Expos and tradeshows are target rich environments for sales and marketing. Spring expo season is headed our way right now and it’s time to get ready in a way that will create success that does more than just cover the booth fee! In today’s episode, Kim and Cara talk about three key aspects of creating a happy expo experience for you and your business.
Transcript
The Business Animal podcast is proudly
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Jaz:Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. Saddle up for a
Jaz:gallop to the top of the animal industry, where you'll learn how
Jaz:to tame your wild business beast with tips, techniques, and tools
Jaz:that will take overwhelm to obedience school and have you
Jaz:wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts Kim Beer and Cara
Jaz:Taylor Swift
Kimberly Beer:Hey there business animals It's Kim with
Kimberly Beer:Be More Business
Cara Taylor Swift:and Cara with Fast Horse photography.
Kimberly Beer:Welcome to The Business Animal Podcast. Today
Kimberly Beer:we're going to be talking about one of my favorite subjects and
Kimberly Beer:that is trade shows and expos and how to bring the WOW to the
Kimberly Beer:next one that you do. You know what is coming up Cara? One of
Kimberly Beer:my favorite times of year. Do you know what that time of year is?
Cara Taylor Swift:If it doesn't have anything to do with
Cara Taylor Swift:chocolate or being outside with my animals? Because it's
Cara Taylor Swift:springtime. I honestly have no idea. You're going to have to
Cara Taylor Swift:fill me in. But I'm guessing it's something to do with expos
Cara Taylor Swift:because that
Kimberly Beer:It's Expo season.
Cara Taylor Swift:Okay Expo Season I should have guessed
Kimberly Beer:It is Expo season. It's Expo and tradeshow
Kimberly Beer:that
Kimberly Beer:season. And weirdly enough, I know that this is gonna sound
Kimberly Beer:super twisted. And there's tons of people out there that are
Kimberly Beer:listening to this that are going man Kim is weird, but I think
Kimberly Beer:everyone would probably agree to that to a degree. But I love
Kimberly Beer:trade shows and expos I love going and chit chatting with
Kimberly Beer:people at them. I love doing the sales part. I don't like setting
Kimberly Beer:up or breaking down the booth. Anything else beyond that I
Kimberly Beer:absolutely adore I love planning for them. I love picking out the
Kimberly Beer:graphics for them. Cara and I have both spent way too much
Kimberly Beer:time this morning when we should have been recording the podcast
Kimberly Beer:talking about a trade show that we're going to be going to very
Kimberly Beer:soon called AIM.
Cara Taylor Swift:Animal image makers. So that's why we decided
Cara Taylor Swift:to chat about this topic on the show. Because this is all we've
Cara Taylor Swift:been talking about. For the last I don't know hour we've been
Cara Taylor Swift:sitting here planning our animal image makers trade show booth,
Cara Taylor Swift:our expo booth. So we were like, You know what, there's other
Cara Taylor Swift:people that are dealing with this right now in the animal
Cara Taylor Swift:world. So we're gonna hop on and we're gonna do a quick episode
Cara Taylor Swift:for you guys.
Kimberly Beer:Absolutely. So we came up with a big three for
Kimberly Beer:expos and trade shows. The first one of that is to get your
Kimberly Beer:offers together, which is what Cara and I have been working on
Kimberly Beer:this morning, how what are we going to offer? How are we going
Kimberly Beer:to focus on that? How are we going to drive the traffic in
Kimberly Beer:our booth? And what is the result that we want to get from
Kimberly Beer:that. The second thing we're going to talk about today is
Kimberly Beer:designing a booth that has an open flow to it. This is a
Kimberly Beer:question that I get a lot from people, when I talk to them
Kimberly Beer:about trade shows and how to do them, they think they just need
Kimberly Beer:to bring a table and their first inclination is to set that table
Kimberly Beer:right in front of the booth. And we're going to talk about why
Kimberly Beer:that's not a good idea. And then also the part of the expo booth
Kimberly Beer:that I absolutely adore. And that is doing the sales
Kimberly Beer:conversation that you need to have with the people that are
Kimberly Beer:coming up. We've got some great tips for you around that. But
Kimberly Beer:first, before we even go there, I do want to just address for a
Kimberly Beer:moment. Why should you even be doing trade shows and expos Do
Kimberly Beer:you have any ideas around that Cara? What What are your
Kimberly Beer:thoughts on why people should do? Why are why are we doing a
Kimberly Beer:trade show?
Cara Taylor Swift:Well, I think there's I mean, I think there's
Cara Taylor Swift:a lot of different reasons that a business owner would do a
Cara Taylor Swift:trade show or an expo and have a booth set up. I think there's a
Cara Taylor Swift:lot of different reasons. I've certainly done them where I've
Cara Taylor Swift:been selling things I've done on where I've been trying to gain
Cara Taylor Swift:more exposure and meet more people and grow my mailing list.
