Top Wholesale Tips for Attending Trade Shows and Opening New Accounts with Suppliers🔥
Are you looking to attend a wholesale trade show soon? Don’t quite know what to expect or what to do?
Whether it’s your first time ever or whether you’re on your tenth trade show so far, here at Life Success Engineer we believe that preparation is key, and that no matter what your level of experience, there’s always something new to be learned.
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In this blogpost, through our own personal experiences, we’ve put together some top tips to ensure you get the most out of attending a wholesale trade show and that ultimately, you leave having started to build some fantastic new supplier relationships.
So, let’s get straight into it then, shall we?
1. Get your tickets!
This might sound so obvious, but being so obvious, it might be easy to overlook this one vital step. Before you head along to a trade show, ensure you go online, take a look at the entry requirements and book your tickets.
Some trade shows will need you to fill out an online form, bring specific things along with you (such as ID) AND have your tickets printed out and ready to go. Make sure this is the first thing you do on your trade show journey.
We highly recommend printing out your ticket or entry confirmation email even if it’s not required - it’s always better to go more prepared than not prepared enough. After all, before anything else, you need to get IN to the show to even begin to meet suppliers - otherwise there would be no point to this blogpost! 
Ticket links are here:
https://www.springfair.com/
https://www.autumnfair.com/
2. Prepare your business 
It’s so important to have your business prepared for a trade show, before you go along to a trade show. You’ll be meeting and speaking to many wholesalers throughout the show, who have turned up fully, professionally and ready to roll. If you want to establish good relationships with them from the outset, it is imperative that you do the same.
Trade show business prep for you as a seller, includes the following:
- Create a clear, easy-to-read business card and make sure you take plenty of them along with you
- Make sure you have a website in place - this doesn’t need to be a fully-fledged website, but at the very least please ensure you have a landing page so that when a potential partner heads to your web address, they’ll see something there
- On your website/landing page, provide visitors with a prominent email address or contact number, so straight away they can see that you’re a legitimate business
- Finally, add a ‘contact us’ page to your website with a contact form that feeds back to an email address that you have access to. This makes it quick and easy for a supplier to contact you
3. Know your business story inside-out!
You’re going to be meeting suppliers and having conversations all day long, and you want to start the relationship off on the best foot, right? After all, this may be the very beginning of a long and fruitful relationship - for both parties - so it’s essential that you know yourself and your business inside-out.
What is your business story? How did you come to be doing what you’re doing now? Do you sell on Amazon, on eBay, on Facebook, on all three, or somewhere else? What do you love about online selling? Where have you experienced the most success?
Having the answers to these questions already prepared and in your head is a pretty amazing way to head on into a conversation about online selling. The whole goal here is to build rapport so don’t forget to be relaxed, open, honest and friendly. Don’t be afraid to be a little personal too; if you have kids and this is a toy supplier, tell them! If you left a job you hated to pursue an online selling journey to create a life you love, tell them!
All these little things combined will be sure to get you off to the right start with a new potential supplier to your business.
4. Decide your role in the company 
If you have a set role, or whether you fulfil all the roles in your company, you need to be someone that has the right to make purchasing decisions.
Suppliers are there looking for sellers, just as you are there looking for suppliers, and to save valuable time on both accounts, both parties need to know that they’re speaking to the right person.
Are you the purchasing manager? Are you the director? Decide on your role within your company, before you walk through those doors.
5. Have a trade show strategy 
Before you go into anything, you need to have an idea of what you want to get out of it. The same goes for trade shows.
The first time you go along to a trade show is a really big deal. There’ll be a huuuuge hall (if not multiple halls!) full of hundreds, if not thousands, of suppliers and if you’re not prepared, it can be more than easy to become overwhelmed by everything.
To stop that happening, here’s what we suggest:
- Choose one or a few sections that you know you want to visit. For the biggest shows, we’d recommend just focussing on one as there will be a lot to see, a lot of suppliers to meet and a lot of decisions to make. Decide before the event what is best for you and your business, and stick to that
- Again, before the event, do some research into the wholesalers that will be present and decide on the ones that you definitely want to meet. Find out where they will be based and their stand number, so you know exactly where you’ll be heading for some of the duration of the show
- Upon getting into the trade show, head straight to your desired section and get a feel for it. Have a wander around; find the wholesalers that you’ve already researched; make a note of anything that jumps out at you that you’d like to revisit, and even start researching products on your phone as you walk around
- After doing the above, you’ll feel more relaxed and in control which means you’ll have a good foundation to make more of a concrete plan and decide which suppliers you’re going to head to, in what order and what you hope to gain from the interactions with them
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6. Dress in a way that represents your business 
Turn up to the trade show dressed in a way that best represents your business, ensuring that however you are dressed comes across as smart and professional.
You could turn up in a shirt and tie, a nice dress, or even in a jacket with your company logo on it. Just think about it beforehand and please make an effort! First impressions really do count for a lot.
7. Get to know the suppliers
When we say this, we mean before and during the event.
As mentioned above, research the wholesalers who will be present well in advance of the trade show dates. Figure out who you would like to meet, speak to and potentially work with and once you know that, spend some time getting to know them and their business from the information you can find online.
Try and find out their story. Why do they sell what they sell? Where did they get their inspiration from? Why do they do this? The more you know, the better, as showing them that you’ve researched them and know about them through the conversation that you have with them, will really help you to make a lasting impression and stand out from the crowd.
Also, don’t forget to show a big interest in them and their products during your face-to-face conversation. Ask questions, listen intently, smile, compliment them and build that oh-so-important rapport that we speak of.
Great rapport is the basis of any great relationship, so get this right and you’ll be on to a winner!
8. Have your business details ready 
So you’ve had this great conversation, built some amazing rapport and you’ve both decided that you want to work together. Then the supplier asks you to fill out a quick form to open an account there and then, but it suddenly dawns on you that you don’t have your business registration number to hand. Or your VAT number. Or your bank account details… 
To avoid the above happening, we have to stress the importance of having all your business details ready so that you’re ready to go when the above situation arises.
Even if you make a note on the notes app on your phone, just ensure you have all your business details written down somewhere that’s easily accessible and won’t get lost, so it’s all there right when you need it.
9. Make time for your existing suppliers
If you’re at a stage where you’re already well on your way on your wholesale journey, make sure you set some time aside for your existing suppliers.
It is so important to maintain a healthy working relationship with them, so perhaps give them a call or send across an email before the trade show asking them if they’re going to be there and if so, where they will be based.
During the show, try and make sure you stop by their stands to say hello; maybe even take them a tea, coffee or a cold drink to help their day run a bit easier?
Do whatever you need to to build that relationship and the rapport that you already have with them. At the end of the day, as well as being decent human beings, both parties want to make money. By nurturing your relationship, it is more likely that you’ll be able to get to that all-important product and pricing list so don’t overlook this top tip!
And there we have it!
We hope you found this blogpost sharing our top tips on wholesale trade shows really helpful, and we wish you the very best of luck on your wholesale journey.
Here’s to your massive success!
Ready to succeed faster at wholesale? CLICK HERE to access our Wholesale University for the best insights to building your business on Amazon FBA.
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ABOUT KEV BLACKBURN
#1 Best Selling Author, Speaker & Business Systemisation Strategist
Kevin Blackburn is an entrepreneur, success coach and a leading business strategist in business automation and systemisation. Having built his business to over 7 figures in under 18 months, he now serves other business owners creating freedom in life and scale in business.
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