Members of the Okotoks & District Chamber of Commerce got a crash course on how to better prepare and present themselves at the upcoming Trade & Lifestyle Show next month.

Shelley Goldbeck spoke with chamber members during their monthly luncheon presentation Wednesday on the 7 Deadly Sins of trade show booth mistakes.

Her list included

1.) No Goals

2.) No Pitch

3.) No Glue

4.) Wrong Set-up

5.) Not Captializing with the Audience

6.) Not collecting leads

7.) Assuming you're done

She says the wrong set-up sin could be the one that stands out the most at trade shows.

"The biggest thing with those seven points is to make sure that you've got those planned ahead and the biggest one for me is the booth set-up that barrier with a table is not the best," she says.

Goldbeck says no matter the size of your local business, making yourselves heard in trade shows can only do wonders for helping your business and others grow too.

"There are a lot of reasons to go to a tradeshow as business. Number one, to show your support in the community, number two to see what other businesses are doing. But I think it's more the opportunity to share customers with other businesses and those customers may want to see your business as well."

Goldbeck says tradeshows aren't always a way to sell your product on the spot during a show but making the right connection can help businesses down the road.

"Tradeshows are a really good place for a touch point to really build a relationship with a customer and also opportunities for leads because most people are not selling on the spot they're building a relationship. They're collecting leads so that's what I would say is the most important."

The Okotoks & District Chamber of Commerce Trade & Lifestyles Show goes April 15-16.

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