Cara Taylor Swift:I mean, we just were at art of the cowgirl. Gosh, how long ago
Cara Taylor Swift:was that? Several weeks ago now. We were just at art of the
Cara Taylor Swift:cowgirl in our main goal and focus there while we were
Cara Taylor Swift:selling art for the barn. We were also talking about Cowgirls
Cara Taylor Swift:with cameras and some of the offers that we have. And we were
Cara Taylor Swift:growing our mailing list and mostly just meeting people and
Cara Taylor Swift:making connections. So yeah, I think there's a lot of different
Cara Taylor Swift:reasons.
Kimberly Beer:So for me, I think trade shows and expos are
Kimberly Beer:at the top of my list especially for new businesses or businesses
Kimberly Beer:that are just launching into a marketplace for you to really
Kimberly Beer:get kick started in in your business. A lot of us today
Kimberly Beer:depend on social media, we depend on the internet to bring
Kimberly Beer:us our business but there is nothing that beats that meeting
Kimberly Beer:people hands on looking at a product or really talking to the
Kimberly Beer:person that's providing the service and knows a lot about it
Kimberly Beer:and and from a consumers perspective of getting your
Kimberly Beer:questions answered and seeing all of your options in one
Kimberly Beer:central location. And I know it's been a few years since
Kimberly Beer:we've really been able to have a good Expo experience with COVID
Kimberly Beer:hanging around and sort of dogging us into not having as
Kimberly Beer:many live events. But those things are coming back now. And
Kimberly Beer:despite the fact that I'd brought home COVID from Art of
Kimberly Beer:the cow girl, I think we're all proceeding back to that that
Kimberly Beer:situation where we're going to be face to face with each other
Kimberly Beer:again, and this is a really important way to be able to
Kimberly Beer:promote your business. And there are trade shows, and expos too,
Kimberly Beer:that that happen online, I don't want to discount that. But what
Kimberly Beer:we're talking about today are going to be those live events
Kimberly Beer:where lots of consumers show up and you have a booth for your
Kimberly Beer:business. So let's dive into the first part of the big three,
Kimberly Beer:which is to get your offers figured out before you get to
Kimberly Beer:the trade show. So it's really important to understand what to
Kimberly Beer:focus on, if you have a lot of things that you're selling, what
Kimberly Beer:I see happens is that it gets really difficult to sell
Kimberly Beer:anything, it's sort of like all things in marketing, when you
Kimberly Beer:are talking to everyone or have lots of choices, no one listens,
Kimberly Beer:and no one actually makes a choice. So what I recommend when
Kimberly Beer:you book your booth at a trade show, first of all, there's some
Kimberly Beer:work that goes into thinking in advance, is this a good place
Kimberly Beer:for me to be? Does it have my target market there? And would
Kimberly Beer:they be interested in an offer that I have available? And if
Kimberly Beer:the answer to those questions is all yes, then you need to think
Kimberly Beer:about what do I want to get out of this tradeshow? What is my
Kimberly Beer:goal? is my goal to sell products? And if it's to sell
Kimberly Beer:products, is there a specific line of product that I want to
Kimberly Beer:promote at this event? If I'm selling a service? What do I
Kimberly Beer:want people to do? Do I need them to book an exploratory
Kimberly Beer:call? Do I need to just get them on my database so I can
Kimberly Beer:communicate and follow up with them afterward? So you need to
Kimberly Beer:have a clear focus for your booth about what it is that
Kimberly Beer:you're selling what you're offering. So that's your offer?
Kimberly Beer:And then how are you going to present that to people? And what
Kimberly Beer:is the next best step for that tradeshow audience to take with
Kimberly Beer:whatever it is that your offer is. So if it's an exploratory
Kimberly Beer:call, can you sign him up for it right then and there, so you're
Kimberly Beer:booking that? If it's a product, are you going to have that
Kimberly Beer:product in your booth? So you can hand it to them and send
Kimberly Beer:them on their way? What are your thoughts around offers? Cara?
Cara Taylor Swift:Well, I agree after our art of the cowgirl
Cara Taylor Swift:experience, I think one of the challenges that you know, I
Cara Taylor Swift:worked at our booth most of the most of the week we were there.
Cara Taylor Swift:And I think one of the challenges was we had two things
Cara Taylor Swift:we had as products. One was our art for the barn, which was
Cara Taylor Swift:hanging on the walls, tangible, something they could touch and
Cara Taylor Swift:take or order online. The second piece was we had our cowgirls
Cara Taylor Swift:with cameras information, where we were hoping to pull people
Cara Taylor Swift:in, or at least give them information about our upcoming
Cara Taylor Swift:workshops. So one of the challenges with having both of
Cara Taylor Swift:those offers was we were talking to two completely different
Cara Taylor Swift:audiences for the most part. And so Marcy and I who was Marcy was
Cara Taylor Swift:helping at the booth, you know, that was one of our challenges
Cara Taylor Swift:was trying to keep tabs on who was interested in what and
Cara Taylor Swift:getting them into the right funnels at that actual event. So
Cara Taylor Swift:I agree having a small number, something really small that
Cara Taylor Swift:everyone on your team is focused on pushing and promoting and
Cara Taylor Swift:talking about with a consistent message probably would have made
Cara Taylor Swift:that week a little easier for us.
