Our home show was an exhausting affair but very rewarding., Remember that the biggest reason people have a hard time buying ANY service is they can't see it, touch it, taste is and "pre-experience it" before the purchase.
By presenting yourself correctly at a home show you have a unique opportunity to let people "pre-experience" your service and cut the FEAR FACTOR of the transaction enormously. On the other hand, do it wrong it will just be an expensive waste of time or even worse, be a negative Moment of Truth for 1,000's of prospective Cheerleaders!
Here's a few thoughts.
1) Action, people want lots of action. Home show attendees get that glazed look of being over stimulated very quickly. So you need to "pull them in" to the booth. Dumping stuff on a cushion is good. (You can also set up a big TV and run a dramatic video of cleaning really trashed carpet but live is always better.) On an inside booth I'd set up an olefin chair and let kids stain it up with eggs, catsup, dirt, etc and then clean it off.
NOTE: We set our trucks up outside and cleaned area rugs that peole would bring in for free. (We literally had some trash type people tear up their living room carpet and bring it in- made a great demo piece!) Over a 2 day period we would clean 600 to 800 rugs- free of charge. Created tremendous good will and boy did we have action as people watched two truck mounts and 4 or 5 techs cleaning continuously. (Set up clear view filters and let folks watch the gunk coming out of the rugs.)
2) Humor, lot's of fun humor. As I mention above, ask kids to dump some of their hot dog or Coke on the cushion and then caution them out loud, "Don't do this at home!
3) Take the initiative. Don't wait for people to enter your booth. We had several of our employees out front handing out $20.00 off coupons to everyone who passed by. Then if the prospect stopped and asked a question the "front end" passed them off to me or one of my managers in the "back end". Have something to hand people that has "value". We printed up thousands of "checks" on real check stock that in reality was a ccoupon. (Today with inflation I would make it for 25.00 on any cleaning over 100.00 or something like that.) There was a "signature line" for our employees to sign as they handed the check to the customer. Gave it extra respect. Over the years we got a tremendous return from these. Sometimes someone would turn in a coupon that they had saved for five or six years before calling us. Fine by me. The "check" had done it's job.
4) This is exhausting work. We scheduled rotating breaks for our peole every two hours. BTW, prohibit chairs in the booth. The last thing attendees want to see is a bunch of employees sitting down. (No chairs in your booth.) Take their breaks elsewhere.
5. Always run a contest which forces people to stop and fill out a coupon. You should also have a box for them to check if they would like a "free home inspection" and also fill out what time is best to contact them over the phone. (If you do this be sure to have extra staff to follow up the next work day to schedule the appointments. We would typically get several hundred requests and it is a negative MOT for people to request a call and not get one.)
6. All of the above means you will need to invest some money in your "production". Hire extra people, professional graphics for your booth, do it right or don't do it at all.
7. Keep yourself and other management free to talk to the "heavy hitters". I would stay more to the back of the booth and when one of our people working the crowd had a good prospect they would bring them back and introduce us. Then I would take over!
I have put together a lot more information in a free Special Report on how to do Home/ Trade Shows. If anyone wants a copy e-mailed to them just write me at
stoburen@homefrontsuccess.com and put the word "Home Show" in the subject line. (If you want the free companion DVD just include your mailing address.)
Steve Toburen CR
Director of Training
Jon-Don's
Strategies for Success
PS Why not give out a free bottle of spotter with LIFETIME FREE REFILLS for everyone who fills out a request for a home inspection? This weeds out a lot but let's you reward those with serious interest.
PPS Was the Home Show a valuable marketing tool? Yes and we spent a substantial part of our yearly promotional budget on it. Did I like doing it? In the early years yes. Later on I grew to dread it. Absolutely exhausting.
But if you do it do it right it absolutely rocks. My competitors would come in and just sit around ... and sneak glimpses of us busily doing free rug cleaning with 20 or 30 potential customers standing around watching our boys working. (I loved this part.)
