Be subtle when talking with the booth staff. They don’t want to give away valuable industry information any more than you do – but you can still learn a lot during the course of a brief conversation, including the following items a general attendee would want to know:
- Product/service features and specifications. Don’t get too technical, or you’ll scare the booth staff off.
- Most recent product/service introductions.
- Ease of product installation and maintenance.
- Delivery schedule.
- Company and branch locations.
- Quality and service strengths and weaknesses (or what could be improved).
- Pricing strategies: commercial, non-profit, governmental
- Special pricing policies - do they offer: credit, discounts, incentives, consignments
- What is their corporate and business philosophy
After you have developed a rapport with the booth staff, you can move on to more intrusive questions, including:
- Who are their suppliers? Are they satisfied? Would they consider switching vendors? What are their complaints and unmet needs? What are the key factors in their purchasing decisions?
- Has the company integrated changing industry technology to create cost savings – again, be very general here. If you say “Gee, have you all adopted the new X-7T die cutting laser protocol?” or some other very technical question, they’ll know you’re not just a random attendee.
- If your competitors have made any important aquistions over the last year, giving them a competitive advantage.
- Who do they see as the leaders in the industy? You can tell a lot about a company by the firms it tries to emulate.
Some questions are particularly valuable, as they will help you discover the competitor’s market share and learn a great deal about their distribution channels. Pay special attention to any markets that your competitors serve that you don’t – what can you learn from their success?
- Who are their largest and most important customers?
- Why do customers choose the competitor’s products and services? What do they consider most valuable about the competitor’s products?
- How is their sales staff organized? Would you be dealing with a local, regional, or national sales rep?
- What market efforts, above and beyond trade shows, does the company engage in? Are they equally represented in all areas of the country or are their regional strenghts and weaknesses?