Kimberly Beer:Absolutely. You know, this brings to mind to me
Kimberly Beer:an experience that I had when I was selling at National Western
Kimberly Beer:Stock Show in Denver quite a few years ago, but I was
Kimberly Beer:representing a co-op of Equine businesses that had kind of
Kimberly Beer:bought into doing a single booth around some really nice elite
Kimberly Beer:equine products, there was Rockin J horse stalls, CSI
Kimberly Beer:saddle pads, a product called the equiface saver and some
Kimberly Beer:other other really nice products that kind of decided to do a
Kimberly Beer:co-op. And then we just took turns in sales booth. And that
Kimberly Beer:meant that I had a lot of offers to present to people which
Kimberly Beer:presented a challenge. So if you're a business that has that,
Kimberly Beer:what you want to do is try to figure out right away or as
Kimberly Beer:quickly as possible, what they're interested in and then
Kimberly Beer:have an offer for that item. Right? I would ask the person
Kimberly Beer:when they came up to the booth, you know, what kind of riding do
Kimberly Beer:you do, I would get them started talking about their equine
Kimberly Beer:experience. And then it would be pretty evident pretty quickly
Kimberly Beer:what it is that they'd be interested in. And I could shift
Kimberly Beer:them to that offer, which I think is exactly what we did at
Kimberly Beer:the art of the cowgirl booth, we got to know kind of quickly what
Kimberly Beer:it is they were interested in and then being able to present
Kimberly Beer:that but the fewer number of those offers that you can get
Kimberly Beer:things down to the easier it is for you to navigate sales in
Kimberly Beer:your booth. So it's just simpler if you can reduce it to even one
Kimberly Beer:offer. And you know what, for a lot of you who have service
Kimberly Beer:oriented businesses or you're into just the launch phase of
Kimberly Beer:your business, it's okay if that offer is just simply to build
Kimberly Beer:your database at this event. You don't have to sell a lot of
Kimberly Beer:stuff, you don't have to have something that's super
Kimberly Beer:complicated. It could just be a an opportunity for people to
Kimberly Beer:start seeing you to understand your brand presence. And then
Kimberly Beer:for you to consider the conversion in this sale, getting
Kimberly Beer:them to sign up for your database, and we had a lot of
Kimberly Beer:success with that at art of the cowgirl I was very, very pleased
Kimberly Beer:with the number of people that signed up to want to continue to
Kimberly Beer:communicate with us after that event.
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Cara Taylor Swift:I think the thing that really helped us too is that we spent
Cara Taylor Swift:so much time beforehand, thinking about that process and
Cara Taylor Swift:how that would work. So that it would be really smooth. I mean,
Cara Taylor Swift:because honestly Gone are the days where you have to you have
Cara Taylor Swift:a clipboard with a piece of paper where you people are
Cara Taylor Swift:writing their information. I mean, there's so many better
Cara Taylor Swift:ways that you can pull people in and get them right into your
Cara Taylor Swift:system. And so we had a really great system where we were able
Cara Taylor Swift:to pull people's information right in and send it to our CRM,
Cara Taylor Swift:so they were in the funnel and ready to roll. So that was super
Cara Taylor Swift:helpful for us as well is that we took the time beforehand to
Cara Taylor Swift:figure out how we were going to do that and have everybody that
Cara Taylor Swift:was doing that trained in the system and how to put people's
Cara Taylor Swift:information in and pull that. So that was huge. For us.
Kimberly Beer:It was huge. And then it also eliminates that
Kimberly Beer:horrible experience as a business owner when you get back
Kimberly Beer:to your office. And you figure out how poor people's
Kimberly Beer:handwriting really is, or how how different that they write
Kimberly Beer:from you. And it's really hard to read the addresses and then
Kimberly Beer:you don't communicate and the person on the other end thinks
Kimberly Beer:you're just not doing your job because you're not communicating
Kimberly Beer:with them. So the goal here is to really get it down to narrow
Kimberly Beer:down what you're wanting to do. The second piece of that is to
Kimberly Beer:really think about how to invite those conversations to start and
Kimberly Beer:that is centered a lot around your booth design. So I did a
Kimberly Beer:lot of tradeshow selling CSI saddle pads across the equine
Kimberly Beer:experience and the booths that were set up for CSI were very
Kimberly Beer:open. In other words, the product was all against the back
Kimberly Beer:wall of the booth, the owner of that company went to extra
Kimberly Beer:trouble to always get a corner booth so that the booth was even
Kimberly Beer:more open. Now I realize we all can't have corner booths because
Kimberly Beer:there's not that many corners in a trade show. But the goal here
Kimberly Beer:is to remember that people need to get out of the aisle and back
Kimberly Beer:when equine trade shows where all the balm across everything.
