Home & Garden shows, business owners, any advice?

[summit583guy]

ive signed up my business for a upcoming home and garden show, this is my first one with my business, ive been in business for about 16 months now so Im still trying to build up new clients and get my name into the community. My set up plan as of right now is a nice 2.5 x 8 ft banner across the back of the booth, (8x15) having a table set up with some nice photos of me climbing and our equipment, possibly some leaf samples with ? marks on them to get people to ask what types of leaves they are, a standing log with a climber in spurs and a cedar hedge along the ends of each sides of the booth along with a few small fruit trees with woodchips on the floor. Does anybody have any pictures of booths they have set up in the past or ideas for me? any info would be much appreciated. thanks guys

 

[himiler]

What's the potential customer going to put in his bag? What's he or she going to remember you by?
Are there any incentives for estimates or signups during the show? Do you have a brochure of any type and a stapler to attach your business card to said brochure?
Is there a local disease or blight that you can zero in on and serve as a clearing house for? It can be a part of the whole pictoral presentation.
Can I win a tee shirt or something else with your company name on it if I ID a certain number of leaf samples? Can your wife or another woman familiar with the business be in the booth with you? Do you have a pre-designed form for potential clients to fill out?
Make sure you drape your table with some kind of cloth, it looks better, and if possible have some kind of back side to the booth.
Reach out and "touch" the passerbys, don't wait for them to ask you the first question. Make eye contact and greet with a smile. A lousy arborist who's good at sales is better than a good arborist who's lousy at sales.
Just my thoughts, not worth a whole lot, hope it helps.
Steve

 

[BC WetCoast]

A couple of things I learned from trade shows

- don't put a table across the front of the booth, keep it to the side so people can 'come inside' your booth. Gives a more welcoming feel.
- no eating or drinking in the booth. Do it somewhere else
- keep a couple of 'bibles' around, in case someone asks an obscure question you don't know the answer, you have some reference
- If you work in a number of municipalities which have different bylaws regarding tree protection/tree removal, then a poster summarizing the permit requirements could be useful, for example we work in about 12 suburban municipalities - 6 of which require tree removal permits and they are all different in terms of tree size that triggers permit requirments
- a poster on health and safety requirments ie the What you should ask for when hiring a tree service type poster