What Small Businesses can do in a Trade Exhibition

 The Lagos International Trade Fair is on. New customers are being acquired just as existing customers are being lost to other businesses. An international trade exhibition holds alot of benefits for the economy as well as businesses. As it is now, over 60,000 temporary jobs have been created, and alot of goods and cash are exchanging hands at the event.

To businesses, exhibition events are a great avenue to make new customers especially for new products or features. It provides an opportunity for you to show-case your goods, and engage new customers. A lot of customers get the chance to try new products, and may eventually remain with the new product if it provides more benefits.

While at the fair as a small business owner, you may not have all the luxury and resources to engage in promotional activities like big businesses, but there are few things you can do to get the best out of a trade exhibition, and also to increase your chances of getting customers to switch to your product if possible.

Build a good reputation they can’t resist

The reputation of any business influences how customers remain loyal to it. It deals with an attribute or characteristics you want your business to be known for, and it can be in form of financial performance, product quality, service quality, management effectiveness or the integrity of the owners. A good reputation can enhance customers’ trust and confidence in a business, and help them in making the decision about the business. Trade fair or exhibition event is an opportunity for you to build that reputation that customers will love to associate with.

Understand where their dissatisfaction is coming from

No matter how good a product is, there is always an element of dissatisfaction either in the product or in services that accompany it. The only reason customers are still loyal to a business or product is that there is no better alternative yet or such element of dissatisfaction is negligible when compared with benefits that come with the product. During such an event, customers are looking for something better and new in a product and knowing where customers find dissatisfaction in competitor’s product or service can help you find a new feature in your product. There is nothing that makes it easier for customers to switch brand like dissatisfaction. If you can identify where customers are not yet satisfied in a product, and can fill that void, you are likely to win more customers.

Improve on your service failure response

Service failures are inevitable in business, but ability to respond promptly is key to keeping your customers. It’s interesting how prompt businesses are responding to service failures at the venue of the trade exhibition. No business wants to lose customers on account of not meeting their needs. Service failures can provoke negative complaints and if not properly dealt with could drive away customers. Prompt response to service failures is now being used as selling point and a competitive advantage at the event.

Engage, Engage, Engage

If you can’t any other thing during a trade exhibition, you must engage with other participants customers and other businesses alike.

The whole essence of a trade fair is not just to make quick sales but to learn new tricks as well as engage potential customers. Getting visitors at a trade exhibition to come to your business later as customers is great, but keeping as ‘your customers’ is the ultimate.