40. How to work a trade show like a business owner

Trade shows can be so much more than a day out of the business or a chance to browse new tools. When approached with the right mindset, they become powerful opportunities to level up your business, make strategic connections, and walk away with real ideas that drive profit and growth.

In this episode, Kevin breaks down exactly how to work any trade show like a business owner, not just an installer or someone in sales. You’ll learn how to prepare with purpose, ask smarter questions, network with intention, and follow up in a way that turns casual chats into cash-generating partnerships.

Whether it’s a major industry event or a local supplier showcase, this framework will help you make every minute count. And with the Installer Show just around the corner, there’s no better time to sharpen your approach and show up like a true CEO of your business.

If you’re tired of going to events and coming home with nothing but sore feet and a few freebies, this episode will give you the plan, focus, and confidence to make trade shows a serious growth tool for your business.

The KBB Unstoppable Business Owner podcast is sponsored by KBN - Kitchens & Bathrooms News THE business magazine for kitchen and bathroom professionals.

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Transcript

Kevin D Bannister 0:16

Welcome back to the KBB Unstoppable Business Owner Podcast. Whether you are heading to the installer show, another industry event, or you are planning one in for the future. We are diving in how to work a trade show like a business owner and not just another visitor, hoping for some freebies. Most installers I have spoken with. Treat trade shows like an extended trip to the tool aisle. They walk around with sore feet. A handful of pens and maybe some discount vouchers with zero strategic business wins. Now today we're gonna flip that script and by the end of the episode, you'll have a clear plan on how to work a trade show like a business owner. First, let's tackle why trade shows matter beyond the new product launches and the showroom demos. Think of a trade show as a compressed market research trip. In one day, you stand on a floor filled with hundreds of suppliers, tech platforms, and hundreds and thousands of fellow installers or peers. You get an instant snapshot of industry trends. Who's innovating, saying, quoting software? What products are starting to get that buzz? You get best practices. What questions are top performing installers asking? You get partnership potential, which suppliers offer co-marketing or referral incentives, which trade associations are looking for brand ambassadors. If you show up passively, you will leave with some goody bags and some thumbs up selfies. If you show up strategically, you will leave with some market insight, possibly some new revenue streams, and a robust pipeline of a high intent contact. So let's get some clear measurable goals. Before you even walk through the doors, do one thing and schedule in 30 minutes to do some planning. Do this in your calendar. Schedule an actual planning session as it block it out, like as if it was a job in the diary, or at least do this on the train on the way to the event. At the very least, use this prompt to guide you. So first you want three goals. You want supply scaling. So identify two suppliers whose tools or materials could improve your margin or your efficiency, how well you work, how quickly you work. Then we wanna be looking at peer networking contact, connect with at least three other installers to discuss their biggest scaling challenges or any issues that you may be having within your business or any areas that you want to improve. Then we want learning benchmarks. Attend at least one, or try and attend a couple, of mini seminars on business growth or just, digital tools. This may be so social media, marketing, anything that you feel that would benefit your business. Next, I want you to have a look at some, exhibitor research. I'm not talking about doing research in the, in the common sense. What I'm talking about is going through the list of exhibitors. And highlight five that you want to meet. Have a look to see if they're hosting any demos or any presentations. If they are and you are interested booking a slot in advance, you can always turn up on the day. But if you can book slots, it's advisable, then you wanna be looking at your materials and your messaging. So. Go with updated business cards. Now, if you're doing this on the train, you're not gonna be able to do this. But if you've scheduled in that session before, update your business cards if they're out of date, include a QR code on there, to link to your portfolio or any lead magnet you think's relevant. Next, I want you to prepare your elevator intro every business owner should have this. And it shouldn't be off the cuff. It's just the one line that quickly explains what you do and how you do it and who you help. So finally, with all of this in place, look to set up. Some sort of digital logging system. Now, this can literally be a Google sheet on your phone or a no app on your phone, but capture each conversation you have and what you need to do to follow up so that you can follow up once the event ends. No scribbling on pieces of paper anymore, unless you're gonna take an actual notepad that you're gonna carry around with you all the time. The one big thing from, exhibitions and conferences like this is people don't follow up. So you want to be the person that is following up. If something's gonna help your business, make sure you follow up. Don't rely on them to follow up. Okay, so you've done the prep. Now you are on the floor. Here's how you flip from spectator to strategists. Now you want targeted supplier conversations. Don't just ask, tell me about your products. You wanna be asking questions that essentially drive what you are after. So for example, asking things along the lines of. Okay. What is your best selling products? What are the products that other installers find, the most beneficial to them? Then you wanna be listening for them to, then you wanna be listening for things that will help improve your business. Do they offer referral incentives? Do they offer volume discounts? All these kind of things. Rather than just hearing the spiel of the day of this is the products that we sell now, this is what we've got coming. You wanna understand what's gonna help you the most, rather than just how a catalog. Next, you've got peer to peer networking there's nothing wrong with talking to a competitor. Feel free to approach a competitor and chat with them. You can use icebreakers that you love their branding or something along those lines and find out how. Ask them something along the lines of how are you finding the show so far? Any gold nuggets. This will yield real world benchmarking. What software they love, how they hire their structure, they found effective. People love to talk about their business and how well things are going. Now, obviously you need to make sure you take things with a P of salt because everybody will generally exaggerate things. However, you will find some nuggets in there when you are speaking to other peers. And then something we touched on earlier is the mini learning sessions. Attend at least one show, attend at least one seminar or panel each day. If you can take away. From this, you wanna be able to take away and write down one thing that you can implement next week once you're back from the show. And what I would look to do really is a schedule in this, in your calendar so that you can work on this with no ifs and no buts. So post show, the show is all over and here is where most people fall off and you can't let this happen. Within 24 hours, re review your log, identify those top five contacts, assign each one, a next step. For some, this may be nothing but others. It may be that you want demo of their software or you wanna have a coffee to chat about something or you want to trial on something thing. Schedule this sitting and craft personalized emails or messages and follow up in bulk. Get this done. The quicker you get this done, the better from this as well. What you will probably find is there is one thing that you can implement that will be a really quick win. This may be adopting a supplier software in one of your branches, or sending a pricing guide to all your clients, something that you've learned from the day. Action cements momentum and proves that ROI on the show was a complete investment. There you have it. How to work a trade show like a business owner from prep to follow up with strategies that guarantee you to leave with more than just freebies. Remember, the difference between spectators and CEOs at this show is simple. It's the intention and the action that you take. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Kevin d Baner and you've been listening to the KBB Unstoppable Business Owner Podcast.