Kimberly Beer:And I mean it just was you would go to equine affair and there
Kimberly Beer:was just like literally hardly any room to stand in the aisles
Kimberly Beer:of the booths, especially as you got towards the middle of the
Kimberly Beer:aisle or along the bigger traffic areas. And what would
Kimberly Beer:happen is if you were having a conversation with somebody, they
Kimberly Beer:kept getting bumped into by the people, and it was uncomfortable
Kimberly Beer:as the people were moving through. So we learned really
Kimberly Beer:quickly how to set up a booth where it had an open space so
Kimberly Beer:that people could walk in out of the traffic pattern and be able
Kimberly Beer:to stop and chit chat. And it's nice to make that experience as
Kimberly Beer:comfortable as possible. One Crazy little thing that we
Kimberly Beer:learned at the CSI Booth was if we put down a foam on the floor
Kimberly Beer:of the booth and people step on it, they've been walking on hard
Kimberly Beer:concrete and then they step into your booth and it's
Kimberly Beer:automatically more comfortable on their legs. It's a noticeable
Kimberly Beer:difference for them and they'll hang out with you just a little
Kimberly Beer:bit longer because they are enjoying the comfort of standing
Kimberly Beer:on a soft surface which was important for us with the saddle
Kimberly Beer:pads because that had to do with pressure and all of that. So it
Kimberly Beer:was also we turned that into a sales tool. But that's just a
Kimberly Beer:cool point of how you design your booth matters for the
Kimberly Beer:people that are coming into it. They need to feel welcome.
Kimberly Beer:People won't walk through a really narrow space. They've got
Kimberly Beer:to have a several feet like a minimum of four feet to feel
Kimberly Beer:like they're not like intruding on you,
Cara Taylor Swift:Especially during a pandemic.
Kimberly Beer:Yeah, especially during a pandemic. And you don't
Kimberly Beer:want to block that front entrance with a table or with
Kimberly Beer:something else where it feels like they're not welcome to walk
Kimberly Beer:past a certain barrier. So just really think hard about how can
Kimberly Beer:I make my booth feel warm and welcoming to people coming into
Kimberly Beer:it? And I know, Cara, you are a warm and welcoming person. So do
Kimberly Beer:you have any tips for folks around that?
Cara Taylor Swift:Well, I know that that was a constant
Cara Taylor Swift:challenge for us at art of the cowgirl and also at other events
Cara Taylor Swift:that I've done, because we had so many large pieces and
Cara Taylor Swift:everything hanging in set up. And then we had so many people
Cara Taylor Swift:hanging around our booth, which is a great problem to have, the
Cara Taylor Swift:way that our booth was set up is that it was easy for people to
Cara Taylor Swift:get in and get trapped inside. And so I do remember spending a
Cara Taylor Swift:lot of time trying to move people through and keeping the
Cara Taylor Swift:open area open for folks. And I think that's probably that was
Cara Taylor Swift:probably one of the challenges in it. And I've had that issue
Cara Taylor Swift:at other events as well, you do want it to be open. I mean,
Cara Taylor Swift:we've all been in that situation where we've been walking down
Cara Taylor Swift:the expo aisle, and the booths are on both sides of you. And
Cara Taylor Swift:there's certain booths that are more inviting for one reason or
Cara Taylor Swift:another. And for me, I am drawn to the ones that have more space
Cara Taylor Swift:that I feel like I can be in the booth but not necessarily have
Cara Taylor Swift:to have a conversation right away, if that makes sense. Like
Cara Taylor Swift:I can just kind of pick around and look at stuff and touch a
Cara Taylor Swift:couple things. And that's moving us into I know our number three.
Cara Taylor Swift:But you know, that's a big thing I think is you've got to get
Cara Taylor Swift:people close enough to your booth to even start number
Cara Taylor Swift:three, your sales pitch, right?
