Speaker:This is awesome.
Speaker:I am so excited to be here.
Speaker:Oh, me too.
Speaker:And I know this conversation is gonna be so helpful and
Speaker:so interesting.
Speaker:I'm quite sure I will learn a thing or two even
Speaker:though I've exhibited at shows for years.
Speaker:Yeah. You know,
Speaker:we never stop learning,
Speaker:right? Absolutely.
Speaker:I've just worked a show recently and there's definitely things that
Speaker:I, I came back with.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:we gotta do that different next time.
Speaker:Ooh, okay.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about those.
Speaker:Maybe before we dive into all of that though,
Speaker:I have a traditional question for you,
Speaker:and this is something I started so long ago.
Speaker:It helps us know you in a way that's more creative
Speaker:and that is having you describe yourself by way of a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to think of a candle that really
Speaker:resonates with you,
Speaker:that would be the perfect match,
Speaker:what would it be like with a color and a quote
Speaker:or a saying?
Speaker:Okay, so the color would be like when you slice open
Speaker:a pineapple,
Speaker:that yellow color in the middle,
Speaker:that's what it would be.
Speaker:And the scent would be that tropical,
Speaker:fruity pineapple mango papaya,
Speaker:maybe with a hint of ocean breeze thrown in there,
Speaker:but something tropical because that is my relaxation,
Speaker:my motivation place whenever I need to get inspired,
Speaker:I think of that.
Speaker:I love the beach,
Speaker:I love anything tropical.
Speaker:So, and every Friday is tropical Friday at my house.
Speaker:We play steel drum music all day long,
Speaker:so it's awesome.
Speaker:No way.
Speaker:Where are you in the World?
Speaker:I am in Cleveland,
Speaker:Ohio. So very not tropical.
Speaker:Oh wait a minute.
Speaker:Very not Tropical mismatch.
Speaker:Well that's why I do it.
Speaker:I do it to escape a little bit and when the
Speaker:weather is absolute garbage outside like it is during the winter,
Speaker:usually I just put that on.
Speaker:If someone walks into my office and I'm not playing steel
Speaker:drum, they're like,
Speaker:what's going on?
Speaker:What's the matter?
Speaker:What's happening?
Speaker:It just becomes a Friday tradition.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:they always say like when you start to meditate or they
Speaker:say before you start journaling or things like that,
Speaker:is put yourself in that special place that you create just
Speaker:for yourself,
Speaker:even if you aren't physically living there.
Speaker:Yeah, right.
Speaker:To put yourself in that mindset and envision yourself in that
Speaker:space. And that's,
Speaker:this is yours.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:This is my space.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Yeah. Alright,
Speaker:well I'm ready to be there with you cuz I love
Speaker:the idea of tropical and all of that too.
Speaker:Yeah. So,
Speaker:ugh. Perfect.
Speaker:So good.
Speaker:And just for everyone who's listening here,
Speaker:we are also videoing cuz I find it's easier to interact
Speaker:with guests when we are able to see each other.
Speaker:And both Jim and I are in like tropical ish orange
Speaker:today. Yes.
Speaker:We must have planned this on purpose,
Speaker:I'm not sure.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:I love her too.
Speaker:So share with us how you got into trade shows and
Speaker:where that interest came from and a little bit of your
Speaker:past. Yeah.
Speaker:For someone to have an unhealthy relationship with trade shows like
Speaker:I do,
Speaker:or an obsession I should say.
Speaker:It started way back,
Speaker:one of my first jobs outta college.
Speaker:I worked for Fanny Farmer Candy Company.
Speaker:Anyone who remembers Fanny Farmer Candy,
Speaker:I was an iconic brand way back in the day and
Speaker:I was in the product development and marketing department and I
Speaker:was told by my boss,
Speaker:Hey, we're going to the candy show in Philadelphia.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:okay, great.
Speaker:I had no idea what the candy show was.
Speaker:All I knew was I got to travel,
Speaker:which was pretty cool.
Speaker:And there was no internet back then.
Speaker:So that was back in the early nineties,
Speaker:like 1990 or 91 I think it was actually.
Speaker:So I couldn't go on the internet and find out what
Speaker:is this thing that I'm going to,
Speaker:had no idea.
Speaker:So I went along for the ride,
Speaker:I got there and I was absolutely blown away and it
Speaker:was this massive,
Speaker:I don't know how big it was,
Speaker:but one of those massive trade shows with candy vendor after
Speaker:candy vendor and then everything that went around it.
Speaker:So there was people in the gift BA business,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they were putting together candy baskets and boxes and all sorts
Speaker:of things.
Speaker:And being a marketing guy,
Speaker:I was just enamored with the sites,
Speaker:the packaging,
Speaker:the colors,
Speaker:and then obviously people handing me samples nonstop all day was
Speaker:not a bad thing either.
Speaker:So I just fell in love with the entire experience and
Speaker:then fast forward a couple years and I switched companies,
Speaker:I made that natural jump from candy to over the road
Speaker:trucking. Oh,
Speaker:very natural Jim.
Speaker:Yes, very natural.
Speaker:And so I was told,
Speaker:hey, we're going to this trucking expo and I'm thinking,
Speaker:ugh, this is just going to be dreadful compared to candy.
Speaker:I got there and it was the same energy,
Speaker:it was the same kind of environment,
Speaker:it was completely different industry,
Speaker:but I had all these people that wanted to talk and
Speaker:they were excited about their companies,
Speaker:excited about the services and the products and all of a
Speaker:sudden I'm like,
Speaker:wow, there's something here that is just so amazing.
Speaker:And then I just got to learn more and more about
Speaker:trade shows and what made them so magical.
Speaker:But I just fell in love with them there.
Speaker:And I've since then have planned or worked at hundreds of
Speaker:trade shows of all shapes and sizes from little small community
Speaker:exposed to multinational shows and there's an overlapping success pattern for
Speaker:all of them.
Speaker:So whether you're working a big show or a small show,
Speaker:the same elements of success are present,
Speaker:which I have found is just so it enabled me to
Speaker:be able to help others.
Speaker:So that's what I've been doing for this past 30 plus
Speaker:years of this experience and I just wanna share.
Speaker:And so that's why I started the podcast cuz I go
Speaker:to shows and I see companies that they are doing things
Speaker:wrong, they're leaving money on the table,
Speaker:they're not doing themselves a service and they're not doing their
Speaker:audience a service either by doing things incorrectly.
Speaker:And so that's why I started the podcast to really help.
Speaker:I wanna give and I,
Speaker:I want to help people get better and help businesses get
Speaker:more out of their investment.
Speaker:So there's a long-winded answer to my background and why I
Speaker:love shows.
Speaker:It's perfect.
Speaker:And you're leading me right into my first question so you
Speaker:couldn't have planned it better.
Speaker:But I do want to frame the conversation for everyone who's
Speaker:listening here.
Speaker:So what we're really gonna be talking about today,
Speaker:cuz we talk about shows a lot here,
Speaker:Jim on the podcast,
Speaker:but we're not talking about craft shows and direct to consumer
Speaker:shows today.
Speaker:We're gonna be talking about trade shows defined as wholesale.
Speaker:So if you are someone who is looking at starting to
Speaker:get your product into local boutique shops or some of the
Speaker:bigger guys,
Speaker:then you would go to a trade show and you are
Speaker:selling to a different person,
Speaker:right? Than you sell to at a consumer show.
Speaker:At a consumer show,
Speaker:you're selling to the end consumer,
Speaker:the person who's going to be buying and using your product
Speaker:at a trade show.
Speaker:You're selling to a store owner who's going to display your
Speaker:product and sell to their customer.
Speaker:Just wanna lay the groundwork here,
Speaker:Jim. I'm sure you could speak to both,
Speaker:but like that's how I wanna frame it.
Speaker:Or else we're gonna be talking for many,
Speaker:many, many hours.
Speaker:Cause there's so much to talk about.
Speaker:Plus it's easier to channel things,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:into certain segments so that we keep the understanding.
Speaker:Yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker:So what I love about your experience is you've done so
Speaker:many different types of shows covering so many different types of
Speaker:themes that I'm really interested to hear what you see are
Speaker:the similarities,
Speaker:especially in terms of the mistakes that people make.
Speaker:So I think let's start with that.
Speaker:Like what are you seeing that people could be doing better?
Speaker:Let's go that way.
Speaker:Okay. Because the first thing you're doing right is going to
Speaker:a show,
Speaker:right? Right.
Speaker:Yeah, Maybe you didn't get the right show,
Speaker:but you may tell me that.
Speaker:Okay, so what are some common themes,
Speaker:like the biggest mistakes that you're seeing people making?
Speaker:Wow, biggest mistakes.
Speaker:I would say number one,
Speaker:and this is not evident to anybody at the show,
Speaker:Oh I'm so curious.
Speaker:There's so many companies that do not set goals.
Speaker:They don't set goals for what do they wanna accomplish?
Speaker:Because the way you think about it,
Speaker:at the end of the show,
Speaker:people have a feeling more than data.
Speaker:They have a feeling that was a good show or that
Speaker:was a bad show.
Speaker:And when I press people on that question and I say,
Speaker:well what made it good or what made it bad?
Speaker:And they're,
Speaker:well yeah,
Speaker:we didn't get that many leads.
Speaker:Well how many did you get?
Speaker:I don't know what,
Speaker:what was your goal?
Speaker:And they never set goals.
Speaker:And so you don't know if you had a good or
Speaker:bad show until you get to the end of it and
Speaker:you have something that you could actually measure.
Speaker:But what do you set goals on?
Speaker:I mean there's so many things,
Speaker:but at the very basic,
Speaker:you've gotta have a metric.
Speaker:One thing that is gonna be your main metric for the
Speaker:show for most businesses,
Speaker:unless you could sell right there at the show and maybe
Speaker:that's what your thing is,
Speaker:you're writing orders and you're in front of those wholesalers,
Speaker:they're walking in front of you and those retailers and they're
Speaker:ready to buy,
Speaker:they're ready to make commitments.
Speaker:Then maybe that is your metric is dollar sales or cases
Speaker:sold or number of products sold or something like that.
Speaker:Maybe that is your main metric.
Speaker:But for most businesses there's going to be a follow-up process.
Speaker:And so you need to make sure that your main metric
Speaker:is qualified leads.
Speaker:Qualified leads.
Speaker:And I know Sue,
Speaker:you know all about this is about qualified leads because we
Speaker:get leads,
Speaker:we can easily get leads by having a fishbowl there where
Speaker:people could throw in a business card or you have a
Speaker:badge scanner,
Speaker:you could just scan every badge of someone walking by.
Speaker:And a lot of companies look at those and go,
Speaker:oh we got a hundred leads,
Speaker:great. But then when you go to follow up with those,
Speaker:you find out that 95 of those are people that will
Speaker:never buy from you.
Speaker:They were just there at the show and they're not qualified,
Speaker:they're not in your industry,
Speaker:they're not your target audience,
Speaker:whatever the case is.
Speaker:So you've gotta make sure that they are qualified.
Speaker:And so how do you do that?
Speaker:You have to take people through a process of qualifying them
Speaker:at the booth.
Speaker:And that doesn't mean that you're having them fill out applications
Speaker:and things like that to make sure that they fit the
Speaker:credit profile or anything.
Speaker:Like that's not what I'm talking about.
Speaker:I'm talking about just getting to that.
Speaker:The basics of,
Speaker:I'll give you an example.
Speaker:Early on in my career I worked for a consulting company
Speaker:and we only did consulting work for manufacturing companies in northern
Speaker:Ohio. Very,
Speaker:very specific market.
Speaker:We are at a large national show.
Speaker:And so it's very easy to get into conversations with manufacturers
Speaker:about their processes and their manufacturing and all this stuff.
Speaker:But if they weren't located in northern Ohio,
Speaker:we didn't wanna talk to 'em.
Speaker:And so you had to ask that question,
Speaker:are you a manufacturer?
Speaker:Yes. Okay,
Speaker:where are you based?
Speaker:Where are you located?
Speaker:Oh, I'm in Detroit.
Speaker:Sorry, I can't help you.
Speaker:Oh I'm in Cleveland.
Speaker:Oh fantastic.
Speaker:Great. And then you can lead them into a conversation about
Speaker:what you offer and find out.
Speaker:Also another mistake that companies make is they immediately dive into
Speaker:their 32nd or 62nd or 15 minute pitch about their products
Speaker:and their services.
Speaker:Without asking questions,
Speaker:you've gotta ask questions,
Speaker:you've gotta find out who's in front of you,
Speaker:what are their needs,
Speaker:what are they looking for?
Speaker:What are their big issues and their struggles and where's the
Speaker:opportunity there?
Speaker:So make sure you're asking them these questions before you dive
Speaker:in, but make sure they get qualified first because you don't
Speaker:wanna be spending a lot of time talking to and not
Speaker:just the company,
Speaker:you wanna qualify the company.
Speaker:That's number one.
Speaker:Number two,
Speaker:you wanna find out who am I talking to at this
Speaker:company? Okay,
Speaker:I've qualified the company,
Speaker:they buy products that I sell or they're a retailer that
Speaker:I wanna get my products into.
Speaker:But maybe I'm talking to a part-time clerk who just happened
Speaker:to be at the show because they wanted to see what
Speaker:was going on in the industry,
Speaker:but they have no decision making ability.
Speaker:You wanna find that out as well.
Speaker:And maybe the owner of that store just happens to be
Speaker:a couple boots over and that's the person you really need
Speaker:to talk to.
Speaker:So make sure you are finding that out or who is
Speaker:the decision maker.
Speaker:You don't wanna blow off the person or make them feel
Speaker:unimportant or anything like that but you.
Speaker:Wow. Fantastic.
Speaker:But you know what?
Speaker:Who is the decision maker at your company?
Speaker:Oh, that's Joanne is two booths down.
Speaker:Can I,
Speaker:why don't you go grab her and come on back and
Speaker:then that way I'll make sure that I give you the
Speaker:right information.
Speaker:So you're qualifying the the company and then you're qualifying the
Speaker:person and getting to that decision maker if that's who you
Speaker:need to talk to.
Speaker:Would You not say that once you know,
Speaker:to your point about understanding who it is that you're talking
Speaker:to, even if this isn't the full decision maker,
Speaker:there are some questions that you can ask them first before
Speaker:you go off to get the other person.
Speaker:Absolutely. Cause they are probably in a position,
Speaker:they wanna show that they're important.
Speaker:They have inside information of what they're probably looking for.
Speaker:So you can garner so much good information from that other
Speaker:person. And I've had this happen at my booths too,
Speaker:like they're kind of filtering the booths where they want the
Speaker:decision maker to come back to.
Speaker:And if you get to the point where that decision maker
Speaker:comes back,
Speaker:you've already talked to that first person and know what's important
Speaker:for that decision maker to hear.
Speaker:Right? Yep.
Speaker:I'm sharing with everybody,
Speaker:just my thoughts as you're talking is you don't want to
Speaker:discount and not show number one importance and find out everything
Speaker:you can from that person and build a relationship with them.
Speaker:Cuz they could,
Speaker:they could be a gatekeeper down the road too.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yes.
Speaker:Yeah, like you said,
Speaker:so key,
Speaker:make them feel important because they are,
Speaker:they are.
Speaker:They're a human being.
Speaker:They're in front of you,
Speaker:they're interested,
Speaker:they're talking to you and you could ask them all those
Speaker:basic questions about the company.
Speaker:So when you have that decision maker in front of you,
Speaker:you're not taking all their time asking them basic questions.
Speaker:You have gotten a little further down the road and you
Speaker:could dive right into,
Speaker:I was talking with Mary and she said that you really
Speaker:have some struggles and some issues or you're looking for this
Speaker:type of product,
Speaker:you've never had anything like what we have before.
Speaker:Then you can build on that conversation and get to a
Speaker:a place quicker.
Speaker:You can get to your good conversation quicker.
Speaker:Here's a question for you.
Speaker:Yeah. And I dunno what you're gonna say about this,
Speaker:but I always find that the higher up someone is in
Speaker:the business,
Speaker:the more direct they want you to be with the answers.
Speaker:True. They don't wanna take all this time and go back
Speaker:to the beginning and learn how your business started or like,
Speaker:you know like all these other more,
Speaker:they're important to us but I'm not gonna say kind of
Speaker:fluffy things unless they ask you.
Speaker:Right? I find the higher up you wanna get more direct
Speaker:to the point,
Speaker:more succinct,
Speaker:tell 'em what they're asking to know first and if they
Speaker:wanna know more,
Speaker:if they wanna back it up fine,
Speaker:but be very cognizant about answering their questions.
Speaker:Would you agree with that?
Speaker:Oh a hundred percent.
Speaker:A hundred percent.
Speaker:And obviously a lot of it,
Speaker:if you're familiar with the personality profiles,
Speaker:the disk model,
Speaker:you have a lot of business owners that are high D
Speaker:personality, which means they're driven.
Speaker:They're that,
Speaker:give me the facts and let's move on.
Speaker:I don't want a lot of chit-chat.
Speaker:I've got a lot to do.
Speaker:Okay, I'm here.
Speaker:I'm only gonna spend my time at places that I'm really,
Speaker:really interested in,
Speaker:in finding out more information and give them,
Speaker:be very short,
Speaker:very succinct with your answers and you should be asking them
Speaker:more questions.
Speaker:What are you looking for?
Speaker:Why the what I have intrigue you?
Speaker:What is it about?
Speaker:Is there something else that you're currently carrying that my I
Speaker:can replace?
Speaker:Or would this be a supplemental to what you currently offer?
Speaker:Ask them some good questions but don't think that you're gonna
Speaker:get into a long conversation and definitely don't dive into a
Speaker:15 minute spiel about what you've got to do and try
Speaker:and walk them all around your booth unless they're ready for
Speaker:that. Yeah.
Speaker:Unless they give you the indication that they want That.
Speaker:Absolutely. I think another thing that you said that was really
Speaker:important is make sure you understand why they're coming to your
Speaker:booth. I'm freshly back from our most recent show,
Speaker:which you'll love was the Philly Candy Show.
Speaker:No way.
Speaker:Yeah. Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that's awesome.
Speaker:But our booth,
Speaker:we've kind of gotten to the point where people know like
Speaker:if they're customers of ours,
Speaker:they know they can use it as a home base.
Speaker:Like if they wanna drop their coat,
Speaker:their stuff behind our thing,
Speaker:like you know,
Speaker:we love you,
Speaker:we know you use us as a home base.
Speaker:This one woman comes back and she's like gonna believe it.
Speaker:She says two rows down,
Speaker:there's this new company and I'm really interested in their product.
Speaker:I go up to ask my questions and she pulls out
Speaker:her pad and is like,
Speaker:like okay you ready to place an order?
Speaker:Ooh, not even high.
Speaker:Not even,
Speaker:who are you?
Speaker:It's like order taking.
Speaker:Wow. And she said,
Speaker:I just walked away.
Speaker:Like that was such a turn off.
Speaker:Isn't that crazy?
Speaker:Yeah, that's just bad training.
Speaker:That's bad training for your booth staff.
Speaker:Yeah. My goodness.
Speaker:That could be a complete turn off forever.
Speaker:Forever. Well I tried to say,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:go back and give it a chance.
Speaker:Like maybe she thought you were someone who she was talking
Speaker:with earlier.
Speaker:You're like maybe I don't know if she did or not.
Speaker:Give them the benefit of a doubt.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:So are there any other signs or signals or something else
Speaker:that you suggest we watch out for not to do?
Speaker:Yeah and I'm sorry I went but go back to the
Speaker:goal setting.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:make sure that you are setting goals not just for what
Speaker:you're trying to accomplish,
Speaker:but set goals to do other things at the show.
Speaker:This is another big mistake.
Speaker:Oh that I see.
Speaker:Another big mistake is that there's some people that never leave
Speaker:their booth.
Speaker:And I understand that sometimes you could be at a show
Speaker:that is wall to wall,
Speaker:crazy busy the entire time and if you're working the show
Speaker:by yourself or you have a small team,
Speaker:then maybe you're stuck there.
Speaker:Maybe that's all you can do.
Speaker:And then I would say plan to get to the show
Speaker:early, like before it opens and just walk up and down
Speaker:the aisles and make note or take pictures with your phone
Speaker:of booths that you want to come back to and have
Speaker:a conversation with later.
Speaker:Oh there's someone that I can partner with on because they
Speaker:have a product that I would like to include in our
Speaker:offering. Or maybe there's a company that could be a vendor
Speaker:or maybe there's,
Speaker:ooh, there's our competitors.
Speaker:Oh I need to take pictures of their booth and maybe
Speaker:get, grab some of their literature,
Speaker:do that competitive information,
Speaker:take a look at,
Speaker:wow, I love how their booth is laid out.
Speaker:I love how the use of colors,
Speaker:take pictures of that,
Speaker:do your research and take it back with you so you
Speaker:can make changes going forward.
Speaker:But don't make that mistake of not leaving your booth.
Speaker:If you can do it during the show,
Speaker:then do that.
Speaker:Get out and walk around and engage with people and make
Speaker:those key connections and network however you can.
Speaker:And this goes to another thing that I see a lot
Speaker:is that especially,
Speaker:and Sue,
Speaker:I'm sure you've been a veteran of multi-day shows and that
Speaker:last day is typically a daw.
Speaker:It is just a big dud and It's horrible.
Speaker:It's awful.
Speaker:And you're there for several hours and you're like,
Speaker:nobody's here.
Speaker:Half the people left already.
Speaker:And so I would say everyone have a plan for when
Speaker:the show is slow because it will be slow at some
Speaker:point. And so at that point,
Speaker:and maybe you have three or four people on your team
Speaker:that are gonna be there and you say,
Speaker:okay, when the show is slow,
Speaker:I will stay here at the booth or two of us
Speaker:will stay here at the booth.
Speaker:The other two I want you going and you need to
Speaker:meet with these four companies and make a contact.
Speaker:And you go and take pictures and engage with our competitors.
Speaker:And you over here go and find the rep from the
Speaker:industry association and find out if they're having any breakout sessions
Speaker:or talks about industry trends.
Speaker:So give people things to do and take advantage of all
Speaker:that the show is offering and all those connections that you
Speaker:could possibly make and network like crazy when you're there because
Speaker:that's where our opportunities come from.
Speaker:You never know when you can make that connection.
Speaker:And don't look at your competitor as,
Speaker:oh I will never talk to them unless something bad happened
Speaker:between you.
Speaker:But look at them as a possible friendly competitor and go
Speaker:and introduce yourself.
Speaker:Hey, I'm Jim from Trade Show University.
Speaker:I noticed you do trade show consulting as well.
Speaker:I'd like to introduce myself.
Speaker:I think it's fantastic what you're doing.
Speaker:I think it's all just talk to them about your business
Speaker:because you never know when an opportunity will come along.
Speaker:I've worked for companies before that were manufacturing companies that all
Speaker:of a sudden got a huge,
Speaker:huge order and that we couldn't fulfill in time.
Speaker:But since we had friendly relationships with some of our competitors,
Speaker:we were able to reach out to them and say,
Speaker:Hey, can you do some private label manufacturing for us?
Speaker:And if that wasn't there,
Speaker:we never could have made that good connection.
Speaker:Yeah. Or would've taken a lot longer to get to that
Speaker:point. So get outside your booth,
Speaker:that would be another thing.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know if you are slow,
Speaker:everyone else is slow too,
Speaker:right? Yep.
Speaker:And so that's an excellent use for the third day because
Speaker:you can't do it the first few days cuz if they're
Speaker:active in their booths with potential customers,
Speaker:you can't go in and interrupt them.
Speaker:That would be horrible.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:You know what else I do on the third day,
Speaker:depending on the show,
Speaker:that's another idea for everybody.
Speaker:I'll go on Facebook and do a live show.
Speaker:I'll just say,
Speaker:Hey, I'm here at the show,
Speaker:it's the last day.
Speaker:Last days are typically slow.
Speaker:I'm gonna walk you up and down the aisles and show
Speaker:you behind the scenes of the show.
Speaker:And then I'll go up and down the aisles and find
Speaker:those people that you're talking about,
Speaker:Jim, and say,
Speaker:Hey, I'm on live.
Speaker:I'd like to introduce my audience to your business and your
Speaker:booth. And then like you kind of do a little impromptu
Speaker:if they're interested in willing.
Speaker:I think it in the whole time I've done that,
Speaker:I've had one person say no.
Speaker:But you are offering up more value to them too by
Speaker:doing that.
Speaker:Yes. Love,
Speaker:love, love that.
Speaker:That's fantastic.
Speaker:Yeah. Get creative.
Speaker:Yeah. It just depends on the show but at least then
Speaker:you're being productive with your time and I think that's huge
Speaker:Jim, because you know if you have like a half a
Speaker:day or even sometimes those last days are,
Speaker:they usually end early afternoon,
Speaker:but they're still like,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:five, six hours do something that you can only do at
Speaker:the show.
Speaker:Like don't you see a lot of people who will sit
Speaker:them behind their booth on their phone just sitting on a
Speaker:chair Yes.
Speaker:Doing nothing.
Speaker:Like use those hours for something better than that.
Speaker:You never know what's gonna come of it.
Speaker:Absolutely. So I love that you bring this up.
Speaker:Yeah. Another thing that I would say is I see a
Speaker:lot of people a mistake that they made some kind of
Speaker:a minor mistake.
Speaker:But if you're planning on going to the show and there's
Speaker:certain customers you know are gonna be there or prospects that
Speaker:you would love to connect with,
Speaker:don't wait till you get to the show to try to
Speaker:book a time with them.
Speaker:Do it ahead of time.
Speaker:Reach out to them if you don't know who they are,
Speaker:connect with them on LinkedIn.
Speaker:That's usually a great way.
Speaker:Or go to their website and try to get in touch
Speaker:with them somehow and say,
Speaker:Hey, are you gonna be in Philadelphia for the candy show?
Speaker:Would love to have you stop by our booth.
Speaker:Or if you have time,
Speaker:let's grab a coffee.
Speaker:I would love to talk to you and learn more about
Speaker:your business and fill up your calendar before you get to
Speaker:the show.
Speaker:Because once people get to the show,
Speaker:they're inundated with opportunities,
Speaker:they're inundated with networking events and after hours and lunches and
Speaker:dinners and all sorts of things.
Speaker:And if you're not well-planned and well-prepared,
Speaker:you could be stuck having dinner by yourself every night when
Speaker:you could have been with a possible major prospect of that
Speaker:store, that chain that you're trying to get your products into.
Speaker:But do that research ahead of time and fill up your
Speaker:calendar. What do you think about emailing people who are on
Speaker:your list who might have been at the show the prior
Speaker:year? I mean any that type of thing?
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:Any pre-show marketing you can do to get people to your
Speaker:booth is phenomenal.
