What to Pay Attention to at International Fairs

International fairs, why? Why do we participate? What should we pay attention to at the fair we are attending?
In this article, we will pass on some practical information by trying to answer the questions we asked in the above heading.

Fairs are places where vendor and manufacturer companies meet potential customers or their current customers briefly with the market, as well as with their competitors.

Let's take a look at the fair types first;
A)National fairs (only taken here as a title because it is out of our topic)
B)International fairs
-General Trade Fairs. Fairs where all kinds of products are displayed without regard to the sector.
Regional fairs. Fairs where the products belong to the geographical region in which it is located.
- Sectoral Fairs. Fairs featuring certain industry firms, such as the Food Fair
- Specialty Fairs. Fairs are established by Industry or Market Division, for example, Pasta and floured goods fair or toy fair.
-Entegre (where complementary sectors are together) fairs. For example, the Wood Products Fair and the Wood Machinery Fair at the same time, next to each other in the halls.
-Consumer Fairs. Retail product fairs, these fairs are for personal consumption products, which can usually be sold as well.
When we look at the types of fairs we see here in terms of increasing our exports, sectoral and/or residency fairs are generally preferred.

What might be our goal and goal in participating in the fair?
One or more of the following may be our goal and goal. These are;
New markets, finding new customers
Meeting customers, meeting face-to-face, having a warm relationship
Increasing market experience and activity
Creating new sales spaces by communicating with potential customers
Increasing sales
-Seeing market-related innovations, gaining knowledge
-Recognising, seeing competitor companies and products
-Introducing our new product
-Introducing innovations related to our company
Protecting and improving the company image
It means we're in this market (showing flags)
Once we have determined our reason for participation, the method we will choose and the path we will follow should be appropriate for these purposes.

FAIR CHOICE
We need to consider the purpose we set when making our fair selection and try to choose the fair that suits it. Our fair selection criteria may be;
Have we set our goal and goal in participating in the fair? Is the fair we set up appropriate?
Whether the range of products to be exhibited is suitable for the fair we set (is this the fair we are looking for?)
Is the country where the fair will be organized and the countries of potential visitors the target market for your products?
Have we looked at the history and information of the fair where we will participate? (Reports on the fair, participant information)
Are the costs of the fuar in line with our budget?
Did we compare it to rival fairs?

Decision on fair selection (Is the fair we plan to participate in the right fair?)
For this we must take into account the following considerations;
Is the open name of the fair we are aiming for compatible with our product or industry?
What are the sub-sector groups?
Is the Fuar regulated country suitable for visa, accommodation, transportation, etc. problems?
How many times a year and how many?
Is it appropriate to change by total number of participants and years?
Is the number of foreign participants and their distribution by country sufficient?
How many m2 is the total net stand area?
What is the distribution of the total number of visitors by year?
What is visitor distribution by country?
Are our competitors attending this fair?
Do participants in past years give positive references?

Fair preparation and considerations
For this, we must answer the following questions;
Are we going to apply for fair participation individually or through fair organization organizations?
- What supplies are we taking? What materials will we supply from the fair? (such as cleaning supplies, catering supplies)
Is the location, size, location of the stand we choose fit for our purpose, our budget? Which of the different places shown below is appropriate for our budget and purpose? Should we be near or far from our competitors?

Do we need to be close to complementary products?
What kind of stand design should we have? Should there be activity at our stand that attracts attention? Should over-interested off-topic visuals and activities (such as calling clowns, puppets, famous artists) also be extravagant treats? The point we will draw attention to is; Within our purposes of participating in the fair, it may be appropriate to "protect and improve the image of the company" and "to say that we are in this market (showing flag)" is our priority. However, since these events will attract attention and create crowds, it may be inconvenient to our visitors and customers who come for commercial purposes.
What should be our target product in the fair? How should we display our products?
Have we identified companies that will send invitations or e-mails?
What are our catalogues, brochures, samples to distribute? Will it be ready in time?
Do you have a sales person who speaks the language you will be assigned to the fair? (Is English enough?)
Do we have a fair number of staff? Are our staff trained in products, foreign trade and fairs?
Is a technical officer required to answer technical questions from visitors?
-Our logistics (shipping and packaging, customs clearance, legal procedures) organization, okay?
Are we going to be prepared for the treatment?
Are we going to do a video show or a live show?
- We're technical preparation for our products to be exposed, okay?
Our accommodation and transportation organization for the Fuar period, our visas, all right? How many days before the fair?
What should be our price policy? Are we going to give a price list?
Do we know the cost of FOB? How much of our product fits into 1 container or trailers?
Do we have an opinion on shipping costs to target markets?
Have we reviewed other costs other than the fare fee? (such as the logistics cost of products, the cost of personnel transportation, accommodation, eating/drinking etc., the costs of catalogs, brochures, samples, business cards etc., the cost of catering, representation, the cost of urban transportation)

Are we ready for work after the fair?
Work that needs to be done for it;
-General thanks letter (as soon as possible after the fair)
Customer-specific response to customers requesting information
Responding to customers who expect prices and offers
Preparation of a Fuar result report

Here are our recommendations for the work to be done during the fair;
-Take an empty notebook, attach each incoming visitor's business card to the page, and make brief notes on the side/bottom of the business card, such as our products that interest the customer, the questions he asks, the information he gives about himself, as well as taking notes to answer after the fair if they have questions that require answers.
Taking pictures with permission from incoming visitors, dating pictures
-Evidence to devote more attention and time to our current customers.
-Our company from visitors, trying to get feedback on our stand

Our recommendations for post-exhibition work are;
Without delay, send a thank-you letter (e-mail) addressed to visitors who do not ask questions within a week at the latest and do not expect answers. To visitors who ask questions, let them know that the answer will be given as soon as possible.
To prepare and respond to the necessary answers to visitors with questions
If there is no response from the visitors given the answer, email them again after an appropriate period of time and ask if there is any improvement.
Preparing a report on the Fuar. Our opinions on the fair and our stand are to indicate important events and developments, if any. These reports will shed light on the decision we make and the method we will follow for the fairs we will attend later, and will be included in the company memory.

With fair supports you can get some of your expenses back.
The Ministry of Commerce supports participation in international fairs at the following and varying rates;
A) In the event of participating fair, National Participation or Turkish Export Products Fair, the costs will be US$10,000 at 50%;
B) National Participation in Sectoral qualified international fair, Foreign Company Participating Sectoral Fair or Sectoral Turkish Export Products Fair If there is a 50% cost of $15,000 USD;
C) For fairs on the prestigious trade fair list: support of 50%, up to USD 50,000, once every 1 year;
The cost of standing rent, transport, transport of up to 2 people is supported. For details on the supports, please contact the Ministry of Commerce's website click here.

Last word: It is possible to further develop these recommendations and notes from our practical experience, taking into account each firm's own sector and its own conditions.

Hüseyin TEKGÜÇ
www.inovakademi.com