If you've got a great product or service to offer at a trade show, members of the public may be interested in placing orders with you on the day.
This is exactly what you're looking for - an immediate boost to revenues and an expanded customer base achieved through direct engagement with consumers.
Many people do come to trade shows eager to make purchases, as opposed to simply 'window shop', so there are opportunities to reel them in and get them onboard.
Many consumers will be happy to buy from you, but they won't be happy to wait in long queues to confirm their transaction.
This can prove highly frustrating for people. Having decided to press ahead with a purchase, they want to sign on the dotted line and process the order immediately.
If they are forced to wait ten or 15 minutes for the relevant person, or payment technology, to become available, then you could have a problem.
Many people simply won't have the patience, or inclination, to wait around until they reach the front of the queue.
So if you don't sort out payment straight away, you could lose the order. Some individuals may promise to return to your stand later when things quieten down a little.
But it remains to be seen whether they reappear or not.
They may find the same solution, or a similar one, at another booth and decide to go with that company instead, meaning your business misses out on a sale it has already won.
This is not only a financial blow to your company, but a psychological one as well. It can negatively impact on morale among your sales reps, who do all the hard work and then see the deal fall through due to a lack of capacity on the payment desk.
It's important to ensure any orders can be finalised immediately, and this means having sufficient numbers of people manning your stand, and multiple payment points too.
In 2015, there are various ways for consumers to pay for goods, and it's important to make sure you use them.
As well as having a cash checkout and order forms for larger purchases, it makes sense to take advantage of tablet technology or Wi-Fi enables laptops to facilitate online payment.
An increasing number of people do their banking over the internet now, and they may be happy to place an order with you via an e-commerce platform.
You don't want to give the consumer any reason - or any time - to change their mind about the purchase they are going to make.
Once they have opted to go ahead and take a product or service from you, the priority has to be locking it down, and then delivering on your part of the bargain.
