County fairs, Renaissance fairs, craft shows, home and garden
shows, sports shows and auto shows are just a few of the events
inventors can attend to sell their products, make some instant cash
and test-market a new innovation. Your presence at a trade show
might even be the launching pad for landing new investors or
setting up a distribution network. All you have to do is pack up
the van, drive to the show, set up a booth and start selling. You
control everything, and substantial sales success can point the way
to a big future market. However, your success at the show depends
largely on how well you present yourself and sell others on your
ideas.
First Things
First
Before jumping into your first big show, ask yourself some
questions. For instance: Will your product sell well at a trade
show? Ideally, it should fill a need most people who attend the
show have, and it must have a simple, direct message. Fairs are the
perfect starting points for products with broad appeal that would
ideally be sold in supermarkets, department stores and mass
merchandisers. Normally, those markets are difficult for a small
inventor to penetrate. But entrepreneurs can build up sales at
fairs, sometimes selling as much as $70,000 over a weekend, which
can give them the success they need to crack the big retailers.
Perfect products are those that lend themselves well to
demonstrations. A real-life demonstration is best, but pictures,
videos, slides or posters can also work. Your product or
demonstration should sizzle and catch attendees' eyes. Being
able to show a before-and-after result simply and quickly is a good
way to persuade people to buy at a fair. Other types of products
that do well are ones people can play with or try out, such as
toys, musical instruments or sporting goods. Finally, food items
and family recipes can do especially well. People can taste a
sample and, if they like it, buy it.
Content Continues Below
Next, ask yourself what kind of shows are best for your
particular product and industry. You want shows that appeal to your
target customer, have plenty of visitors, and allow you to sell
products. Start out with local shows. You will have fewer expenses,
and you will be able to work more closely with the show
promoter.
Contact your local chamber of commerce or convention center to
get a list of upcoming shows. Next, call the show promoter and ask
for a copy of last year's convention guide. Once you receive
it, call at least three or four past exhibitors, and find out how
many years they've exhibited. Exhibitors will keep going back
to good shows, so make sure at least half the people have exhibited
at the show for two or more years. Also ask the exhibitors what
types of products sell best at the show and what prices do
best.
FOR
MORE INFO
- The Trade Group sells products and services
for trade show exhibitors, including exhibits, graphics, point of
purchase displays, kiosks and more.
- Trade Show News Network offers a variety of
resources and provides information on more than 15,000 trade shows
and conferences.
- United Inventors Association can provide a
list of local inventor groups in your area, which usually have a
booth at state fairs that many inventors share.
- Western Fairs Association represents more
than 150 fairs in the western United States.
Before exhibiting at your first show for a promoter, though, try
to visit one of the promoter's other shows, as most promoters
do similar shows in a variety of cities. You want to see what other
booths are like so you can design yours to stand out. This is also
another great way to talk to exhibitors and get more information
about how the show works, how much merchandise you can expect to
sell, and what steps you can take to maximize sales.
Unfortunately, successful fair products are frequently knocked
off by other fair sellers because the products are relatively easy
to make. If you're confident the product will sell, consider
patent protection. Apply for a design patent at the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office for $165, which allows you to post "patent
pending" on your product.
Once you start selling your product, you have one year to apply
for a utility patent. You can apply for a utility patent on your
own as the one-year "on-sale" time limit approaches; in
this way, you can retain your "patent pending" status for
a total of two to three years. That gives you time to establish
your product in the market. You might want to consider using a
patent attorney and obtaining a utility patent if you eventually
want to take your product into the general market.
Secrets to
Success
To get the most out of your first trade show, consider these top 10
tips:
1. Don't let show sales cause a
major accounting nightmare at tax time. Set up a simple
accounting system before you begin.
2. Get the best location
possible. Don't be right in front where all the
traffic has to pass by. Instead, be in an area where there is
enough aisle space for 10 to 20 people to watch you demonstrate a
product. Also, don't be next to a busy booth where people will
be attracting a large number of visitors or giving their own
demonstrations.
3. Make sure your product stands
out as a one-of-a-kind item. People won't purchase a
product if it's readily available in other locations.
4. Sell, sell, sell.
Products, no matter how great they are, don't sell themselves.
You must generate the excitement that gets people to buy. Before
you exhibit, attend at least two or three shows to observe the
styles and tactics people use to attract a crowd.
5. Have people participate in a
demonstration or interact with you during your
presentation. That involvement will dramatically
increase sales.
6. Have your booth look active at
all times, but make sure people don't pass your
booth because no one is available to talk to them. A successful
booth needs a staff of three to four people for a busy show.
7. Sell products you can make
yourself or that have minimal manufacturing costs. If
your product isn't cheap to make, shows aren't a good
long-term strategy. Either your product will be too expensive, or
you won't be able to sell enough to cover your upfront
costs.
8. Try to run out of your inventory
just as the show closes. Predict how much you might sell
based on discussions with past exhibitors, then take 20 to 30
percent more inventory than you think you'll sell. If you sell
out, you'll still have had a successful show.
9. Sell products in the $10 to $30
range. Your best show strategy is to create impulse
sales based on a demonstration or a person trying out a product.
Though some inventors who sell higher priced products feel they can
get leads at a show and sell to prospects later on, this is a
mistake. The urge to buy drops once people leave a show, so you
can't count on these sales.
10. Use booth
promotions-such as free giveaways, two-for-one specials,
combination packages of products and 'buy two, get one
free" offers-to double or triple your sales. Try a variety of
promotions at different shows to figure out what works best for
your product. Also, check the types of promotions other people are
offering.
If your first show doesn't go as well as you had hoped,
don't get discouraged. Realistically, you will be a runaway
success if just 10 percent of the people who stop by your booth
like and buy your product. That leaves 90 percent who won't
buy. So don't set your expectations too high when you go to
your first show. If you persuade 10 out of 100 people to become
customers, you've had a great sales performance.
MAKING BANK?
Get the most out of your trade show, and take your
profits to the max.For each show, be sure to keep a record of these expenses:
1.Booth rental
2.Travel, food and lodging:
This includes costs to ship the booth and products to a show.
3.Literature: Add up
creative and printing costs, and divide the total by the number of
bro-chures printed. A brochure should cost 50 cents to a
dollar.
4.Money paid to all
employees: Consider sales commissions and other related
expenses, such as booth setup.
5.The manufacturing cost of items
you've sold: For example, if your product costs $1
to make, and you sell 2,500, your manufacturing cost is
$2,500.
6.Promotional items
You must make about $3,000 to $5,000 per show over and above these
expenses, and of that, $1,000 to $2,000 needs to be applied against
one-time start-up expenses such as booth design. The rest is
profit.
If you're not selling enough, rethink your display,
demonstration and sales presentation. At each show, determine how
much you've sold compared to what other booths are selling.
Analyze what's working at other booths, and then adjust your
presentation for the next show.
Also, cut costs where you can. If you ship your booth and inventory
to a site prior to a show, the convention's freight and drayage
charges can often be 50 to 100 percent of the actual booth expense,
so eliminating those costs can save you a significant amount of
money.
Adapted from Entrepreneur magazine's Start-Up
Guide #1813, Bringing
Your Product to Marketby Don Debelak