Trade Shows: A Contractor Perspective

This article is submitted by one of our Sprayroq Certified Partners, Engineered Spray Solutions, as a resource to all of the contractors in the industry. To find out how your company can become Sprayroq Certified Partners, click here

Engineered Spray Solutions believes that trade shows are an effective and valuable tool for marketing and growing our business. Picking the right trade show that focuses on water, stormwater, and wastewater is essential. We most recently attended the Florida Rural Water Show in Daytona Beach. It continues to be one of the most highly successful shows we attend. This show focuses on smaller utilities that might not see as much interaction with vendors as larger utilities. We have a solid history of turning these smaller municipals into repeat clients with whom we can build strong relationships for years.

We always have two or three members of the business development team running the booth at trade shows. The thought behind that is that we never want a potential lead to be ignored because the person running the booth was away for a moment to take a call or speak with someone else. It also allows one person to work the floor and meet networking opportunities without leaving the booth unattended. The person at the booth must be engaged and try to grab people from the crowd to bring them to the booth.

The most crucial step is quickly following up with potential leads while they are still hot. From the FRW show, we had identified three hot leads that I spoke with and agreed to meet and inspect structures later that week. The business development team followed up after the trade show concluded, and we now have three new potential solid clients with delivered proposals.