Hingston, who stresses the importance of demographic information when developing a mailing list, says that such data are also necessary if a lead is to be of any value. A ballot that people fill out to enter a drawing should ask pointed questions that qualify the person. We're putting more emphasis on that for our exhibitors. And he believes that show management bears part of the responsibility for that. Consumer events are selling events.
People exhibit because they're looking for sales.
But trade show people range all over the place. Sometimes they exhibit because the marketing department said they need a presence. This is where the show manager's influence comes in, Wurm explains. People who exhibit for the wrong reasons got that from the show manager, who told them, for example, that their competition would be there. I'd rather convince my exhibitor to come because of all the great benefits to be derived from the show.