How to end a conversation with a booth visitor?

The main reason why companies participate in trade shows is to meet new potential clients.

As a result, you may do lots of promotion ahead of the show to drive traffic to your booth and you certainly will try your best during the event to encourage people to come and talk with you.

That being said, there comes a time when you need to end a conversation, and it is more difficult than it may seem.

Why should you end a conversation?

There are four major reasons why you should end a conversation with a visitor.

You got all you need

You have finished your qualifying process and you know this visitor’s worth. You have answered all his questions and  the conversation is about to go into social talks, it is time to end it.

There’s no hope

This visitor isn’t going to buy anything from you. After your qualifying process, you understand he has very low potential – no need to invest any more time with him.

Time’s up!

You have already spent over 10 minutes with that person. He may be very nice and present lots of opportunities but this isn’t the place to find out. It is time for you to agree on the next steps (meeting, contract, phone call, etc.) and to end the talk.

Other visitors are waiting

Watch out: this is NOT a right excuse to end a conversation! In your booth, every conversation is public: don’t let other visitors wait and directly integrate them into your current conversation.

How to end a conversation?

Ending a conversation can be difficult because you do not want to appear to be rude or offense your visitor. We give you some tricks:

Technique 1

You have all you need and your visitor’s questions have found answers, you already discussed the next steps, it is time to end the conversation. Use the following:

Really glad we could work together, I will follow-up with you shortly

Technique 2

Your visitor has very low potential and you don’t want to spend any more time but you don’t want to offense him, try:

It was great talking with you, I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the show!

Technique 3

Your qualifying process shows that the client has potential but isn’t ready to buy yet. You will need to nurture this lead before you could turn it into a paying customer. End the conversation with:

Thank you very much for your time, I will send you additional information shortly

Technique 4

Your visitor is incredibly talkative and none of the techniques above would work with him. Use the one below to end the conversation:

I’m really sorry but I must help my colleagues. Maybe you could come back later to continue this discussion?

 

Ending a conversation in your exhibition booth is as important as starting it. You don’t want to waste time or opportunities just because you are too shy to stop a discussion.

The Exhibitor.

Download the full Booth Conversation Guide Infographic: