If you’re one of the thousands at IHRSA this year, I’m sure it’s a hectic time for you. At this first national fitness products trade show of the year, you will have an opportunity to see what’s new and try out the equipment that you’ve been considering buying. Between that and attending seminars, seeing old friends, and getting a bit of the local flavor, it all adds up to an exhausting schedule.
You may also have some preset meetings with some vendors while at these shows. Believe me, for a salesperson on the floor, these meetings are a dream. He not only has a chance to sequester you away from his competition for a while, but also has the ability to meet with several people in one place, without having to travel from facility to facility. This keeps his sales contacts high, as well as making his boss happy, because he’s managed to bring so many prospects in.
After all that, how do you get around to anyone else? We’re constantly hearing from our friends who attend that they really didn’t have any time to see anything new. They’ll often inquire whether there was anything exciting or interesting at the show that we have seen. That’s unfortunate when you consider that there are a lot of great companies in the industry who have spent a lot of money at this show to introduce products that could be the next big new trend in fitness. There are often some clever new products out there but you may never end up seeing them with all you have to do. How do you find these people among everything else that goes on at these shows?
First, I’d encourage you to take just about an hour at some point to walk the entire show. If you’re compelled to stop at a particular booth, instead of stopping right then, make notes on that booth and stop by later when you have more time. I think the mistake that most people make is spending too much time at booths on the first day. At that point, the personnel in the booth are likely to be the most overloaded with appointments, walk-bys, and attempts to make appointments, and can’t devote the best time to you.
The best day to revisit those other booths is invariably the last day of the show. Traffic is usually very slow then, most of the appointments are over, and salespeople will be eager to spend time going through their information fully with you. Early morning workouts are also an excellent time to try products out and get information quickly. Typically, the larger companies have a skeleton staff on the floor at that point and the smaller vendors may have no one there at all, which gives you an opportunity to pick up a brochure without any pressure.
Second, if you have a mild interest in a product that you see at the show, it’s better to get some broad-brush strokes about the product than it is to try to firm up a sale right there. Unless you have all of the specific details about your project in hand, you’ll want to have time to get back home, go through your information more thoroughly and study what each company has to offer. Once you get firm pricing, you’ll also want to confirm whether the equipment is appropriate for your needs and check on references, if you’ve never bought from the company before. You simply do not have those luxuries when you’re at the show, and the pressure to buy is much higher.
Often you’ll hear things about “show discounts” which make it seem as though you must purchase at the show. The reality often is that if you speak with a salesperson at a show and make sure that he has your information, the show special will extend weeks, or even months, from the end of the show. Yes, the salespeople want to see that sales result from a show, but they’re happy to show that they made sales even weeks later, too. The object for us is just to be able to justify continuing to attend these shows and so, whether the sale occurs on the tradeshow floor, or after a few follow up calls, it will be clear where it came from. You just have to insist that the discounts are still in place when you get home and you’ll have a better opportunity to take your time for your final evaluation.
I encourage you to learn all you can while at these shows: from the seminars you attend, to networking with your peers, to discovering new possibilities that the industry suppliers have to offer this year. With a good plan in mind, you should have an opportunity to get all these things done, and you won’t get lost in the overload of information.
If you’ve made it to San Francisco, have a great show.
Steve Chase is the General Manager of Fitness Flooring. He can be contacted at 866.735.5113, or by email at sales@fitnessfloors.com, or visit www.fitnessfloors.com.
Trade shows are an excellent source of information!