Adding Up the Cost of Exhibitions

Spring is the exhibition season! If you are franchisor looking at attracting new franchisees, exhibitions are a good chance to meet and talk to prospects.

Adding Up the Cost of Exhibitions

Spring is the exhibition season!  If you are franchisor looking at attracting new franchisees, exhibitions are a good chance to meet and talk to prospects.  However, there is no-doubt they are a sizable investment.  The exhibition space, booth, marketing, staff time to attend, travel and accommodation all add up to result in exhibition attendance becoming one of the largest marketing investments over the year.  Set this against a backdrop of falling attendee numbers and it’s time to calculate if the sums add-up to make exhibitions worthwhile.

Over the past few years, the internet has changed the way people research and acquire information.  The internet has removed much of the reliance on the franchisor as the ‘Gatekeeper’ of franchise information, a consumer can now learn everything they need to know (in their mind) from their phones, tablets or devices.

Google has coined the term, ZMOT, or ‘zero moment of truth’.  This term refers to the point in the consumers journey whereby they make the decision to buy a product or service, or in our case, invest in a franchise. 

Before Google, this ZMOT would have likely come from one of two touchpoints with the prospective franchisee, an exhibition, or a discovery day.  Both moments where the prospective franchisee can sit down with the franchisor and learn everything there is to know about the franchise.  Now prospects can move that ZMOT to a point of their own choosing while doing research online.

As with the shift in consumer ZMOT, exhibitions must also reassess their own paradigms and evolve with this gatekeeper-free world the internet has created for us.  This change isn’t rested solely at the organiser’s feet anymore, but also at that of the exhibitors, for them exhibitions still offer the time for face-to-face interaction which the internet can never really replace.

So how do exhibitors take advantage of this?   You need to place the right brand ambassadors on your stand.  Successful franchisees are perfect, as they are more believable than head office staff.  

It’s also important to link up with other industry professionals.  The moment your prospect leaves they are thinking of the 101 reasons not to buy into your franchise model, so being able to point them to other affiliates at the exhibition which can help them make informed decisions to move them forward on their journey can be useful.  For example, d&t is exhibiting at forthcoming franchise exhibitions, getting interested franchisees to talk to our experts about business planning and funding sourcing options can help them overcome issues people often worry about and can become common barriers to sale.

It’s also important to talk to prospects prior to the exhibition too.  Setting up appointments can result in the exhibition booth becoming an opportunity for a mini-discovery day which can be positive for all concerned.  Marketing beforehand is key here.  Just ‘turning up and hoping the right people come along’ on the day just doesn’t work anymore.

Following the exhibition like any good accountancy firm we always advise that exhibitors ‘know their numbers’.   How many appointments were set up?   How many prospects are likely to sign-up as a result of meetings?  It may take a good few months to understand how successful an exhibition was but understanding the cold, hard facts helps with a cost calculation about an organisation’s attendance and can be invaluable about deciding whether to attend future exhibitions.

Good luck and I hope to see you at a franchise exhibition very soon!

For further information please see: https:/www.team-dt.com/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Thomas QFP
James Thomas QFP
RELATED ARTICLES