How To Work a Minority Business Trade Show (Part I) - An MBE Perspective

In roughly six weeks, one of the nation's largest minority business trade shows will take place in New Orleans. The event is put on annually by the National Minority Supplier Development Council and detailed information about the conference and trade show is available at http://www.nmsdconline.com. There will be over 850 corporate and minority business booths and I estimate more than seven thousand attendees, representing the premier corporations and minority businesses in America.

This is a wonderful opportunity for MBEs to get their goods and services in front of major corporations. It is also an opportunity for MBEs to network, form strategic alliances and to do business with each other. Having attended many of these conferences, however, I also know that it can be overwhelming. From the opening welcome reception to the gala night, there are thousands of individuals coursing through the show and you can easily get lost in the shuffle. So with only a few weeks before the conference, I thought I'd share a few strategies with you about how you can effectively work a NMSDC (or any other trade show).

Make a Plan

The first part of your strategy occurs before you even attend the trade show. This involves sitting down and developing a strategy for what you hope to achieve from the event. What are your goals? Which attendees are must sees for you? How can you isolate and get face time with your best prospects? There are answers to all of these questions, but you must spend the time to think clearly about your aims. Trade shows are an investment of time and capital and so to just "show up" without a plan is a bad idea. Some people argue that trade shows are ineffective, but these are probably some of the folks who fail to approach the matter with a well thought out plan.

Reach out to Your Targets Beforehand

It is also a great idea to reach out to as many of your targets in advance, if possible. Let them know that you will be there and do your best to arrange one on one appointments. Depending on your relationship with the target you may be able to schedule a sit down meeting or even a meal outside of the din and fray of the trade show. The NMSDC trade show occurs over the course of four days. Within that time, there are plenty of opportunities to reach out to your best prospects away from the crowd. This allows you to get to know your targets on a more personal level and can set the table for future exploration.

Purchase a Booth if You Can But Don't Let That Prevent You From Participating

You do not have to display at the trade show in order to be effective. If purchasing a booth is within your budget then having a well put together booth with good signage and plenty of marketing materials can be a good way of establishing your presence. And of course, what is a trade show without all those giveaway items? But if you are not in a position to have a booth, or afford 1000 doodads, you can do well without one.

First, the name of the game is making quality contacts with quality people. That is why making a plan and reaching out in advance is so important. Having a booth does not guarantee that this will happen. Further, most of your contacts aren't interested in one more glossy marketing folder. It is far more effective to simply get a business card and place the info in a pda device under a folder designated for the show. Once you are back at the office, this facilitates easy follow up through emails, telephone calls, etc. In our new, greener economy, it's better to save the paper and send the marketing materials digitally.

These simple suggestions alone will help you to get immeasurably more out of your trade show experience. But in the weeks ahead, I will continue to share some of the strategies that I and other successful entrepreneurs have used to get the very best from our trade show output.

Stay tuned!

An Excerpt From The Coach's New Book

Get In The Game!

The excerpt below is taken from Part II, Chapter 3 of the Coach's New Book - Tales My Grandma Told Me, A Business Diversity Fable

Assuming that the minority entrepreneur understands that he will succeed based on business acumen and tenacity as opposed to relying on ethnic status and further assuming that he has a written plan; he is now ready to get in the game. Many MBEs wrongly assume that simply being a minority entitles them to participate in corporate supplier diversity programs. That is not entirely accurate. Virtually, all supplier diversity programs require minority participants to be certified by certain national, certifying entities.

For minority-owned businesses, the best known and most widely accepted certification comes from the National Minority Supplier Development Council Incorporated ("NMSDC").The NMSDC and its thirty-nine national affiliates, among other things, certify applicants as being legitimately minority-owned and meeting other set standards of business viability. Through its certification and various other programs, the NMSDC has created a database of certified minority businesses across numerous disciplines. Without this certification, minority-owned businesses are not prepared to compete within traditional supplier diversity channels.

The certification process is uncomplicated and is a must for all MBEs seeking to seriously exploit supplier diversity opportunities. Yet I am always amazed at the large number of MBEs that fail to become certified or substantially delay in doing so. MBEs must understand that NMSDC certification may very well be only a beginning, but it is the beginning within the realm of supplier diversity marketing. Minority entrepreneurs without NMSDC certification are uniformly denied entry to corporate supplier diversity programs.

So what will you do? Will you continue to sit on the sidelines or will you get in the
game and run to win? Log onto http://www.nmsdcus.org/ and learn how to obtain minority
certification in your region of the world.