Triumps and Trials: Mastering Tradeshow Sales With The Gap Selling Advantage

Triumps and Trials: Mastering Tradeshow Sales With The Gap Selling Advantage

Sep 15, 2023

Tradeshows have hit their peak, but numerous companies are missing out on fully leveraging their tradeshow participation.


Last week, over 12k people descended upon SaaStr 2023 in San Mateo, CA.


Dubbed as one of the largest SaaS Tradeshows, this is the ultimate chance for sponsors and attendees to make their mark - EXCEPT......many fell short and here is why:


5 Tips About Master Your Tradeshow with the Gap Selling Advantage (including shoutouts of people who knocked it out of the park at SaaStr).

  1. Staff Your Booth with The Right People - (I know what you are thinking - wait, we sent our BDRs and AEs - what's wrong with that?) Sending your BDRs and AEs might seem like a logical choice, but it's not always the right one. Making countless dials or being proficient in virtual sales doesn't automatically translate to effective in-person booth presence. Many booths at SaaStr featured marketing coordinators, SDRs, and newcomers. While they're not necessarily the wrong fit, did you obsess over if they were the right representation for your organization? Just as SaaStr provided demographics on attendees, it's imperative to align your team accordingly. It falls on #salesleaders and #marketingleaders to assemble booth staffing like a puzzle. Do you have someone adept at drawing crowds? Conversationalists? Problem-solvers (without veering into product pitches)? Remember, it's not always about sending the most junior members. *a pro tip - ask if anyone on your team was in a sorority. Trust me. If they were and it was reputable, they know exactly what to do in at tradeshow booth as they had to do the same in recruitment :)
  2. Stay IN Your Booth. I can't believe that it is 2023 and we are talking about this - do not leave your booth. It's astounding that in 2023, this still need to be emphasized: do not abandon your booth prematurely. Many sponsors wrap up and call it a day 2-4 hours before the tradeshow concludes. Why? Our immediate neighbor did this each day, and here's what happened: a visitor sought them out, only for our team to step in and engage them in conversation. When your team clocks out early just to tick a box, you miss out on valuable interactions. It's a colossal waste of resources.
  3. Look Approachable. Again, another point that shouldn't have to be made, but from last week's observations, there were team members in booths who definitely didn't want to be there! What does looking approachable resemble? A storefront that is open with people who are available to talk. Glimpses of this lack of approachability last week looked like team members slouched on tables, on their phones, playing with toys, annoyed or packing up.
  4. Work The Tradeshow Floor. Yes, that is right - it isn't just about your booth, it's about everyone else. For our team, most of the sponsors were our ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), not necessarily attendees. Our team met for six weeks prior to the tradeshow for two to three hours per week (committees). We had a dedicated schedule of booth times and down time for each of us. This allowed everyone to take breaks, to be as refreshed as possible, and to have time to roam the tradeshow starting conversations with even more people. Interacting with other booths, sponsors and their traffic can be the single most differentiator of your tradeshow strategy out there - but not if you do not staff properly. Make it part of your strategy to engage with every single booth at the Tradeshow. A shout out to Blair Arbuckle who rocked the tradeshow and her experience. Blair walked around the tradeshow with a computer, stopping at each booth to inquire, engage in conversations, asked questions and kept a real time spreadsheet with notes. She didn't product pitch, but asked questions about areas of frustration with current products - gathering information the whole time. Loved this approach. April Palmer as well as others took to booths to create content. What an awesome way to interact with others, learn more about them and create a memorable tradeshow experience. As an attendee, she never talked about her product, she made it about the people she was interviewing (picture of her below) and their story.
  5. Problems over Product. We consistently emphasize this within our team: prioritize problems over products. Picture yourself approaching 100 booths at a tradeshow, with 95% of them immediately diving into their product offerings. It's dull. No one is particularly interested in your product; they're invested in their own problems. Alter your approach and collaborate with the team on how to pose questions that pinpoint business problems you resolve, rather than fixating on your highly specialized product that, frankly, sounds like everyone else's. This is where knowing your PIC comes in (the problem identification chart). When your team isn't in alignment, they revert to talking about their products with tradeshow attendees. Pro tip - meet with the team the morning of the tradeshow to do some role playing. Yes - our team did this the night prior!


Get Creative With Your Graphics! Everyone sports the company logo, tagline, and a graphic or two. But why not stand out? Imagine approaching a booth and being captivated by their tagline or graphics, compelling you to ask, "What do you all do?" That's the game-changer! Our team employed this tactic, and at times, the line to enter our booth grew so long that there was a wait. The picture below shows our tagline - "No one gives a BLEEP about your product, they care about their problems".


April Palmer interviewing Celeste Berke Knisely in the A Sales Growth Booth. Notice the Title of our Booth!


  1. Your Product Does Not Sell Itself. STOP having your team say this. The language that our teams use at tradeshows goes a long way. I talked to multiple people who told me their product sells itself, or that their product saves time and money - these are all gimmicky and not sticky. When your team doesn't know how to go deep and talk/uncover business problems, your pipeline gets full of fluff. See #1 and #5 above.
  2. MQL and SQL's at tradeshows. Slow your roll-on adding people to your automated sequence. It's icky. I know because they are rolling in to my own inbox and all I see is product first. Every Tom Dick and Harry who scanned my bade and every party I went to now has sent an invite for me to attend a demo. Should you talk with someone individually - cultivate that conversation like a human. Divide and conquer with your team - it's not about spammy speed, it is about connection and future conversations.
  3. Do Not Get So Wasted You Act Like an Idiot. Many tradeshows are multiple days. While there are after parties and events, this is not the time to go ham on free alcohol (my 78 year old dad reach this article and didn't know what "going ham" meant - so let's just say it is overindulging). No more needs to be said here - you are a reflection of your team and the people you send are as well. One wrong move or conversation or too much alcohol could lose you your organization business.
  4. An Attendee Tip - Beware of tradeshow guidelines. Eldad Postan-Koren posted about the snafu his team faced at SaaStr. Guerrilla Marketing gone a little south. While Winn.ai gained some press - ultimately the team was kicked out of the tradeshow for what I can only assume was a violation of the terms of agreement as individual attendees. Marketing and creating a buzz is great - except for when it detracts from paid sponsors. Eldad openly talked about this on LinkedIn. I chimed in and he respected my comment. The lesson here is - know the terms of agreement both as a tradeshow sponsor and attendee.


Less checking of the box on tradeshows and more strategy around building a tradeshow team with kick-butt rockstars. Have conversations around problems, be different and draw attention to yourself in a good way.

And if anyone from SaaStr reads this - please fix the wifi or get a wifi sponsor for 2024. Everyone will thank you.asd