ArtShine: Market Stall Evaluation- Market Series -Part 5

Friday, September 2, 2011

Market Stall Evaluation- Market Series -Part 5

Welcome to Part 5 of Market Stall Series.

Part 1 to part 3 of the Market series we talked about how to prepare a market stall. Part 4 we talked about the steps you need to do to follow up leads that you have generated during the market or a trade show events.

This week part 5 we are discussing about the post market event activities and the steps you need to take in order to evaluate your market event or a tradeshow.

One of the most important post Market event activities is to conduct a post market analysis. By answering some basic questions you will identify things that will help you when planning future events. Some of the key questions to ask are:

What went well?
What did not work?
Was the stall functional?
Was the stall in the right location?
Was this the right market event for my business?
Did I meet the right people?
What did I learn from others?
What did I learn about the competition?
What did wins from the show?
What did you gain from the show?

At some point you will be able to call the effect of the market complete and measure your results against your initial objectives. This is when you have completely followed up all leads and closed all the business that has resulted directly from the market. If you kept good records of this activity, you should now be able to evaluate the effects of this particular market. After all, if you are going to put this much work and money into anything, don't you want to make sure that it's worth it?

Market ROI (Return on Investment)

Your follow-up process should be planned just as well as your pre-market planning. Consider that each market lead has a cost, a cost you have already spent. For example; If you spent $5000 on your market event and came away with 500 leads, then every lead cost you $10. If on average you convert 25% of those leads, then each new customer cost you $50. On the other hand, if you don't manage your trade show leads and 75% of them aren't followed up on quickly, your conversion can cost you four times as much $200? That's pricy!

Although ROI is one of the ways to measure your success, you should always consider the other benefits as well. These benefits can include establishing your brand, community awareness, educating the public and building new relationships, form alliances with other companies or joint venture with compliment businesses. You will have to do your own analysis on these non-monetary benefits.

How Much Business Did You Close?

What is the monetary benefit of the closed from your market event? You should measure in 1-month, 3-month, 6-month and 12-month increments when looking at the value of this business. If you have made your investment back in new business in the first month, you've done reasonably well. At the very least, you should have made your money back plus 50% by the end of three months. The six and twelve month measurements are to determine the long range profitability of any given market event. At some point, you have to determine that you cannot participate in every trade show that comes along. Therefore, it is imperative that you determine over the long run.

The above evaluation working extremely well if you are think of expand and growth your business to the next level. Particularly if you are planning to wholesale your products, this evaluation is a good habit to follow and get any market event like a trade show. Any customer who comes to your stall could be a retailer who is seeking new designer and something different to have in their stores. So give every customer full attention and listen to their needs and ask lots of open ended & probe questions to get they engaged in a conversation

Previous Posts on Market Series: