How To Use Public Events To Explode Your Customer List
By Melody Thacker
You”ve started your new business or you are looking for a way to connect with more customers. Customers are the life blood of any business, whether you have a small store, an online business, you are a direct seller or network marketer.
Have you considered setting up at public events to build your customer list? Trade shows, expos, country fairs, markets, craft shows and other various events which are open to the public and have vendors are a great place to promote your products and meet new people. People who will potentially buy from your or use one of your service.
Here’’s how to use public events to explode your customer list:
Never sit down in your booth and never look busy, people will not want to bother you so they”ll walk on by. Plain and simple, you can”t meet people when you are sitting on your behind, which is the purpose of you being there.
Do not eat in your booth, again people won”t want to bother you and it’’s hard to talk to someone when you mouth is full. Have someone spell you off while you go enjoy a meal or a snack.
Be friendly, greet everyone who looks you in the eye, and try and catch the attention of those who don”t. You are here to meet people and start building a relationship with them. People do business with people they like.
Bring plenty of business promotional materials; catalogs, brochures, business cards, samples etc. Make sure to collect the name and contact information of everyone who takes your materials. The easiest way to collect this information is to have a draw. List your services on the draw form so they can check off which ones interest them as well as their preferred method of communication.
Make sure that you bring plenty of stock to the event. You don”t want to run out of inventory near the beginning of an event. You can”t sell what you don”t have and people are more likely to purchase something they can take home with them. Again, you will want to ask for the name and contact information of anyone you sell to at the event so you can enter their name in your draw. A thank you note after the event is a nice touch and one that people will remember.
An important note about adding people you meet at public events to your email list, ezine or newsletter. It’’s always best to use a double opt-in system to protect yourself from being labeled as a spammer. Simply explain to your event visitor, they”ll receive an email confirmation for their request and that they must click the link to receive the information.
Here are some tips on how to be a great neighbor at these types of events. Get to know the other vendors, be friendly and helpful as they can be a good resource to find other good events. Do not block your neighbor’’s booth or allow your customers to block it either. Ensure your booth fits within the confines of your allocated space and never encroach on your neighbor’’s real estate. Do not talk to customers who are looking at your neighbor’’s booth or talking to your neighbor, this is seen as rude and intrusive by the neighbor and could cause them to lose a sale.
Last but not least, never break down your booth prior to the official close time of the event. This will trigger other participants to pack up their booths and kills the show for those participants who are still trying to do business.
Keep in mind the main purpose of doing public events is so you can meet new prospective customers and/or business leads and add them to your list. You may have heard the saying, “The money is in your list!” However, the fortune in in the follow up so this only holds true if you actually contact the people on your list.
About The Author
Melody Thacker enjoys doing public events and running her own Watkins business. You can learn more about her and the Watkins income opportunity on her web site.
