dougleavy

I’m sure we could all sit around and tell countless stories about being behind the table at a trade show or event and during the last hour of the show or so “they” come out. “They” come out in droves, in packs and sometimes “they” appear to be the non-assuming older, retired gentleman (yeah I saw this one at CES). “They” walk up to you; you’ve most likely seen them several times during the event. Maybe even demoed your product and asked about “show specials”.

Now how many times have you taken the time to think, huh, wonder what I COULD get out of this if the right person asked me that question? My guess is most of us are tired of being asked. Tired of being on our feet all day. Tired of talking and just want to get back to our rooms or grab a drink and bite to eat with teammates or fellow exhibitors.

I thought this as well over a year ago, then I took a chance. I decided to dig a little bit on someone who came to my table. I asked what outlets he had (Twitter, blogs, forums, etc). Came to find out he had a decent little social network. Now, to be fair I had heard of him by screen name on a forum and he did have a good rep as well. Which is also testament to why we should be lurching on forums specific to our markets as well. After talking a little more I decide to give him a demo unit I had in my backpack and told him I wanted to follow up with him. Now this may sound like a typical “I give you something, you do a review” setup, it really wasn’t. I had just planned on checking in with him on his personal thoughts. Little did I know before I got the chance to get back with him he had; Twittered that he got a demo unit, posted it on his Facebook, then talked about his thoughts in the forums and posted something on a personal blog… all within a few days. In all honesty it was probably more “press” then we would have received from a paid banner. What was the “cost” of this? Under $75 for the product and just a few min of my tired, sore feet, I need a drink time.

So all this just to say, next time you are at a show or event, spend a few min with that “freetard”. Don’t just drop NO the second they ask anything.  You never know that maybe, just maybe you will run into that diamond in the rough with a decent social network… sure 90% of them are just trying to score something for nothing, but does it really hurt to ask back?

Oh and in-case you were wondering, I’ve gotten to know this person, we follow each other on Twitter and Facebook and even catch up at shows we are both at. Like I said, ya never know….