Speaker:So if you know people have been at the show before
Speaker:or maybe they've never been to the show,
Speaker:but you're like they should be at the show and maybe
Speaker:send them a little notice that hey,
Speaker:are you familiar with this show?
Speaker:And maybe they're not even in that direct industry,
Speaker:but because they have ties to it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Sue, you're not in the candy industry but because your product
Speaker:serves people in that industry,
Speaker:that's a great place for you to be.
Speaker:So everyone that's listening,
Speaker:I want you to think about that as well.
Speaker:It's like maybe a baby fair or a wedding event,
Speaker:bridal event might not be something that you're thinking about because
Speaker:your product isn't a hundred percent right on on par with
Speaker:that. But you might be the only gift business at that
Speaker:event if you're trying to get to,
Speaker:obviously that's more of a direct-to-consumer play,
Speaker:but think about outside of the industry,
Speaker:you can make a huge splash if it makes sense,
Speaker:if your target audience matches the audience that's gonna be there
Speaker:at the show.
Speaker:So really do your research and figure out what else is
Speaker:available to you to make sure that that's the right show
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:Well how do we do that?
Speaker:What are some tips of finding the right show?
Speaker:Finding the right show.
Speaker:You'll hear what Jim has to say about this right after
Speaker:a quick break to hear from our sponsor.
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Speaker:Oh great question.
Speaker:And I just did a video recording,
Speaker:a video training on how to pick the right show.
Speaker:So that's a perfect segue into that.
Speaker:So I am happy to offer that to anybody.
Speaker:All you have to do is sign up for my email
Speaker:newsletter and you get immediate access to this video training.
Speaker:It's brand new and it's absolutely a hundred percent free.
Speaker:And I go through the seven questions of how to make
Speaker:sure you're at the right show.
Speaker:So how do we sign up for your newsletter and get
Speaker:that? So just go to my website,
Speaker:which is trade show you.is.
Speaker:So that's trade show,
Speaker:the letter u biz right there on the homepage.
Speaker:There's a place for you to scroll down and add your
Speaker:email address and you'll get an email back from me with
Speaker:a link to the training.
Speaker:Super simple.
Speaker:Okay, so will you give us a teaser?
Speaker:Maybe a couple of the questions.
Speaker:Okay, So the first question is,
Speaker:what's your purpose for being there?
Speaker:What's your purpose for wanting to exhibit at a show?
Speaker:And that comes back to,
Speaker:I'm looking to make sales or I'm looking to break into
Speaker:a new industry.
Speaker:I'm looking to do just get a bunch of leads,
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:And it could be,
Speaker:I think also I want to increase my wholesale by getting
Speaker:placement in three new boutique shops,
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:So it doesn't have to be overall sales numbers,
Speaker:it could be the number of new places where people can
Speaker:run into and see your product.
Speaker:So, so many different ways.
Speaker:So you can think outside the box about that.
Speaker:Absolutely. So yeah,
Speaker:so that's the first thing you just understand why am I
Speaker:going And then talk to the show organizer or whoever it
Speaker:is that is your contact at that show and say,
Speaker:this is the reason I wanna come to your show is,
Speaker:is this the right show for me?
Speaker:And please be honest with me cuz if this isn't the
Speaker:right show,
Speaker:I have a limited budget and I need to find the
Speaker:right show And you won't be back again.
Speaker:If it's the wrong show,
Speaker:you're not coming back.
Speaker:Exactly right.
Speaker:So do your research,
Speaker:ask the right questions,
Speaker:figure that out first,
Speaker:and does that show a good match for what you're trying
Speaker:to do?
Speaker:And maybe you're saying,
Speaker:I need immediate cash,
Speaker:I need to sell,
Speaker:sell, sell on there.
Speaker:I need to write orders as many as I can because
Speaker:we have a huge Christmas season coming up and I need
Speaker:that cash to fund all those orders.
Speaker:So if that is a show that you're going to where
Speaker:people typically don't place orders,
Speaker:then that's not a good show for you because you're gonna
Speaker:be sorely disappointed with doing all the follow up and all
Speaker:that is necessary.
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:going back to that,
Speaker:that very first thing is make sure you understand what's the
Speaker:reason why you're going and if you don't know,
Speaker:then really think about it and figure out why are we
Speaker:going to this show?
Speaker:The reason for shows can be a million different reasons why
Speaker:you're going for branding for exposure,
Speaker:because my competitors are there.
Speaker:There's a ton of reasons,
Speaker:but make sure you have that dialed in.
Speaker:Second thing is you wanna make sure your target audience is
Speaker:gonna be there.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:make sure that this is right.
Speaker:I'll give you an example.
Speaker:So this is obviously not the gifting industry,
Speaker:but I was working with a company that was an upfitter
Speaker:or a builder of emergency vehicles,
Speaker:think ambulances,
Speaker:wheelchair vans,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:And they were going to this big EMS show,
Speaker:they went all in,
Speaker:brought vehicles and stuff like that.
Speaker:90% of the people at this show were firefighters and EMTs,
Speaker:wonderful people,
Speaker:but they're not the people that they needed to talk to
Speaker:for, they were there because they had all sorts of C
Speaker:e U credit classes that they needed to keep up their
Speaker:certifications. And so that was just a bad fit and it
Speaker:was a multi-day show and it was just the whole time
Speaker:we just felt defeated because there was nobody there that we,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:every once in a while someone would walk past or Oh
Speaker:yeah, you need to talk to my boss,
Speaker:he's here,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:look for this guy and so make sure you're tired on
Speaker:he is is gonna be there.
Speaker:So not just the companies,
Speaker:cuz that's what we got drawn in by was,
Speaker:oh yeah,
Speaker:there's gonna be fire departments and municipal agencies and all this
Speaker:and we're like,
Speaker:great, that's who buys our stuff.
Speaker:But you need to make sure that the people who actually
Speaker:are making those decisions for buying your stuff are actually there.
Speaker:Excellent point.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:So that's two of the seven questions.
Speaker:I can give you a couple more if you'd like.
Speaker:Give Us a couple more.
Speaker:I want everyone to hear how you expand on each of
Speaker:them. But yeah,
Speaker:give us just one or two more.
Speaker:Okay. So say just from the target audience,
Speaker:say you've dialed in and go,
Speaker:okay, yeah,
Speaker:the target audience I know is gonna be there.
Speaker:Now you have to ask a follow up is,
Speaker:okay, is this the right show?
Speaker:I've found a show where my target audience is gonna be
Speaker:there, but is it the best show for me because I
Speaker:can only do one or maybe I can only do two
Speaker:or this show is great,
Speaker:are there others like it?
Speaker:Because I'd like to do multiple shows this year,
Speaker:then start doing your homework and figure out what other shows
Speaker:in the industry.
Speaker:And by doing that is not asking the person at the
Speaker:show, hey what other shows are available?
Speaker:But see who else is exhibiting there that looks like you,
Speaker:that's a company like yours.