Kimberly Beer:Yeah, you do. You've got to get them in and
Kimberly Beer:they have to feel comfortable. And it's also important to
Kimberly Beer:understand there are introverts and extroverts in the world. So
Kimberly Beer:for me, I immediately make contact with the person in the
Kimberly Beer:booth and acknowledge that I'm there. And that's just part of
Kimberly Beer:my extrovert where you rely on your introvert and want a little
Kimberly Beer:bit more privacy. And as a savvy salesperson, you will start to
Kimberly Beer:recognize with body language and with other hints, when is the
Kimberly Beer:appropriate time to walk over and start that sales
Kimberly Beer:conversation with people and I do think that moves us into our
Kimberly Beer:number three, which here the big takeaway for this one is, is I
Kimberly Beer:want you to move from having a sales pitch into having a sales
Kimberly Beer:conversation with people. So many times at tradeshow booths,
Kimberly Beer:it feels like the people who set up booths especially when
Kimberly Beer:they're new, they like got too attracted. I don't know if
Kimberly Beer:you've been to like a state fair. And they have like the
Kimberly Beer:cooking booth that selling the pots and pans or knives or
Kimberly Beer:whatever they sell. And the person sits up there in the
Kimberly Beer:thing and they they have a whole sales spiel about this knife
Kimberly Beer:cuts Ginsu knives cut this, you know, I mean, it's the
Kimberly Beer:infomercial kind of deal, it feels like a lot of businesses
Kimberly Beer:when they are new to trade shows. That's the way they set
Kimberly Beer:their booth up, right and you walk in and they just
Kimberly Beer:immediately kind of start into their pitch about their product
Kimberly Beer:and they don't take the time to get to know you. As a person
Kimberly Beer:who's done a lot of sales, I can tell you that the secret to
Kimberly Beer:making sales is not doing all of the talking it's actually doing
Kimberly Beer:all of the listening and then helping guide the person through
Kimberly Beer:the sales experience and that is having a conversation and when
Kimberly Beer:all you do is pitch then it becomes much more difficult to
Kimberly Beer:sell.
Cara Taylor Swift:Yeah 100% 100% I am not one that is
Cara Taylor Swift:ever been a sales pitchy person I do I like to sell so for me
Cara Taylor Swift:even though I'm an introvert I do like to sell. So you know,
Cara Taylor Swift:when people are coming to our booth and walking into our
Cara Taylor Swift:booth, and we've got art hanging up, we're hoping to sell to
Cara Taylor Swift:someone I love to use open ended sentences. So I might say like a
Cara Taylor Swift:question I might say something like, tell me which piece you're
Cara Taylor Swift:drawn to that made you come in I would love to tell you the story
Cara Taylor Swift:about how that was created. Just something to talk to people
Cara Taylor Swift:about what brought them in and how they're enjoying their day.
Cara Taylor Swift:You know, what do you think about this weather but trying to
Cara Taylor Swift:use conversation as a way to get them talking? So not asking
Cara Taylor Swift:those yes or no questions? Like are you having a good time
Cara Taylor Swift:today? Can I tell you about that piece? Yeah, so these are all
Cara Taylor Swift:yes or no answers you're going to get from them. So getting
Cara Taylor Swift:them talking and then having the conversation is the best part
Cara Taylor Swift:and then you warm up to each other. And the next thing you
Cara Taylor Swift:know I had you know I was standing there telling them the
Cara Taylor Swift:stories behind all the pieces and adding that emotional
Cara Taylor Swift:connection to things make such a difference than for the next
Cara Taylor Swift:step when you're selling equine art.
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Kimberly Beer:I don't care what you're selling, starting out with
Kimberly Beer:having a conversation with people and asking them a
Kimberly Beer:question that they can't answer with yes or no is just a really
Kimberly Beer:important piece. And you don't have to start out if you don't
Kimberly Beer:like idle chit chat. You don't need to start out with how are
Kimberly Beer:you enjoying the weather? How are you enjoying the trade show?
Kimberly Beer:You can go ahead and start in like you did. I think that was a
Kimberly Beer:brilliant question to ask people, you know, what image
Kimberly Beer:were you drawn to in here, because I'd like to share the
Kimberly Beer:story behind it. Or maybe you'd like to learn the story behind
Kimberly Beer:it. And it's fun, because our images do have some great
Kimberly Beer:stories behind them. And we all have a special memories of those
Kimberly Beer:stories that we love to share with people. But the same is
Kimberly Beer:true across anything that you're selling. Even if you're selling
Kimberly Beer:a widget, you know, I mean, just asking people what their
Kimberly Beer:experience is and getting an idea I mean of what what either
Kimberly Beer:draws them in or what their pain point is, on why they walked
Kimberly Beer:into that booth because they're they have a curiosity about
Kimberly Beer:something and having them explain that to you, it means
Kimberly Beer:that you can move the conversation into a conversion a
Kimberly Beer:whole lot easier, because it feels very special for them. And
Kimberly Beer:in all of those hundreds or 1000s of saddle pads that I
Kimberly Beer:sold, or horse stalls or any of the variety thing. I sold carpet
Kimberly Beer:Cleaning for a while, I mean, it's just crazy, the number of
Kimberly Beer:things that I've sold in my lifetime, learning that one
Kimberly Beer:secret to stop pitching and start asking and really take the
Kimberly Beer:time to listen to the person that is speaking to me and what
Kimberly Beer:their needs are and where they're approaching, it really
Kimberly Beer:helps me guide where I want to take my sales conversation, that
Kimberly Beer:would be the best thing to help them. The other thing this
Kimberly Beer:allows you to do is it allows you to build a rapport with
Kimberly Beer:people that makes them want to sign up to hear more from you
Kimberly Beer:because you've taken an interest in them. So even if they don't
Kimberly Beer:purchase the conversion to them signing up for your VIP list is
Kimberly Beer:a whole lot easier, because you've listened to them. And
Kimberly Beer:they do want to be in contact with you again, because you've
Kimberly Beer:taken the time to get to know them. So I do think it makes a
Kimberly Beer:huge difference with being able to get people to return loose of
Kimberly Beer:their email address and sign up for other activities.
