Home Improvement Shows – Make Them Work

Sunday afternoon, Devon and I attended the fall Home Improvement and Remodeling show in Portland sponsored by the Oregon Remodelers Association. I was told by some exhibitors they felt that attendance was off from past years, but there still were homeowners attending, looking for help.

I talked with three clients who were exhibiting, all were doing well, getting on average one solid lead an hour. That is the number that we always got when we were in the shows. This goes back to educating yourself on what you need to do at the show to attract new business, paying attention to what works and what doesn’t.

I have talked with contractors across this country left to right, top to bottom. Those that do home shows right always get good leads. Those that don’t claim it is a waste of money.

Doing it right means having an open booth so folks can walk right up and ask questions. It means a big screen monitor showing before and after pictures of your completed jobs. It means candy for the kids and maybe mom and dad. It means not sitting down or eating in the booth. You have to always be available and approachable. Do I need to say you should never use your cell phone in your booth? And we noticed yesterday that at least one in every four booths was empty. I know it was Sunday afternoon, a few hours before “quitting time”, but people were still buying tickets for the show and still looking for help. If you’re going to spend your money on a booth, always have someone there to talk to.

We have an outline of how to plan and work a show booth that we give to our coaching clients. Those that use it get at least one lead and hour and often more than that. Something to consider.