Speaker:And then maybe reach out to them and say,
Speaker:hey, we have similar products,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:might not be a direct competitor but they have similar products.
Speaker:Reach out to them and say,
Speaker:do you do other shows and let them,
Speaker:they'll, oh yeah,
Speaker:you've gotta be at this show,
Speaker:you've gotta be at that show.
Speaker:And then they can tell you that.
Speaker:Or just start.
Speaker:Obviously the internet is a huge wealth of information on what
Speaker:shows are available that you could find that'll match your target
Speaker:audience. So make sure you're at the right,
Speaker:right show or that there's other opportunities for you.
Speaker:Because if you can only do one show,
Speaker:maybe you do one that's larger or one that's closer to
Speaker:home that you could save some money because we could drive
Speaker:to that one instead of having to fly and ship everything,
Speaker:we can take it ourselves.
Speaker:So whatever it is that that makes the most sense for
Speaker:you is gonna be the right show.
Speaker:Bring it home with one more,
Speaker:make it a goodie.
Speaker:Okay, so another thing that,
Speaker:and I've seen this mistake happen many times is that make
Speaker:sure you understand your budget and does your budget match what
Speaker:you're gonna be spending at the show?
Speaker:I see a lot of businesses get enamored with,
Speaker:they're like,
Speaker:oh the booth is gonna cost me $3,000.
Speaker:Oh great,
Speaker:$3,000, we can afford that.
Speaker:And then they commit to the booth and then they find
Speaker:out, well we need electricity.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:that's gonna be an extra few hundred dollars.
Speaker:We need carpet.
Speaker:Oh, carpet's not included.
Speaker:What? Oh yeah,
Speaker:that's gonna be an extra $800 for your booth.
Speaker:Oh okay,
Speaker:well what about table and chairs?
Speaker:That's included,
Speaker:right? No,
Speaker:no, you have to rent those.
Speaker:And so make sure you understand all the fees.
Speaker:So an all in price just for your show.
Speaker:Okay, so now you've got that number.
Speaker:Okay, we're still in our budget.
Speaker:Fantastic. Okay,
Speaker:now how many people are you sending to the show travel
Speaker:costs to go to the show if it's something you have
Speaker:to fly to and you gotta rent cars,
Speaker:you gotta get Ubers,
Speaker:you gotta have meals,
Speaker:hotels now and you have to ship all your stuff out
Speaker:there too.
Speaker:So all the stuff that you're gonna be displaying,
Speaker:your banners,
Speaker:your product samples,
Speaker:all that has to be shipped out to there.
Speaker:You've gotta figure all that in because that's part of the
Speaker:cost, that's part of the overall cost.
Speaker:And it can on the surface,
Speaker:could look like,
Speaker:wow, this is gonna be a huge win for us.
Speaker:But now all of a sudden your $3,000
Speaker:show is now a $10,000
Speaker:show or a $12,000
Speaker:show or even bigger.
Speaker:And now you're like,
Speaker:oh shoot,
Speaker:how much do we have to sell from that show to
Speaker:just break even?
Speaker:And is it possible now you're going back to the show
Speaker:and going,
Speaker:okay, how many people are you expecting and how many of
Speaker:those are really good decision makers?
Speaker:And then you could say,
Speaker:oh, so if I sold to 10% of those,
Speaker:okay that would be good.
Speaker:Okay, my average order size is this.
Speaker:And you have to know your numbers,
Speaker:you have to know what and how far down you can
Speaker:get people into the sales funnels,
Speaker:through the sales process.
Speaker:Can you get 'em all the way to the sale?
Speaker:Just get them to where they're a qualified lead and you
Speaker:follow up later.
Speaker:You need to know all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:But it comes back to what's your budget?
Speaker:Do you have the budget and then can you get an
Speaker:ROI on that budget?
Speaker:Yeah, I'm also thinking for people who we're talking big shows
Speaker:now too.
Speaker:Yeah, like if I bring this back to someone who's a
Speaker:smaller business owner,
Speaker:maybe one woman show,
Speaker:maybe they have several employees but still very small.
Speaker:Yeah. This may be the very first wholesale show they're going
Speaker:to because they're interested now,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they've built the business up to a point where they're ready
Speaker:to take wholesale placement.
Speaker:Another thing I think is important,
Speaker:I'm gonna bring up the topic and I'll let you talk
Speaker:to it.
Speaker:Okay, Got it.
Speaker:Yeah, Because I could see with people who are listening here
Speaker:where they may not recognize the need to do this is
Speaker:some of your promotional materials might need to be reprinted and
Speaker:changed because you're not talking to your end user,
Speaker:you're talking to someone and trying to convince them that they
Speaker:should carry your product in their store.
Speaker:So all the promotional materials that you have or the things
Speaker:that they're requesting are different than if up to this point
Speaker:you've been at a craft show selling directly to the consumer.
Speaker:Super, super important and great,
Speaker:great point.
Speaker:Yeah, you have to be talking to your audience and you
Speaker:have to understand who is your audience and what are they
Speaker:experiencing right now.
Speaker:Right now we've got a lot of companies that didn't even
Speaker:survive coming through Covid.
Speaker:And so now you have maybe a smaller number of companies
Speaker:that you're going to be trying to sell to.
Speaker:What are they experiencing,
Speaker:what are they experiencing right now?
Speaker:And understand that and how can your products meet their needs.
Speaker:So you've gotta change,
Speaker:maybe all the pictures are the same,
Speaker:but you've gotta change what you're saying cuz the benefits to
Speaker:a wholesaler is way different than a benefit to the person
Speaker:who's gonna actually receive and enjoy your product.
Speaker:So you have to understand what are they looking for?
Speaker:Are they looking for drop shipping opportunities,
Speaker:they looking for other special promotional pricing?
Speaker:Are they looking for short lead times?
Speaker:What is it they're looking for?
Speaker:Then you gotta put that into your talking points like Sue
Speaker:said on your literature.
Speaker:Reprint that literature or maybe you add a couple,
Speaker:if you have pull up banners or a backdrop or some
Speaker:other pieces of display that the,
Speaker:you're highlighting things that are very,
Speaker:very important to your target audience.
Speaker:The people that are gonna be there at that show.
Speaker:So when they're walking past and they're making the determination,
Speaker:do I wanna stop at that booth?
Speaker:Because at this gift shows,
Speaker:every booth is inviting,
Speaker:every booth looks amazing cuz you're only gonna put out your
Speaker:best stuff and you're gonna make it look fantastic.
Speaker:But people typically don't have time,
Speaker:especially at the larger shows,
Speaker:they don't have time to stop at every single booth.
Speaker:So why do I stop at yours?
Speaker:What is it that you're offering that nobody else is offering
Speaker:that your competitors going,
Speaker:I can't believe they're saying that.
Speaker:I can't believe they're doing that.