Cara Taylor Swift:Well yeah because even if they don't end
Cara Taylor Swift:up, you know, buying something from you that day, if there's
Cara Taylor Swift:not a conversion, that conversion could literally be
Cara Taylor Swift:that the last ditch is you've at least got them on your mailing
Cara Taylor Swift:list, and you can continue to educate them on your product and
Cara Taylor Swift:services and how you can alleviate pain points. I mean, I
Cara Taylor Swift:think that's a win too. And it's okay for that to be the win.
Kimberly Beer:Yeah, exactly. It is okay for that to be a win.
Kimberly Beer:Cara, you have some really interesting little tips on here,
Kimberly Beer:kind of underneath all of this that we probably should have
Kimberly Beer:gotten to at the beginning. But let's talk about this I see on
Kimberly Beer:here. So Cara, and I have a note sheet that we work off of so
Kimberly Beer:that we stay on the same topic, because otherwise I probably
Kimberly Beer:have a tendency to go chase butterflies somewhere. And on it
Kimberly Beer:she's talking about social media channels and promoting, tell us
Kimberly Beer:tell us what your thoughts are around that. Because that's such
Kimberly Beer:a good idea. And I think people just don't always do it.
Cara Taylor Swift:Yeah, I think a lot of the events, especially
Cara Taylor Swift:the bigger events, they have tools in place already to help
Cara Taylor Swift:you. So one of the things that I like to think about is if they
Cara Taylor Swift:have tools to help you like if they have a social media channel
Cara Taylor Swift:that they're talking about, you know, how do you get involved
Cara Taylor Swift:with being a part of their social media channel and their
Cara Taylor Swift:information they're putting out to the world. Also, a lot of
Cara Taylor Swift:times they are using event hashtags now. And if you can
Cara Taylor Swift:plan to build hype before, during and after the event by
Cara Taylor Swift:posting things that you're doing to prep for the event using the
Cara Taylor Swift:hashtag asking people you know, who's going to be at the event?
Cara Taylor Swift:And can you need do you want to stop by and see us, and then at
Cara Taylor Swift:the event, look what we're doing, if you're here, stop by
Cara Taylor Swift:and see us, you know, or here's, you know, even if you're not
Cara Taylor Swift:here, here's a special promo we have going on that you could
Cara Taylor Swift:access during the event, or Oh, leaving the event, it was a
Cara Taylor Swift:great week, you know, here's some of the wins that we had,
Cara Taylor Swift:like just using those hashtags. And being a part of that Expo
Cara Taylor Swift:community and ride that wave, while it's happening can be
Cara Taylor Swift:really good for your business before and after, as well. And
Cara Taylor Swift:not just during that time that you're there. And I also like to
Cara Taylor Swift:point out because Kim and I, I mean, we're talking about it,
Cara Taylor Swift:you know, in terms of I feel like because I'm thinking of
Cara Taylor Swift:animal image makers, or other big expos that I've been to,
Cara Taylor Swift:like I'm thinking about it in terms of bigger events. But for
Cara Taylor Swift:a lot of animal based business owners, this might look like a
Cara Taylor Swift:small festival in your community. You know, if you're
Cara Taylor Swift:an artist like I am, we have a lot of art festivals here in St.
Cara Taylor Swift:Augustine. And I do have the opportunity sometimes to
Cara Taylor Swift:participate in those that might not be an event that draws a lot
Cara Taylor Swift:of people but if I've identified it as an event, we're all seeing
Cara Taylor Swift:my audience, these tactics and this setup and this kind of prep
Cara Taylor Swift:work for the small level events as well. So if you don't find
Cara Taylor Swift:your yourself in a place where you're going to a big Expo, but
Cara Taylor Swift:maybe you've got a big I don't know, if you have a big horse
Cara Taylor Swift:show coming to your area and you have the opportunity to set up a
Cara Taylor Swift:booth there even using some of these tactics to get people in
Cara Taylor Swift:to talk to you, you know, having beautiful eye catching signage
Cara Taylor Swift:available so that people are drawn to your booth and they see
Cara Taylor Swift:you and they see your brand. And they you're getting that
Cara Taylor Swift:exposure, we're doing some kind of contest or giveaway at the
Cara Taylor Swift:event like these are all things that work or the really small
Cara Taylor Swift:animal based business as well and can transfer to smaller
Cara Taylor Swift:events, if they're appropriate for your audience. If your
Cara Taylor Swift:people are going to be there, then you can be there too, and
Cara Taylor Swift:get some value from that.
