Sales income boosts cash flow and expansion. It also makes a business less reliant on loans and investors. So, how do you make sales inflow to your business more predictable? The answer might surprise you.

Exhibit at trade shows.

They've been around for a very long time, and for good reason. They work.

Take your business to where the buyers gather

Trade shows offer a quality most other forms of marketing can't.

It's called predictability.

On a given date, hundreds or more, usually thousands of buyers, gather in a specified location. Often, these buyers are the same people your sales team find impossible to meet or reach throughout the rest of the year. Yet, they willingly take themselves to a place where dozens, perhaps hundreds of companies aim to pitch their products, services and ideas. Take part in a trade show, and you can predict with certainty that sales activity will result.

For starters, you'll have new leads to follow up and close. Your CRM will have a fresh batch of accurate data. But there's an added marketing benefit.

Why marketing your business in the run-up to a show works so effectively

Most exhibitors are unaware of the scale of organiser-led promotional activity in the months before an event.  Nor how buyers view the "usefulness" of trade shows.

When a show organiser turns on their promotion tap, usually three to four months out from an event, a ton of marketing activity hits the market. It starts with emails and landing pages. Then, advertisements and press coverage. On top of that, there are conference and seminar promotions, meeting planning opportunities and invitations to social events. Buyers might also receive telemarketing calls to encourage their attendance further.

On the whole, buyers welcome the attention. Because, in their minds, trade shows represent an opportunity. New ideas, products and suppliers are all conveniently in one place. It makes attending and being away from the office justifiable. So you can see why marketing your business in this period would be effective.

You'll reach buyers when they are in a receptive frame of mind. It's a time when they are open to new ideas and suppliers.

Milestone strategy: exhibiting to make sales

Trade show marketing is something different from simply exhibiting. It's not about turning up at a show and seeing what happens. It's a lot more proactive than that.

The most successful exhibitors take a leading role in engineering sales. They use events as milestones around which they build sales and marketing activity.

How to start

Start with a small stand and increase space only when you know a show works for your business. If this is a new area, get training or external help. Doing so will save you much time and help you achieve better results from your event investments. You can also train your team to handle some or all of the tasks associated with exhibiting and events.

How will you know if you’ve been successful?

Leads collected from a show are one measure of success. But sales converted from those leads are your ultimate guide. To know how successful exhibiting has been, you must accurately track what happens to your leads.

Tracking your event spending will highlight the cost of acquiring leads and sales. Those values become benchmarks when comparing different events or alternative forms of marketing. All of which can help fashion more predictable sales for your business. And that's got to be a good thing for you and your startup.