Is it looked down upon to approach exhibitors at a trade show with a service as an attendee?

My recommendation would be to simply gather contact information at the show and then follow up after the show is over. You could simply go as a normal attendee (possibly cheaper) and then go up to a booth when they are not busy and say "I really like your booth. I am always looking for ideas on how to have a great booth, who at your company is responsible for the booth?"

Then once you have the name and email and/or phone number of that person you can follow up the week after the show.

Also take a camera (or cellphone camera) with you and photograph the booths (except if that is prohibited). That way when you speak with the person you will have the photos in front of you and you can talk intelligently with them about their booth. If you compliment them on their booth you will build rapport, which is critical. Then you can ask them "Is there anything you would like to change or improve about your booth?" which may well lead to a sale.

This is a very tricky subject.

We do several trade shows per year. It's not uncommon to spend $50K to $100K plus on a larger show. The last thing that impresses me at a show is some guy walking around trying to pitch me out of his messenger bag. I paid to be there and attempt to develop leads.

Time spent talking to you goes against my original purpose.

At the same time, any reasonable business person wants to reduce their expenses and/or increase their chances of success. And, I'm probably not going to go as an attendee to any kind of "trade show" trade show, so you are in a tough spot.

I think this mostly comes down to your pitch and approach. You need to be a highly refined sales person and manage to learn a little bit about my company/product/industry to understand what your value prop is to me specifically. EG: at many trade shows we exhibit at, the exhibitor mix is varied. There are service providers (no physical goods), Manufacturers, Resellers/OEMs, and supporting players (eg: finance/lending, training facilitators, etc.). So you might have a really neat quoting tool, but it may or may not apply to me personally. You have about 10 seconds after approaching my booth to not piss me off (and I'm saying this somewhat generically based on conversations I've had with other exhibitors in the past about these things). If there is ANY reason why you COULD have exhibited at the show but chose not to, you'll almost certainly be met with scorn. If your product is truly non-industry specific and applicable ONLY to exhibitors you might have a chance.

Another option might be to call up the show promotor a week before the show and see if they have any unsold boothes. See if you can strike a discount deal, explaining that you are a little bit of an outlier, but someone told you that the show would be a good one for you to be at. Now, you can approach the exhibitors and say "I've got this product/service/feature that I realize might help you out. Here is a brochure (and a 15 second pitch). I don't want to take time away from you, but if it seems interesting I'll be at my booth, #12345, stop by and I can give you a quick presentation or more info."

Be aware that almost all shows prohibit this activity and you might get told to leave if someone observes you walking up and talking to every booth in the row and you don't look genuine.

Only talk to people looking for a person to and step back if a prospect appears. Only give out business cards (they will toss your brochures and if security sees you giving out brochures they will get suspicious). Etiquette tips: don't take their brochures or giveaways, keep it short.

If they have nothing to do sales people like to talk. Prospects create prospects so talking to one person instead of no-one is likely to make another person pause and look at their booth. Pick the quiet times e.g. when there a meals or conference sessions.

Manny, your question revolves around an activity that has been deliberately forgotten and disregarded in today's impersonal online-only "permission marketing mindset" era:

You simply want to prospect - to directly approach possible customers - and you are nervous about it.

The real truth is this. If you approach a bunch of IT and computer and social media types (as on this board) with a question that boils down to "should I prospect in this particular situation?", you will generally receive admonitions on how you are wasting everyone's time, being a pest, and destroying your reputation. This would happen if you asked about cold calling, for instance. It's actually the same situation - you are interrupting someone who is doing their job.

In my opinion, the popularity of permission marketing and social media based marketing and passive techniques for inbound marketing, and related dread of outbound marketing, is based upon simple cowardice and avoidance - IE, techies who don't want to stretch themselves in a way that they have not done so before. Doing "non confrontational" marketing via blogs and FB always sounds easier to technical professionals.

I believe that what you are proposing to do is perfectly fine - and you may make some incredibly productive contacts - IF -

• You don't take time away from the vendor's primary mission while they are at the trade show. Approach a booth when they are quiet.
• You make small talk and get to know people first. You learn about their company first.
• You make your "real" agenda known in an extremely low key, non demanding way, and only when it seems that the sales person would be receptive (IE, they like you.)
• Carry some brochures and business cards. When you successfully chat up someone, even if the discussion does not organically move to your area of interest, hand them a card and a brochure and ask them to pass it on, if they wish.

It's called prospecting and it can also be a way to network.

One last thing. Check out a book called "The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance". It is a self-help text that will help you identify thinking in specific prospecting situations that holds you back (such as believing that you are interrupting people who are better than you.)

Good luck and press forward.