Kimberly Beer:I think those are all great ideas. And I do think
Kimberly Beer:that, you know, we do tend to think about the bigger events
Kimberly Beer:being where we want to focus. But I've made some great
Kimberly Beer:contacts at small events. And one of my best events that I
Kimberly Beer:ever did was a Purina horse owners workshop in Kansas City.
Kimberly Beer:And I kind of got randomly invited at the last minute to
Kimberly Beer:set a table up for my photography. And honestly, I met
Kimberly Beer:a client at that event that changed my life, because they
Kimberly Beer:were very well known. And then after that, they introduced me
Kimberly Beer:to a lot of other well known people. So it was a huge break
Kimberly Beer:for me. And it was a crazy little table that I had set up.
Kimberly Beer:It wasn't even a four foot long table with a few photos on it.
Kimberly Beer:And it was covered in a paper tablecloth
Cara Taylor Swift:yeah.
Kimberly Beer:So yeah, it was it was not my finest booth
Kimberly Beer:moment. But these things allow you to do networking, which you
Kimberly Beer:never know where the next big break for your business is going
Kimberly Beer:to actually come from. I mean, we can take some educated
Kimberly Beer:guesses. But this allows you to set yourself up for really
Kimberly Beer:opening doors for your business. So I've watched numerous
Kimberly Beer:businesses, especially in the animal based and equine
Kimberly Beer:industries, launch their entire success that was able to carry
Kimberly Beer:them through everything in the future by focusing on attending
Kimberly Beer:trade shows, and expos and really learning how to work this
Kimberly Beer:system so that they could become successful at it
Cara Taylor Swift:Well Kim I hear a lot of people talk about
Cara Taylor Swift:like they went to an event and they had a booth. But it really
Cara Taylor Swift:wasn't successful for them. Like they didn't get anything out of
Cara Taylor Swift:it. And what I think happens there and this is from personal
Cara Taylor Swift:experience is that they weren't doing our big three, right, they
Cara Taylor Swift:weren't, first of all, they didn't have a focus, they were
Cara Taylor Swift:just there for exposure. And I'm using air quotes here. But they
Cara Taylor Swift:didn't have a focus with an offer. And they didn't put the
Cara Taylor Swift:time in to really think about how they were going to present
Cara Taylor Swift:that offer. And instead, they spent their time sitting behind
Cara Taylor Swift:the booth not talking to people. And I think that's the biggest
Cara Taylor Swift:thing, you know, spend the time in advance, making sure that
Cara Taylor Swift:this event that your people are there that you have potential
Cara Taylor Swift:clients there, and then streamline that offer so that
Cara Taylor Swift:you're ready to talk about it. And you've got the tools in
Cara Taylor Swift:place to either sell to convert to get them on your list
Cara Taylor Swift:somehow, so that you can convert them later, and that you're
Cara Taylor Swift:making those connections at that event. And then you know, once
Cara Taylor Swift:again, you see the booths, they're set up, they've got the
Cara Taylor Swift:table in the front, they're sitting behind the desk, and
Cara Taylor Swift:it's it just doesn't look inviting at all are your people
Cara Taylor Swift:like me that are introverts and they want to sneak up to the
Cara Taylor Swift:booth and look at things first before talking to anyone you
Cara Taylor Swift:know that it's set up in a way that people want to, you know
Cara Taylor Swift:that there's something about that booth that just draws them
Cara Taylor Swift:in. And then the third have conversations, you know, having
Cara Taylor Swift:conversation sales conversations versus a pitch. And I mean, we
Cara Taylor Swift:all know our products and services hopefully inside and
Cara Taylor Swift:out. And when that person is ready to chat about that, we'll
Cara Taylor Swift:be ready to chat about that. But you've got to get them to that
Cara Taylor Swift:point. And you've got to build I'm calling it a relationship,
Cara Taylor Swift:but you've got to build a connection, you know, before you
Cara Taylor Swift:can get to that side of things. So that's why I think there are
Cara Taylor Swift:people out there that have those experiences, like this was just
Cara Taylor Swift:not a good event for me. And I think a lot of times we need to
Cara Taylor Swift:pull some of that ownership back on us and really identify, you
Cara Taylor Swift:know what we did to get ourselves there and were we as
Cara Taylor Swift:prepared as we could have been?
