Thinking outside the BOX: Networking at the Southwest Food Service EXPO, Houston 2010
I just spent 3 days marketing beef for my husband's company at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Downtown Houston for the Southwest Food Service EXPO. I had a blast.
When my husband signed up to be an exhibitor at this EXPO I was very nervous about the whole thing. Are we ready to jump in and spread our wings to serve more restaurants? Were we wasting our money on the booth? Could I hold up physically for 3 days of standing and walking and working at that really huge venue?
Well, I do not know if we will be able to handle the volume of business we received or not. Right now it is really hard to say if we received any new clients or not. We have lots of great leads, though. If we work them well, we will have many new clients. We did NOT waist money at the event because we really learned a lot and met a lot of great people that are willing to help us grow our business. And, although I am SO tired today, I made it though the show, even though the bathrooms were like, a mile away, from our booth.
So, what does this have to do with real estate???? EVERYTHING. I managed to pick up real estate leads there. Did you realize people in the restaurant business have real estate needs, too? This industry is very interested in real estate for many reasons.
To spend that much time watching these professional marketing experts push interesting products such as bloody mary mix, cash register receipt tape and knives really was good for my own real estate marketing. We real estate people spend alot of time whining about marketing. But, that is what business is all about. I'm going to try to work hard at my attitude about marketing.
I was the only real estate agent set up at this show. I drew in lots of attention because of it. This really opened my eyes to a new strategy for the future, I am going to keep my eyes open to other shows that are setting up in the area, and try to work the crowds. Like my husbands leads, I'm not sure if mine will lead to more profits, but good networking such as this only helps. If I work my leads right...
So, if you are looking for different ways to get out and network, think outside of the real estate box, and look for other types of trade shows to attend and pass out those business cards. It is a great way to meet new potential folks.
Comments(3)