Speaker:How can you set yourself apart in a special way and
Speaker:shout that from your literature,
Speaker:shout it from your banner,
Speaker:shout it from your display pieces.
Speaker:It's just super,
Speaker:super important to talk their language so that they're going yes
Speaker:finally a company that gets it,
Speaker:that understands the issues that we're having right now.
Speaker:And everyone's dealing right now with lead times with supply chain
Speaker:issues. So if you can say,
Speaker:hey we've got product in stock ready to ship and ready
Speaker:for you,
Speaker:boom. You may have just hit a real hot button for
Speaker:a a buyer in a chain of stores that you've been
Speaker:dying to get into.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean even your local boutiques like this is a
Speaker:huge issue right now because some things that people might have
Speaker:bought at trade shows back in January and they're expecting it
Speaker:to come in for the holidays might not make it in
Speaker:time. I remember last January,
Speaker:do you guys remember there were stores selling things super cheap
Speaker:and that's because they had all this inventory that they had
Speaker:bought for the holidays that never arrived in time for them
Speaker:to sell.
Speaker:So especially if you are a local maker,
Speaker:similar to if you're walking into a local,
Speaker:even if it's a one location boutique and you'd like to
Speaker:have placement in there,
Speaker:these are the same types of things then that I think
Speaker:you would be talking about in the booths,
Speaker:right Jim?
Speaker:Like you know I'm right in Ohio,
Speaker:if you are local here I am right here,
Speaker:I can help you out.
Speaker:We've got inventory I make right in the same state as
Speaker:you even,
Speaker:so you won't have to worry about that.
Speaker:But I think this is a huge one right now.
Speaker:And then also,
Speaker:wouldn't you say again,
Speaker:very product based here having a sell sheet ready that talks
Speaker:to, you know,
Speaker:if you're gonna sell product in cases,
Speaker:is it a case of six?
Speaker:Is it a case of 12?
Speaker:Is it a case of 36 and what's the price for
Speaker:that? What are minimum orders?
Speaker:All of that type of thing you'd have to have ready
Speaker:and printed out.
Speaker:I know that's something I learned early on cuz I didn't
Speaker:have it in the beginning.
Speaker:What are all the products you sell and what are the
Speaker:price points of everything and if I wanna buy in bulk,
Speaker:what would that look like?
Speaker:And have all that thought out before you're asked and don't
Speaker:have it.
Speaker:Yeah, and one thing I would say is if you have
Speaker:a pretty diverse product line,
Speaker:a big product line,
Speaker:don't have individual sell sheets for every single product there at
Speaker:the show because then it just gets cluttered,
Speaker:Then you need a whole big catalog.
Speaker:Yeah. Or even a small catalog where you're breaking things down
Speaker:but make it very simple for people to find one thing
Speaker:that they take with them because then otherwise you and your
Speaker:team when you're going,
Speaker:Hey where's that sell sheet on this product?
Speaker:I can't find it because there's 30 sell sheets out there
Speaker:and you're making it confusing for the attendees as they're walking
Speaker:past trying to figure out what they want and if it's
Speaker:too much and it's overwhelming,
Speaker:they're gonna keep walking and you wanna make sure that they
Speaker:stop, that you get these good conversations.
Speaker:Something that you mentioned about the case pricing,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:Again, it's understanding what are they looking for,
Speaker:make it super simple and basically you're screaming,
Speaker:I am so easy to do business with you,
Speaker:I am going to make your holidays the best ever or
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:I'm going to be the best vendor you've ever had.
Speaker:Okay and here's the reasons why,
Speaker:because you know what I offer upon receipt of that first
Speaker:order, we're going to jump on Zoom with your team and
Speaker:I'm gonna walk them through the products and how to sell
Speaker:it and what customers are looking for.
Speaker:Maybe go a little above and beyond by offering training but
Speaker:make it simple to do business with with people and let
Speaker:them know how that works.
Speaker:No, really,
Speaker:really, really good point.
Speaker:Making it easy.
Speaker:Keeping it concise with your messaging and giving them what they
Speaker:need to know.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:not the whole thing but what they need to know.
Speaker:Yeah. So for someone who's just starting to dip their toe
Speaker:into wholesale and now they're considering doing a show,
Speaker:how do we know if we're ready,
Speaker:what should we be looking at and reviewing for ourself to
Speaker:know if we're ready for a show and it might even
Speaker:be a small regional wholesale show,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:not necessarily a big national show.
Speaker:The way I would look at is am I ready for
Speaker:best case scenario?
Speaker:Am I ready for someone to come up and go,
Speaker:wow, this is fantastic.
Speaker:I wanna order,
Speaker:how quickly can I get this product?
Speaker:And you are waiting on huge lead times where you won't
Speaker:be able to fill those orders right away unless it's something
Speaker:that's very common in the industry.
Speaker:But if you can't be set up for being able to
Speaker:turn around and have customers or prospects that you meet at
Speaker:the show,
Speaker:having them happy that they met you,
Speaker:then maybe you're not ready.
Speaker:If you have to disappoint people,
Speaker:okay, yeah,
Speaker:I'm showing you all this great stuff but you can't get
Speaker:it, I guess is is kind of the way I would
Speaker:say it.
Speaker:Maybe that's not the place,
Speaker:maybe you're not ready for the show,
Speaker:but okay if you have the budget set aside because these
Speaker:shows are expensive,
Speaker:we already went through some of the costs.
Speaker:So if you have the budget and you're ready to say,
Speaker:okay, if we get good orders,
Speaker:if this is a huge successful show for us,
Speaker:are we happy or are we terrified because how are we
Speaker:gonna do what we just promised we were gonna do?
Speaker:So make sure you were doing that.
Speaker:That Speaks to don't go to a huge show if your
Speaker:production, because part of this is you don't wanna make more
Speaker:than you are going to hopefully sell either,
Speaker:right? And then based on your product,
Speaker:something that takes a couple of weeks if you have a
Speaker:curing as part of the process or they're one-offs.
Speaker:So they take a long time to make you wanna think
Speaker:through all of that too.
Speaker:And then decide which types of wholesale shows are actually right
Speaker:for you if you sell fine art.
Speaker:And so each of your pieces is unique and it takes
Speaker:several days to make or weeks,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:depending on what your product is.
Speaker:You're not selling them number one in cases anyway,
Speaker:right? You're selling single placement in boutiques probably.
Speaker:So that might not be the best example here,
Speaker:but just make sure that your product production matches what potential
Speaker:orders could look like.
Speaker:And of course having pricing in line,
Speaker:right Jim,
Speaker:having, yeah,
Speaker:all your prices set for wholesale and how those correspond with
Speaker:retail. We've done shows on that already.
Speaker:So you can go back and look at that DM me
Speaker:if you don't know which episodes actually no,
Speaker:go to gift biz on rap.com/topics
Speaker:and you'll be able to find the episodes that talk to
Speaker:that To that point.
