PCA Magazine Show Issue 2021

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG SHOW 2021 | PCA The Magazine 53 or prospect will need. They aren’t foolproof, however, given that many of your accounts and prospects tend to wander around tackling business as it finds them. A great trick to buck this trend is meeting an account in the morning for a coffee. Grab their Starbucks order andmeet them somewhere on the way into the convention so you can walk to the booth together and ensure you have the time you need and aren’t chasing the entire week. Organization for your staff is just as important within the booth. There is a lot of “uptime,” but there’s also some downtime. This should be among the most profitable weeks of the year for you depending on how linked to the premium cigar business your business is. Reps or employees should have a plan for how to use their downtime in the booth. This could be outbound calling, setting appointments with retailers you know are attending for subsequent days, or prospecting from the show floor. Busy begets busy, so if it seems like the booth is busy, stay moving and keep up whatever was working to get accounts into the booth. The booth itself should be configured in such a way that it promotes business getting done. In a small booth, for example, a sofa is probably not as good a use of resources (lord knows the furniture rentals are not cheap) as a couple chairs with a coffee ” T H E I N D U S T R Y “A simple but often overlooked tip that many exhibitors miss is grabbing stuff you don’t think you’ll need for the business but actually need to stay alive. Grab a couple of cases of water for the booth, some protein bars and some hand sanitizer. Don’t forget to ship a tape gun for packing up ....” table in between. I’m not sure who exactly does much business on a couch but they probably aren’t going to trade shows. You also need to be sure to have everything easily accessible. A small filing cabinet or organizer may seem like a good idea but, in practice, interrupting a good conversation to open a bunch of drawers trying to find a price sheet or the show deals may not come off as organized as you intended. A better plan is to have your reps make a packet with the show deals, price sheet, and a business card paper clipped together, so that when an account comes into the booth they’ll start the conversation with everything they need rather than counterfeiting the rapport being built by stopping to gather materials. The retailers I see that tend to be the most successful (and the least stressed) at the show are always prepared. They have their numbers, a PO written, and know what they want to talk about. It’s really the difference between spending an hour at the booth on the phone with store staff trying to get reports and inventory counts versus spending 15 minutes actually getting business done. In the same way, as an exhibitor, it is important to have your information at hand. Let the accounts attending the show know about the specials in advance so they can be prepared and, after setting appointments and building your schedule, pull the relevant numbers for those accounts so they’re easily discussed during your appointment. A simple but often overlooked tip that many exhibitors miss is grabbing stuff you don’t think you’ll need for the business but actually need to stay alive. Grab a couple of cases of water for the booth, some protein bars and some hand sanitizer. Don’t forget to ship a tape gun for packing up and, if you have storage or closets in the booth, break down your boxes during setup instead of letting the logistics people take them to storage because it can take forever to get them back when it’s time to break down the booth. Think about what your daily routine is and bring the stuff you use for it to avoid working all day without food, water and Advil. The final piece of advice—and I’ll readily admit I’m among the worst offenders for this—is to not get so caught up in the nonbusiness functions of the show that the business functions suffer. As an exhibitor, it is a long, long week. Standing in the booth all day, drinking and eating all night, and waking up with minimal sleep while trying to sound smart requires a ton of effort. Do your client dinners, have a drink and a cigar, and then go to bed. Will you do this? Probably not. Should you, though? For sure. By the end of the week, the majority of the attendees and exhibitors look like extras in The Walking Dead. Don’t be one of the zombies, and have a great show.