In my book written a while back I make clear start-ups NEVER want to have their own trade show booth, since they will not get enough orders to warrant the cost. Certainly, a start up should contract with an independent sales rep who has a booth at the show, who will show your product along with others and get paid only for performance. But your own booth? Never!
If you are not writing enough orders at a show to cover the cost of the booth by ten times then don't do the booth. A $5,000 booth should get you minimum $60,000 in orders which may yield only $50,000 in sales. At that is assuming a 10% net profit, in other words, a break even at least.
The easy credit of the last few decades has made matters worse. People do not even think in terms of getting any orders in a booth. The idea of a booth is a booth gives exposure! So what? Exposure is not sales. I believe this attitude crept in with the easy money booms over the last three decades. Since people got EZCredit to start a business, they did not bother to build a market organically. Just show the products at a show and see what happens. Massive failure, but who cares, you can always get a job at Google, Microsoft, Verizon, TSA or one of the other intel operations.
I've even recently gotten pushback on trade-shows-as order-writing events, as opposed to trade lead events.
So I recommend a change in attitude: if it is not about writing orders, do not do it. Search MOQ on this site and you'll see much on websites, which also are disconnected form order writing. I am working on tying the various threads into a cutting edge whole.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
If you are not writing enough orders at a show to cover the cost of the booth by ten times then don't do the booth. A $5,000 booth should get you minimum $60,000 in orders which may yield only $50,000 in sales. At that is assuming a 10% net profit, in other words, a break even at least.
The easy credit of the last few decades has made matters worse. People do not even think in terms of getting any orders in a booth. The idea of a booth is a booth gives exposure! So what? Exposure is not sales. I believe this attitude crept in with the easy money booms over the last three decades. Since people got EZCredit to start a business, they did not bother to build a market organically. Just show the products at a show and see what happens. Massive failure, but who cares, you can always get a job at Google, Microsoft, Verizon, TSA or one of the other intel operations.
I've even recently gotten pushback on trade-shows-as order-writing events, as opposed to trade lead events.
So I recommend a change in attitude: if it is not about writing orders, do not do it. Search MOQ on this site and you'll see much on websites, which also are disconnected form order writing. I am working on tying the various threads into a cutting edge whole.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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