The tradeshow floor is filled with hundreds of prospects waiting to meet you.  Unfortunately, the floor is also filled with booths after booths of your competition, scoping out your potential clients and trying to woo them over to their side.  A good agent always keeps track of his contacts – friend or foe – so how do you make the most of sharing the room with your competition?

Investigation: Send out spies to see what other companies are doing to draw a crowd.  Maybe you’ll find an idea that inspires you to try something new at the next show!

Make Friends:  You’re still going to be competing with these people no matter what, so why not make friends with the employees?  You never know who could be working for your competition.  Maybe there’s the ideal employee for you sitting unhappily at the table down the aisle, working for the wrong company!

Find References: Maybe you can’t help a potential client with a particular order.  Try to snoop around and find out which companies are at the show, so you will be able to refer your prospect to someone who can.  Even though you can’t help them this time, your prospect will remember how helpful you were and might think of you in the future for other orders.

Even though you may be competing for clients, you can still have a good working relationship with the other vendors at a show.  You never know when having an extra contact in the business might come in handy!