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Fill your bag with swag till it sags!

Entry-level employees do scavenge at trade shows for logo-imprinted banners, caps, flashlights, ice scrapers, magnets, mugs, pens, and more.

Are these the sales prospects you seek?

How can you lure qualified buyers to your booth?

Cheap advertising specialities can quickly become big budget items, if large quantities are required. Even those pom-pom people can be pricey, if you purchase a bunch!

For the price of a few thousand clicker-pens, you could offer a drawing for a couple of leather briefcases or laptop computers. Require entrants to fill out a short lead-qualification questionnaire first. (Have a staffer walk them through the process. Personal interaction is essential to a successful booth visit.)

If you simply must sling swag, try to select useful items that correlate somehow to your products or your company's image.

* Making measurement systems? Offer rulers.
* Marketing windows? Why not a little mirror?
* Offering accounting services? Give away calculators.
* Promoting phones? Provide cell phone cases.
* Selling software? How about a mouse pad?
* Vending vision (consulting)? Hand out sunglasses!

Most of all, make it memorable!

Learn more about this author, Linda Ann Nickerson.
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