Speaker:Just not to cut you off,
Speaker:but make sure you are priced for profit.
Speaker:I've seen way too many,
Speaker:especially smaller companies that they get in and they're retail,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the retail price to the end consumer might be $99 but
Speaker:they're wholesaling it at like $29 but it,
Speaker:their costs are so huge in the the labor amount and
Speaker:everything, but they're just trying to get in the door and
Speaker:they price themselves so low just to get the orders but
Speaker:they're not gonna make any money Cuz they're probably not even
Speaker:making it for that.
Speaker:Right? And so they get frustrated and I've seen this,
Speaker:especially with a lot of creators,
Speaker:artists, they don't put a value on their time.
Speaker:My paints,
Speaker:my canvases,
Speaker:these things,
Speaker:they cost this much.
Speaker:So as long as I can recoup that,
Speaker:I'm fine.
Speaker:What about the 12 hours it took you to create what
Speaker:went on that canvas and to,
Speaker:to actually put it together,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the finished product,
Speaker:don't discount your time.
Speaker:Make sure you are charging enough so that at the end
Speaker:of the day you are happy and you're thrilled to do
Speaker:that show again and not go,
Speaker:Ugh, I lost so much money.
Speaker:Alright, I can't even pay my bills.
Speaker:Right, Okay.
Speaker:No, so true Jim,
Speaker:thank you for underlying,
Speaker:again, like anytime I hear someone reinforcing that,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:yes, because I agree with you.
Speaker:And then you're gonna be out of business so fast because
Speaker:you're not making any money.
Speaker:Yeah. You know,
Speaker:you're not even making enough money to cover your costs,
Speaker:much less invest in a business or the shows.
Speaker:Really. Yeah.
Speaker:There's a reason why it's called starving artists.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's a real thing.
Speaker:That's a real thing.
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:There's so many artists and creators and crafters that have to
Speaker:work full-time jobs just to support what their passion is.
Speaker:Get it to the point where your passion can support you.
Speaker:Ooh, that's a quote Jim.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Why don't you lay on us a couple more ending words
Speaker:of wisdom about trade shows and tell us why you love
Speaker:shows and why you think we could fall in love with
Speaker:trade shows as well.
Speaker:Yes. Well I would say do your homework so you know
Speaker:what you're getting into and maybe your first show,
Speaker:go walk it.
Speaker:You don't get a booth you don't exhibit,
Speaker:especially if it's a big show.
Speaker:And then look at and go,
Speaker:what am I getting into?
Speaker:Is this really for me?
Speaker:Let me look at how other people are exhibiting and displaying.
Speaker:And you can go up there and you can start talking
Speaker:to people and see how they present themselves.
Speaker:So you could use that as a huge learning experiment,
Speaker:especially if you're going from that local show up to a
Speaker:national show.
Speaker:It's not the same.
Speaker:It is not the same.
Speaker:So make sure you're doing your homework.
Speaker:And for a lot of companies,
Speaker:I tell them,
Speaker:let's walk this one.
Speaker:Let's just walk this show and it's time to learn so
Speaker:that that's an investment in your next show.
Speaker:And so that is something that I would definitely say is
Speaker:a good opportunity for those companies that are looking into shows
Speaker:maybe for the first time or looking to up level from
Speaker:local to regional to national or whatever.
Speaker:And take that time,
Speaker:especially if you're nervous,
Speaker:you're unsure about everything and go learn.
Speaker:Go learn.
Speaker:And the first place to go learn is from your seven
Speaker:questions. Yes.
Speaker:Tell Us again where we can go grab those At Trade
Speaker:Show U Biz as trade show,
Speaker:letter U biz.
Speaker:And right there on the homepage you'll probably have one of
Speaker:those little fun boxes pop up on the screen that says,
Speaker:Hey, there's a free training and you just drop your email
Speaker:right in there.
Speaker:And if that doesn't come up,
Speaker:then just scroll down the homepage and there's a place there
Speaker:for you to drop it.
Speaker:Beautiful. You get immediate access to that training.
Speaker:Two thumbs up for popups.
Speaker:They were.
Speaker:Yes, I love them.
Speaker:Wonderful. Jim,
Speaker:this has been amazing.
Speaker:Thank you so much for coming on the show,
Speaker:sharing with us a little bit more insight than we probably
Speaker:had before we started about trade shows,
Speaker:their value and what we need to do to make them
Speaker:be successful for us.
Speaker:Really appreciate having you here today.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:Sue, this has been an absolute blast and the time goes
Speaker:so fast.
Speaker:So fast.
Speaker:Yeah, and I'll just one last part,
Speaker:get over to my website.
Speaker:I have a over 180 episodes on every aspect of trade
Speaker:shows. And just like Sue,
Speaker:you go to trade shoe.biz/episodes
Speaker:and all 180 episodes are on one page by category.
Speaker:So you can go right in there and figure out marketing
Speaker:displays, promo items,
Speaker:any of that stuff,
Speaker:and you can find the the right episode for You.
Speaker:Excellent, perfect.
Speaker:More free learning about trade shows come in your way right
Speaker:there. Thanks again,
Speaker:Jim. Take care.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Sue. It's been an honor.
Speaker:Have we peaked your interest in trade shows?
Speaker:If you're serious about wholesale,
Speaker:it's definitely worth not just considering,
Speaker:but doing.
Speaker:Remember to watch Jim's video training on the seven questions to
Speaker:Ask to find the right show.
Speaker:To do that,
Speaker:go over to trade Show you.biz
Speaker:and sign up for Jim's email newsletter.
Speaker:It's right there on the homepage,
Speaker:and from there you'll receive the video.
Speaker:If you're enjoying the podcast and would like to show support,
Speaker:a rating and review is always fabulous because it helps get
Speaker:the show seen by more makers.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:And there's another way where you can get something tangible in
Speaker:return for your support too.
Speaker:Visit my merch shop for a wide variety of inspirational items
Speaker:like mugs,
Speaker:journals, water bottles,
Speaker:and more featuring logos,
Speaker:images, and quotes to inspire you throughout your day.
Speaker:Makes a great gift too.
Speaker:And we've just added some new products for the season to
Speaker:the shop.
Speaker:Turnaround is quick and the quality is top notch,
Speaker:nothing but the best for you.
Speaker:Take a look at all the options@giftbizunwrapped.com
Speaker:slash shop.
Speaker:All proceeds from these purchases helps go to offset the cost
Speaker:of producing the show.
Speaker:And now be safe and well,
Speaker:and I'll see you again next time on the Gift Biz
Speaker:Unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:I wanna make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook group
Speaker:called Gift Biz Breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:I got a really fun post in there that's my favorite
Speaker:of the week,
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:where I invite all of you to share what you're doing
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people.
Speaker:And just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post every single week.
Speaker:Without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what?
Speaker:Aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group Gift Biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.
