When the differentiating factor between your product and your competitors' is tactile, the best way to make your case at your trade shows is to entice visitors to touch and feel your product. Whether your product is warmer, softer, smoother, rougher, cooler or lighter, in your case, feeling—not seeing—is believing.

So how do you orchestrate that all-important hands-on interaction? Three tactics:

 

1.Issue an invitation. Why not come right out and ask people to touch? Your staff can do this verbally or you can communicate visually with a sign or arrow that says "Please Touch." People tend to love this because they are so accustomed to seeing "Do Not Touch" that being invited to engage is a welcome and appreciated change.

 

 

2. Facilitate a comparison. Whether it's before and after or us versus the competition, people can't resist the urge to judge for themselves. Just place two or more samples side-by-side with a little verbiage that explains what they're feeling and they won't be able to keep their hands off.


3. Make it a game. Most people love to play games, so when you combine hands-on with competition, you create a win-win. Just how smooth are this International Builders' Show Exhibitors' butcher block slabs? Smooth enough to make a great shuffleboard table.