Home shows are everywhere this time of year.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Home shows can increase brand awareness and be a source of solid leads for your HVAC company.\u00a0 They can also be a major time burner and expensive.\u00a0 So make sure you are getting your money\u2019s worth.\u00a0 The idea is to look sharp and professional.\u00a0 Friendly and approachable.\u00a0 Interesting and enticing.\u00a0 A tall order, to be sure.\u00a0 Here are a few tips:<\/p>\n Advertise in advance. <\/strong><\/p>\n Let your customers know that you\u2019ll be exhibiting and offer a gift, discounted HVAC service or special drawing for those who stop by to see you.\u00a0 You want a booth that has activity.\u00a0 Just like you want to eat at a restaurant with a lot of cars.\u00a0 A restaurant with an empty parking lot is never a good sign, right?\u00a0 When you email or mail a postcard to your customers remind them it\u2019s time to get their clean and check and let them know you\u2019ll be at the show.<\/p>\n Use professional display banners.<\/strong><\/p>\n Get yourself some retractable banner stands with professionally designed graphics.\u00a0 These are not overly expensive items, folks.\u00a0 They provide a nice backdrop for your booth and, in most cases, you can change out the graphics and use the same stand over again.\u00a0 It\u2019s a good investment.\u00a0 (NOTE:\u00a0 if you find yourself in early December with co-op or accrual funds left, and you need to spend them before Dec 31st<\/sup>, this is a good use of those funds!!!)\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n Collect customer contact data<\/strong>.<\/p>\n You want their name, address, phone and email address.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t get all of it, at the very least, make sure to get a name and email address.\u00a0 These are people you are going to market to, so find a way to get them in your database.\u00a0 Hold a contest, or raffle off a free clean and check.<\/strong>\u00a0 Hand them a tablet or an iPad and let them fill out their information in order to be entered.\u00a0 Do it all with a smile.<\/p>\n Prepare your staff ahead of time.<\/strong><\/p>\n Make sure your expectations for your booth staff are clear. Anyone working the booth should look clean, professional, well-rested, approachable and friendly.\u00a0 If someone shows up in yesterday\u2019s wrinkled shirt, with bedhead and an attitude, show them the door.<\/p>\n Ditch the chairs.<\/strong><\/p>\n Most home shows will provide your booth with 2 chairs.\u00a0 Get rid of them.\u00a0 Everyone needs to be alert, approachable and standing up.\u00a0 And it goes without saying but I\u2019m going to say it anyway, no cell phones in the booth<\/strong>.\u00a0 It\u2019s too tempting to shoot off that text and miss the chance to make eye contact with a new prospect.\u00a0 Eyes should be forward, not staring at your phone.<\/p>\n Follow up.<\/strong><\/p>\n Contact these folks before they get back to their lives and forget all about the event.\u00a0 Send everyone an email and call the hottest leads right away.<\/p>\n Remember why you came.<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019re there to build brand awareness and collect leads.\u00a0 Keep your eye on the prize.<\/p>\n Need help with your home show marketing materials (banner stands, brochures, hand outs, etc.) or strategy?\u00a0 Give us a call at 315.685.9500.\u00a0 We love to talk shop!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HVAC at the Home Show Home shows are everywhere this time of year.\u00a0 Home shows can increase brand awareness and be a source of solid leads for your HVAC company.\u00a0 They can also be a major time burner and expensive.\u00a0 So make sure you are getting your money\u2019s worth.\u00a0 The idea is to look sharp and professional.\u00a0 Friendly and approachable.\u00a0 Interesting and enticing.\u00a0 A tall order, to be sure.\u00a0 Here are a few tips: Advertise in advance. Let your customers know that you\u2019ll be exhibiting and offer a gift, discounted HVAC service or special drawing for those who stop by to see you.\u00a0 You want a booth that has activity.\u00a0 Just like you want to eat at a restaurant with a lot of cars.\u00a0 A restaurant with an empty parking lot is never a good sign, right?\u00a0 When you email or mail a postcard to your customers remind them it\u2019s time to get their clean and check and let them know you\u2019ll be at the show. Use professional display banners. Get yourself some retractable banner stands with professionally designed graphics.\u00a0 These are not overly expensive items, folks.\u00a0 They provide a nice backdrop for your booth and, in most cases, you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,30,11,97,40,90],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":674,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions\/674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebandlmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}