Trade Show Success Series - Part 6
- Antjuan Davis
- Jun 21, 2024
- 3 min read
SCIENCE OF SAMPLING
Who would have guessed that there is a science to this sampling thing. Have a pretty face with a smile, have some enthusiasm and a good gift and you can hand out ANYTHING! I mean ANYTHING! When at your booth don’t be weird about it waiting for them to come. They know that you're waiting for them, and it makes them uncomfortable. When they notice they will sometimes make the most obvious detour to avoid you, or they will have the NO THANK YOU ready and armed before you even open your mouth. Don’t even make eye contact, just wait until they are 2 feet from you then say you're very short 1 second message about the gift you are giving them that is conveniently labeled with your logo.
Trusting what this blog says and implementing it will save you massive amounts of time and money that would otherwise be wasted through trial and error. Everything in these series of books has been tried and tested for years and years on over 200 programs. Ok, back to the science. From time to time, you’re going to run into some people that are not too pleased with the product or the company you’re representing. All you have to do is say with a smile that you’re sorry that they had a bad experience, and then move on as though they never existed. They will ruin the mood for about 37 seconds, then it will get better as the next group of people come down who didn’t hear the ungratefulness that just occurred a moment ago.
Other times you’re going to run into some disrespectful, unappreciative, customers who take the gift rudely and aggressively without a thank you and without a smile. With them just say with a strong fun voice to have a great day and most will embarrassingly turn around, snap out of their daily mood, and with a shy voice say thank you. Because even though you don’t see it, you were one of the best things that happened to them that day.
There are lots of other rebuttals for the way the population acts, but we are just going to have to keep it there for now, because I can fill a few books when it comes to behavior and responses, Ok, back to sampling... Most likely you might have a brochure to give, or a flyer, just make sure it is given to the consumer at the same time as the gift. Nothing is worse than you tell them to stop in their tracks so you can reach deep in your bag and give them a stupid flyer (which is what they are thinking).
They are already in your debt when you give them a gift and they want to give back to you somehow, which sometimes might mean standing and waiting for you to get your flyers out. You want that returned gift to be in the form of them buying your product, going on your website, or actually reading your brochure. Never give out the product alone.
Most of the time you’re going to be saying your message to each and every person as you hand out your gift and material. In case of a crowd where you can get overwhelmed it is most efficient to say your message loud every 10 to 20 seconds to the whole crowd so that they all hear it. Saying it to 10 people at once is no different than saying it to 10 separate people, and when I say message, I mean the message you say about your company. For example: “We have complimentary organic nutrition bars.” Here is a big one; never ASK if they want one. TELL them to take one. This is why most people are told what to do their whole life and are programmed to comply even though they may not want to in some cases, but when you ask yourself if they want one, then you will be told NO most of the time, even if they need it. Because we live in a negative world where people are told NO most of their life when asked if they want something from someone; the first thing they want to say is No by habit.
You say no to children when they ask for something, you say no to sales reps every time you go to the store, you say no constantly throughout your life and you’re programmed to say it again when some stranger in a company shirt offers you something on the corner. Never ask, always tell them what to do and expect them to take it.
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