It's a simple philosophy; motivated and interested buyers travelling to touch, see and experience the various goods and services being offered by the sellers.

I visit dozens of shows a year. When I walk around these shows and talk to the booth personnel working the exhibits, one resounding message is clear. Most of them would really prefer not to be there. They give me all kinds of reasons that being anywhere else would be more advantageous. It's just hard for me to understand that salespeople who spend most of their waking hours trying to get appointments with prospects don’t believe they should be in a place where all the prospects are.

After over thirty years in the exhibit industry, it is my devout belief is that there is no better place for a salesperson to be, than on the floor of a well run show..... face-to-face with their clients, their prospects, their competitors and their industry.

It is hard for me to imagine an organization that would not benefit from exhibit marketing. Let's look at some of the strengths of exhibiting at trade and consumer shows.

* Shows provide an opportunity for buyers and sellers to meet face to face, where products can be demonstrated, handled and ultimately assessed.

* The audience is pre-selected and are pre-disposed to learn about new products, services and ideas.

* By being in direct contact with the client base, new buying interests can be uncovered and buyers who are normally not accessible will appear at your doorstep.

* The normal buying cycle can be shortened because of the ability to offer solutions and overcome objections immediately.

The above list of 'strengths' create a profile of a visitor that is a sales and marketing managers dream. To further strengthen this profile, 'attendee' studies done by organizations like the Center for Exhibit Industry Research and the Exhibitor Education Institute consistently reveal that visitors attend shows to find out what's new and to make buying decisions for current or future projects.

So the scene is set: When your organization decides to exhibit at any show, the power of thousands of years of exhibit marketing is at your disposal. Just as the camel traders of the middle-east were positioned face-to-face with their prospects, so are you.

The venues may have changed, but the 'sellers' are still renting their space on the 'showfloor' and the 'marketers' are still trying to encourage that 'perfect' prospect out of the aisles and into the booth. There is no other form of marketing that even comes close in its' power to qualify a prospect, inspire them with confidence in your people and your products, and ultimately create a lasting relationship with a new customer.