All kinds of people come to tradeshows – even to business trade shows:
- The real decision makers
- The influencers
- The R&D
- The employees
- The salesmen of your competitors
- The head hunters
- The pretenders

The pretenders are maybe the worst kind as they consume your time and no business will ever be generated:

1. The former decision maker

People with a certain maturity or even notoriety that used to be in the driving seat of a company, but have been promoted to the ‘Director of the Garage or Printing dept.’ or even dismissed.
Still on the trade show they will pretend to still be important and will ask questions of all kinds that are quite related to the past and not the present.
Avoid them if possible if you can recognize them.
Due to their previous experience they are hard to recognize.

2. The geek as non-influencer

Some geeks pretend to be influencers and will fire many questions to your sales people on your booth. Questions they can’t answer due to the highly technical matters. Hence the need for the presence of a sales engineer or people with a technical background in order to answer adequately the questions posed.
Still they are probably a waste of time.
The problem is how to segregate the real influencers from the fake?
- Asking their business card in order to see their title or position in the company.
- Asking about the relation with the decision makers in the company.
- Asking about the amount and timing of budgets available for such projects or products.

3. The sole trader with big plans

Typically they have wild or disruptive ideas that they are testing or looking for confirmation by asking questions to your sales people.
By asking simple questions about their company or just reading their business card can reveal the smallness of the company they are presenting.
Maybe this can be interesting for your product managers to catch new ideas or concepts but for your sales people and the purpose of the trade show they are a waste of time.

4. The businessman in need for a business

They pretend to be in charge of a big important company with many relations to the large corporations or even government in their company. They hope to start an additional business with your products and solutions as their current business is no longer profitable.
By pretending to have the keys to the foreign market they try to get a new deal or even exclusive deal with your company.
Not only the time of the salesman is wasted, but also the VP Sales will get involved and waste his time listening to the stories the pretender will server to state his status and relations.
As this is a bout the market in a foreign country with mostly unknown players in the market, it is very difficult to know if the person is a pretender or not. Still the more important he presents himself the less likely he is really successful as successful business men aren’t looking for new opportunities on a trade show: they get new products and solutions presented to them due to their importance in their market.

5. The dreaming entrepreneur

These people have defined or created a concept solution for which they see a market opportunity, but need the technical and practical matters to be solved.
In order to do so they hope to find answers and solutions on the trade show.
However chances are the market is virtually non-existent, the technical issues will make the solution to expensive and the legal or certification requirements are hard to overcome.
A good salesman should see the warning signs in the vague business plan or concept the entrepreneur is trying to present.

6. The failed entrepreneur

They used to have a thriving business but as technology has changed or the market opportunity has passed, they now hope to make a comeback.
They will pretend all is fine and under control and having many relations with possible customers in the market based upon their previous success.
They hope to get a distribution or reseller contract for your products.
As they are running out of funds, they cannot invest enough capital to be a distributor or reseller.
However the lacking of funding, employees and the relations with companies have long gone, this is not the right partner to start with as distributor or reseller.
It will be difficult to spot the failed entrepreneur as he can rely upon his experience of the past. Only by asking direct, precise and specific questions about people at companies you will be able to scratch the surface of what he pretends to be.

7. The consultant

They will start with pretending interest in your products or solutions.
Instead of inquiring for a possible purchase, they will turn the conversation into selling their services to you.
The longer it takes that they need to start their sales pitch, the more time is wasted for your salesmen.
In most cases these consultants are very well dressed, speak clearly and are knowledgeable about your market.
The fastest way to reveal their identity is by analyzing their business card:
- Company name: Whatsoever & Partners
- Title: unclear function
- Email: web based
- Website: no domain name
- Address: located in a residential area

Trade show pretenders are costly

As a trade show is very costly and a lead will cost above $1,500 or even $2,500, it is utmost important that the qualification of anyone presenting on the booth is handled quickly.

The more time a salesman wastes on a pretender the less chance to obtain a real lead.
Even worse is when a bad or missing qualification has happened and the contact information of the pretender gets registered with a write-up into the leads file. Then it gets processed into the CRM system: more worthless costs like follow-up emails and calls.

As in The Platters’ song:
Pretending that Im doing well
My need is such I pretend too much
Adrift in a world of my own
I play the game but to my real shame

The Great Pretender
Lyrics: Buck Ram
Music: Buck Ram

Oh, yes, Im the great pretender
Just laughing and gay like a clown
I seem to be what Im not, you see
Im wearing my heart like a crown
Pretending that youre still around

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