Come on over everybody! I’m going to tell you how to have a successful tradeshow booth. I’m Myra Roldan and I’m here to share with you a simple, free technique that will make your tradeshow booth a success.

Have you ever been a vendor at a tradeshow where you ended up spending hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars trying to get your booth right only to end up with very few visitors at your booth and left feeling like it all went wrong? I’m going to share a simple technique that is GUARANTEED to make your tradeshow booth a success and it won’t cost you a thing! But wait....there’s more; I will also tell you how to successfully close the sale.

If you’re still reading, I’ve just proven that this simple technique works. It’s called Bally a Tip. This technique was used carnies. Bally in Carney lingo which stands for free entertainment performed outside a sideshow on an elevated stand, called a bally platform; it used to draw in a crowd. A tip is a crowd and the goal is to “turn the tip” or convince the crowd to buy whatever it is you have.

Bally a Tip

You need to draw in the crowd and get their attention. Don’t wait for them to decide to stop and see what you have. It’s not about your booth design. It’s about YOU and what YOU have to offer. You need to think of your call for attention as a headline! Like the newsie yelling, “Extra, Extra, Read All About It....!”

You need to create interest and curiosity. You need make your crowd identify with you and your product. You need to make them feel like you are addressing each of them individually. In order to do this you need to know who your target customer is.

If you have product you are selling, offer demos on how to use your product; or if it solves a problem, how it works; or simply demo the top features and benefits of your product. Put a script together, keep it at two minutes, memorize it and practice, practice, practice until it flows naturally.

I have to warn you! You will need to work it and work it good. Ballying a tip isn’t always easy. You may need to need to coax your tip in, create on the spot specials for the first 5 to who buy or offer a bonus. But the good news is it doesn’t cost you a thing to do this – no cash investment, no fancy booths, and no expensive brochures. Your booth could consist of a table with a white tablecloth a prototype of your product; you can still succeed if you use this technique.

Turn the Tip

Now it’s time to convince your “tip” to buy whatever it is you have. You have to ask for the sale, that right, you want their money. Isn’t this why you’re there in the first place? Your tip wants you to lead them. Make sure they are absolutely clear on what you are offering and why they need it. Tell them what their small investment will be for the solution they have been searching for. But don’t stop there, you have to create added value, give them a bonus. Bonuses increase the perceived value of the product, in the infamous word of Billy Mays “up the value, increase the volume”.

Some good examples of bonuses are as follow: For the small price of $19.99, this do-hicky can be yours, but wait...I will pay the taxes for the first 5 buyers.

Or

You can get your do-hicky today for a special tradeshow price of $19.99 plus tax. But.....I will take the first 5 $20 bills waived at me right now.

Closing the Sale
I suggest you never work a tradeshow booth alone. You want to make sure you have your “grinder”, someone who will get orders processed and filled as quickly and accurately as possible. You bally the tip, you turn the tip and now you want to make sure you close the sale as quickly as possible. Your customers stayed and viewed your demo, now they want to make their purchase and move on.

Now I know you’ve read tons of articles and posts on running a successful tradeshow booth, but I guarantee you that if you use this simple technique, it will definitely payoff. I also know that fear will stop you from doing just about anything making you miss opportunities.

You need to release your fears and become a “pitch-chic” and sell the life out of your product. It’s the only way to go. Yeah, you can have a good tradeshow without using this technique but you will be relying on people to stop on their own and check you out. In this economy, you can’t afford to sit and wait. You have to grab the bull by its horn and make it happen.