Kimberly Beer:Absolutely and it is it's not good when you walk
Kimberly Beer:into a trade show and you're going down the aisle as a
Kimberly Beer:consumer and there's somebody sitting in a chair in the back
Kimberly Beer:of the booth with just a table with some literature and the
Kimberly Beer:front of the of the booth is just not an inviting situation
Kimberly Beer:for people. I do have one like really random tip before we wrap
Kimberly Beer:up that is specific to that. One of the things that I learned
Kimberly Beer:pretty quickly was if you raise the table up to chest height,
Kimberly Beer:and then you use director's chairs, if you want to sit and
Kimberly Beer:talk to people raise your table up to chest height and then use
Kimberly Beer:director's chairs so you're on eye level with the people that
Kimberly Beer:are walking down the aisle. It makes that contact for
Kimberly Beer:conversation a little bit easier. It just facilitates it
Kimberly Beer:because you're at eye level with them. They aren't looking down
Kimberly Beer:on you. You're looking at them straight on. So There's a little
Kimberly Beer:tactic that you can use to be able to really help with your
Kimberly Beer:booth is set up so that it makes it more comfortable for you. And
Kimberly Beer:it makes it easier for you to make that contact with people
Kimberly Beer:eye to eye and start the conversation with them when
Kimberly Beer:they're walking down the aisle way. So if you're struggling
Kimberly Beer:with that, and you find yourself in the back of the booth a lot,
Kimberly Beer:try that particular tactic, raise your table, raise your
Kimberly Beer:chair and see if you can get more success that way. I think
Kimberly Beer:that these are all great tips. And I like I said it's one of my
Kimberly Beer:favorite seasons out of the entire year trade shows and expo
Kimberly Beer:season. I am excited because I haven't been to trade shows and
Kimberly Beer:expos just here and there dotted especially for the last couple
Kimberly Beer:of years. And I have I'm going to Equifest of Kansas. I have a
Kimberly Beer:booth now at a networking event in Kansas City that I'm excited
Kimberly Beer:about we're doing AIM there's just a lot of really good
Kimberly Beer:opportunities that are coming up that where I get to spend in my
Kimberly Beer:wheelhouse of standing in a booth and chit chatting with
Kimberly Beer:people and doing sales conversations. And they're going
Kimberly Beer:to get hit with a double whammy with Cara and I in the same
Kimberly Beer:booth at AIM. So be prepared if you're coming to AIM
Cara Taylor Swift:And a triple whammy with Phyllis there so
Kimberly Beer:and a triple Phyllis is not like she's so
Kimberly Beer:sweet and southern. She has a whole different style than we
Kimberly Beer:do. She's she's got this very kind demeanor and people just
Kimberly Beer:really are drawn to her and that's
Cara Taylor Swift:So you're saying she's less obnoxious than
Cara Taylor Swift:we are. I don't understand?
Kimberly Beer:I don't know I don't know where I was going
Kimberly Beer:with that. I probably better get my foot out of my mouth before I
Kimberly Beer:insert it.
Cara Taylor Swift:Exactly. You want to keep doing the show
Cara Taylor Swift:together. You better you better watch what you say in the next
Cara Taylor Swift:two seconds of this episode.
Kimberly Beer:I love it. And speaking of speaking of our
Kimberly Beer:lovely famous Phyllis friend we do have another podcast now
Kimberly Beer:called Cowgirls with cameras and Phyllis is in that one. So just
Kimberly Beer:a quick reminder that that has launched into find it if you
Kimberly Beer:have not had enough of Kim and Cara then definitely go find us
Kimberly Beer:on the Cowgirls with cameras podcast and enjoy listening to
Kimberly Beer:us there and you get to meet our sweet famous Southern friend
Kimberly Beer:Phyllis.
Cara Taylor Swift:That's right by the time this episode comes
Cara Taylor Swift:out the Cowgirls with cameras podcast will have launched so we
Cara Taylor Swift:highly recommend and we would love the support of anyone in
Cara Taylor Swift:our listening audience. Now that needs a second podcast to listen
Cara Taylor Swift:to. This podcast is really geared towards photographers,
Cara Taylor Swift:people who love photography, and specifically equine
Cara Taylor Swift:photographers. So we would love for you guys to join us over
Cara Taylor Swift:there on the show. In the meantime, please reach out to us
Cara Taylor Swift:on social let us know that you're listening. What do you
Cara Taylor Swift:think about this episode, and we would love to hear your ideas
Cara Taylor Swift:for upcoming shows for the next season. You can find us at The
Cara Taylor Swift:Business Animal on Instagram and Facebook and at
Cara Taylor Swift:thebusinessanimal.com. We'd love to hear from you guys. Thank you
Cara Taylor Swift:so much for joining us today.
Jaz:Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business
Jaz:Animal. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And
Jaz:if you learned something today, leave us a review. To learn
Jaz:more. Find us at thebusinessanimal.com We'd love
Jaz:to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well
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