Trades hows are a mile-a- minute band of chaos. What is there to be thankful and grateful for about a trade- show? If you’re an exhibitor, you spend all of your time planning and executing a mar- keting program in a highly chaotic land- scape. Then you come back to the office with a load of leads, of which – if things run true to form – the sales department will only follow up on 1 in 5. If you’re an attendee, there are undoubtedly a hundred booths that you weren’t able to stop at simply because there’s not enough time in the day. And the food mostly likely sucked, the hotel was small and the rental car felt like it was on the verge of breaking down.
Wear a Smile!
I suppose you’ve been told countless times in your life that you can improve your attitude and the attitude of those around you by wearing a smile.
It’s true. But what if you don’t feel like smiling? You’ll just have to muddle through and fake it ‘til you make it.
Smiles are great for a number of reasons. For starters, it improves your appearance. Smiles also have the ability to make things right again and say more than words can.
Smiles create trust and rapport. A smile shows people you trust them and invites them to trust you. It says “hey, you’re great, I’m OK, and we’re going to have a good time!”
Smiles make you feel good. Smiles make others feel good. A terrific genuine smile is contagious.
Not only that, you probably went over budget. Maybe you said the wrong thing in front of a client or a prospect. The plane flight was long, not to mention the screaming baby.
No doubt you could continue the list of woes that you ran into at the last trade show. So doesn’t it just irk you that your work partner had the exact opposite experience? She came back tired from the show energized by all of the great contacts she made. She’s rarin’ to go with the follow-up calls, emails and personal notes.
So who’s ‘grateful and thankful’... ?
