Consumer Home & Garden Shows

Home & Garden Shows (HAGS) attract lots of people from a broad geographic area and may offer a unique selling opportunity for Lawn Care Providers. It's one of the few avenues you have to get face-to-face with a semi-qualified audience to accomplish a portion of your marketing goals.

HAGS are unique because the buyer comes to you (at your expense however)! It is very easy to get lost in the logistics of exhibiting and miss the goal of the show— generating leads. For the most part you are not trying to make sales at the show. You want the names and addresses of prospects that expressed an interest in lawn care services. These names then become an important asset that you can use for years to come.

Since the majority of HAGS are early in the season (mid - late winter) it gives your talented sales staff a good opportunity to gear up for the spring rush just around the corner. Talking to prospects that walk up to your booth is so much better than making a cold-cold on the telephone. Usually, a prospect will have a question about their lawn they remember from last season and they'd like to get a professionals opinion on how best to fix it. Give the right advice and you have a good opportunity to make a sale. No longer are you just a name in the phone book or your mail box, you're a company with a solution.

If weather might be a problem for running leads, let the prospects know that it may take several weeks before you'll be able to get to their lawn, but that you'll call them a day or two before to remind them you'll be there. Then call to remind them that you'll be out in the next day to give them their free estimate / evaluation.

Trade Show Booth

Most trade show display spaces are 10x10 areas. Filling that space is your responsibility.

You have several booth display options:

• Rent exhibit structure from independent exhibit display manufacturing representatives and purchase customized graphics that attach to the exhibit walls -- lowest initial cost, but more expensive in the long run

• Purchase booth and graphics -- totally customized to fit your exact needs

• Rent exhibit structure from show organizer-- more expensive than renting from an independent manufacturing rep, but you don't have to worry about transporting the exhibit

Picking A Booth Space -- what's best?

Most shows give you the opportunity to select your rental space from specific areas of the main show floor. Here's a tip on which spots are better: when looking at a floor plan of the convention area, draw an upside pyramid with it's point resting on the main entrance. Anywhere inside this pyramid is good.

Being close to the competition is also good. Ever notice how many restaurants are close to other restaurants? Or how many art galleries are sometimes next door to each other? You want as much traffic as possible to go by your booth during the show and if someone is looking at your competition, don't you also want them looking at you?

Free-standing or table top?

Free standing units are the preferred method, but with the right graphics a table top set up can be compelling. Cost is another issue. Table top displays are less costly, easier to transport, store, and set up. Keep the message simple. See graphics for more info.

Graphics -- the key to attracting the right prospects

A trade show is not the place to be subtle. Everywhere your eye looks it sees some form of advertising graphics streaming through the throngs of people. You need large images that attract attention. Think of your booth as billboard along the highway. A simple large image with a few bullet points. Nothing else. Keep it simple and to the point. Cover the basics: make sure people understand what you're selling without a word from you.

What to give a prospect?

Almost anything will work, the cheaper the better. Save your expensive brochures for when you actually run the leads.

Many people are looking for handouts (candy, yardsticks, golf balls, note pads, plastic bags, anything they can stuff in their bag of stuff). These people are for the most part, not interested in lawn care services. They're the grab and run type. You don't need to attract them to your expensive real estate at the show. You want to grab people that (1) have lawns (2) are interested in having better lawns (3) have the money to buy outside services to make those improvements.

If your booth is doing it's job, you'll be attracting real prospects to your booth and not so many "just looking" folks. Give them an 8.5 x 11 flyer printed on one side that offers a discount if they call your office in the next few days for a "Show Special Discount."

Give a business card. Business cards somehow manage to survive the trade show extravaganza, some even make it to the refrigerator door.

Save your advertising specialties for actual lead running. Save your expensive 4-color literature for actual lead running. Save your best offer for actual lead running and lead closing.

Lead Retrieval

Taking names and numbers is Job #1 at the show. How you do this is important. Obviously, you can write down names and numbers as you talk to people, but that limits you to just those people willing to stop and talk. Some folks are shy or your staff may be busy. Here's the opportunity to let your prospects do the work for you.

Offer a drawing for a prize, but not just any prize. Keep it lawn related and of some value such as a free year's lawn care service. Forget a free aeration service, or free grub control, make it significant, but one that not only does the winner win, but you win too.

You can put any kind of caveats on the entry form, but keep it simple. Name, address, city, state, zip & phone. List plainly when the drawing will be held. You may then call back everyone that entered and/or send them a post card. Don't do the drawing at the show, but back at the office where you can control the situation. You don't necessarily want a winner that lives 2 states away.

Staffing your booth

• A 10 x 10 booth should have 2 people (no more) at ALL TIMES.

• No FOOD in the booth!!!

• No CHAIRS in the booth-- staff members should be standing all the time while staffing the exhibit

• Plan for a 10 minute break every hour for each person.

• Limit conversations with prospects to 3 - 5 minutes maximum. Acknowledge new visitors immediately as they enter the booth area and mention you'll be with them in just a minute. Politely break off conversations with prospects at the 4 minute mark

• Staffers need more than just a good smile and friendly disposition: they need product knowledge.

• Truthful: honesty isn't just the best policy, it's the only one

• Good listeners and good note takers

• Goal oriented -- stay focused on the goal of the show -- get as many good geographic leads to run as possible

Declining results

Over the last few years we've seen a reduction in the results from home and garden shows. There could be a lot of reasons for this, but I suspect the main reason is a result of the internet.

Home and garden shows were a great place for homeowners to see a variety of related products and services that they might need in the short term. However, people no longer need to attend these shows to find all the products and services they need because they can find the same information on the internet.

With more households becoming wired to the net, the less need for these big shows. Today the home and garden shows are becoming a casual form of cheap entertainment.