The first day of your show is most likely going to be the busiest and best chance to generate leads, therefore making it the best day for you to talk to as many people as you can and begin to gauge client’s interest in your product. Once the show begins you and your staff should be prepared to do whatever it takes to turn your image and booth into a lead, and that lead into an eventual sale.

On the first day take inventory of who visit’s your booth and they interested in your product. The best way to obtain this information is to speak personally with everyone who visits the booth, trade business cards with them and ask questions that will help you determine their interest level in your products. Let them do most of the talking and instead of lead the conversation with questions. Before the show set up an indication scale that you can quickly mark on the back of their business card, a 1-5 scale usually is the best, and put the business card in your pocket.

Upon the completion of the first show, go back through the pile and begin to sort he business cards into interest level piles. This will help you decide where to spend the majority of resources during the remainder of the show or after and the best plan of attack for following up with each client at the completion of the show.

If traffic at your booth makes you unable to interact with everyone, try setting up a point for them to drop off their business cards. Entice them to leave their cards by entering them into a drawing. To generate return traffic to your booth people can drop of a business card a day. This of course will create more chances for your booth staff to speak one-on-one to.

In the occurrence a client with a great deal of interest visits your booth and wants to speak more about your product, ask him/her to meet with you and your staff after the show has ended for the day. This will show the client that you are serious about winning their business, but freeing you up to interact with other people visiting your booth.

Remember the first day is also the best chance you have at making an impression with clients that could last a lifetime. Don’t let a fumble on the first day of a show stick in someone’s mind and choose a competitor on the basis of your unprofessionalism.