J.T. Wassink
J.T. WASSINK is Senior Wood Specialist at the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam.
Some dots and don'ts for prospective exhibitors at trade fairs
A good way to establish contacts between producers/exporters and importers/consumers is to participate in trade fairs in promising market areas.
Some years of experience as an adviser to timber exporters and their customers who exhibit at the-by now traditional-annual Wood Fair "Hout 19" in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has taught us a lot of "do's" and "don'ts."
Here is a digest of experiences which may be of help to newcomers.
The first question that has to be analysed is: What are the reasons for a seller to participate - or not - in a trade fair. To hire a stand, and to outfit and man it, requires a sizable amount of money. The decision, therefore, has to be considered carefully.
An established firm will participate for two reasons: to introduce a brand new product, or an existing product that has not been handled by the firm before, to the group of its existing customers and to potential new customers; and to establish contacts with potential customers.
A firm that is a newcomer to the market has the following reasons:
- to present the firm and its products;- to establish contacts with potential customers.
A firm may decide not to participate for the following reasons:
- it has nothing new to offer;- the market is very steady and settled, therefore there is little danger that competitors will take over part or all of its market share;
- the potential market is too small, or the total produce can readily be sold on other markets.
The same type of questions can be asked of the potential buyers, the visitors to the Fair, who will come:
- motivated by curiosity (What is new ? How are the prices ? Who is represented ?);- to establish new contacts if prices, quality and conditions of delivery are favourable;
- to meet old contacts, friends and colleagues;
- to check on competitors' activities.
It is the responsibility of the organizers of the fair to try to lure the right type of visitors, the potential buyers, to the exhibition.
Since the organizer makes his living primarily by leasing exhibition space, and only in the second place by selling entrance tickets, his interests run parallel with those of the participating sellers: to attract the correct type of visitors is more important than to attract just a great number of them.
Accordingly, participating exhibitors should not hesitate to inform the fair's management of their wish to reach special groups of potential customers, and they should do so well in advance of the opening date. Important buyers cannot be drafted at the last moment, but should be invited in the proper way.
The next point is: What should a stand look like? Much depends on the available budget, but even if it is small, a fertile mind should be able to find a good eye-catcher for the stand.
The products to be sold should be well displayed, that is, in a manner enabling more than one customer to look over the collection at the same time.
Somewhere, out of the way of passersby, some comfortable chairs and a table should be provided for a quiet talk with a customer. (A little later we will deal with the dangers of having a separate office for this purpose.)
Also, remember that flowers are a basically cheap and attractive decorating material. And finally, that timber-men are often thirsty people, and the possibility to serve a drink (coffee, soft drinks, beer, liquor) should be available, but with discretion. It is not advisable to just offer free drinks for all: that would bring in a lot of visitors, but little or no trade.
Who should man a stand and how should they behave ?
The standholder should be somebody who knows his products, his trade, and who has as much market information as possible. There is sometimes a tendency to assign this task to some official of the exhibitor's government from the embassy nearest to the fair. From the viewpoint of trade and turnover in products and money, this is undesirable, regardless of how pleasant the person might be. But as a coach, perhaps as an interpreter to the salesman, such a person might be an asset.
We learned from experience that most salesmen from tropical countries do not have sufficiently aggressive sales techniques and tend to wait for the customers to approach them.
This is due in part to the business usage in their country of origin, but also to finding themselves in completely new surroundings, having to cope with foreign people and foreign languages.
The customer, or visitor, for his part hesitates to approach a foreign salesman, for he is not sure whether he will understand him and whether he can speak other languages well enough to carry on a conversation.
Really good salesmen should be able to conclude a profitable deal even in sign-language and mimics, but some knowledge of the language of the country where the fair is being held anal or a good interpreter, plus a friendly smile, is a surer approach.
The salesman should take the initiative to start the conversation with any apparently interested passer-by or visitor, even if only by shaking hands and making a remark on the quality of the weather.
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Developing countries planning to market wood products in industrialized countries should examine the value of participating in trade fairs... and the techniques of getting the most out of an exhibit. |
We look with misgivings on closed small offices in the stand because we have found that insufficiently aggressive salesmen tend to hide themselves in there-thus being constantly at the fair but never talking to anybody.
The salesman should be on his feet most of the time.
Women at a stand may be an asset, especially when in their country of origin trading is traditionally in the hands of women. Besides they are quite an attraction when wearing their national costumes.
The stand should be constantly manned. When only one salesman is available, special trade-talks with a good prospect should be held after closing hours or during the days following the fair.
There are some questions that the salesman should be able to answer: prices, time of delivery, shipping possibilities, capacity, export duties, permits, banking, quality and guarantees.
The salesman should know the product standards that are used in the market he is trying to penetrate.
Some countries, like the Netherlands, give financial support and guidance to exporters from developing countries (C.B.I., Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries, P.O. Box 30009, Rotterdam).
The European Economic Community in Brussels also gives financial assistance. In some instances, market intelligence for certain products can be obtained, when asked for well in time before the fair starts.
Embassies from the country where the fair is to be held, or your own embassy in that country can help you with contacts and information.
If your firm already has well-established business relations in the country in which the fair will be held, try to arrange a cooperative participation for maximum impact.
In principle, local businessmen can handle the conventional lines of business and you will be free to try to introduce new products to new clients.
And a final piece of advice: start the preparations well ahead of time, which means at least half a year before the opening of the fair.
These remarks may seem simple. However, anybody familiar with trade fairs will have to admit that such simple recommendations are by no means superfluous. More often than not, participations yield disappointing results just because of the kind of shortcomings we mentioned.
There is nothing inherently difficult for tropical countries in penetrating foreign markets, as long as some basic rules are followed and common sense is used. We would be pleased if our remarks could contribute, even in a small way, to the success of your endeavours.
