Your Trade Show Pro

From a contractor/vendor point of view, much time has been spent trying to decide the criteria for what direct solicitation [bad business practice] is and what permission marketing is.  Most people are still confused about what is acceptable and what is not.

This might help clearing up the difference.

On the Trade Show floor, the Official Contractor and the Show Association maintain exclusive marketing rights.  Direct solicitation on-site by any secondary contractor is in violation of this common business rule. 

The act of engaging and handing a business card to a client or prospective client is the most common evidence of solicitation.  

An infringement, real or imagined, results in expulsion from site for the duration of the event.

Discussing advantages of your business and giving a card to a prospect or exchanging cards is direct solicitation.

To maintain compliance, our internal rule is simple.  We make a point of not carrying business cards on-site. 

In the course of an event or Trade Show, we speak with and interact with many people on-site.

That’s business. 

However, we make a point of asking them for their business card for later follow up.  That’s lead acquisition, not solicitation.

In the course of getting a business card, if the prospect writes a convenient time to re-engage on the back of the card, that’s permission marketing.

See you on the show floor!