Training Website
Home Shows always feature displays and exhibits of the latest trends and ideas in home improvement, remodeling, interior design, decorating, and landscaping. In addition, they provide educational and informative seminars and demonstrations designed to help homeowners enhance the beauty and value of their homes.
Many Homeowners go to home shows to help source contractors for various home improvement needs, including painting projects.
There are typically 100-500 different vendors that attend a home show ranging from, home improvement contractors, real estate agents, home supply companies and many others. These shows are a great way to not only connect with customers, but also other small business owners in the community that you could build a working relationship with.
Home Shows are typically held on the weekends, from Friday morning through Sunday evening. Hours vary depending on the show. Some shows in larger metropolitan areas could last up to 7-10 days.
Almost every county/city has at least one home show every year. The best way to find when these shows is to google Home Shows in “Your City/County”. Google will show a list of all of the home show and trade shows that are happening in your area for the year.
The sign up process, typically starts with an application process. Applications can be found on the home show website for your local community. They will ask simply questions regarding the business and services you offer.
Once your application is processed and approved, you will be asked to select a booth size. This is where the home shows make their money. You will rent out a booth space, that can range from $300 - $4000 depending on the show and the size of your booth.
When selecting a booth, you typically will not require a large space. A 10’x10’ booth would be plenty big for what you will need it for. Also when selecting a booth location, corner spots are typically the best, as you will get the most foot traffic. (These do typically cost a little extra than a normal booth location)
Also when selecting a booth, you will sometimes receive a map of booth layout for the venue with current attendees and their booth locations. Try avoid being next to other painters and pick a booth location that will have high traffic from other booths that draw many customers to their booth. (For example, I always try to set my booth up next food companies giving out free samples, because everyone at the show seems to make their way to that booth eventually.
Brand awareness is crucial. Make sure your brand is everywhere within your booth. You only have about 5 seconds to show people walking past, who you are, and what you do, so make sure it is clear to the customers that you are a painting company.
Home Show Booth ExampleHome Show Booth Examples
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You must be very engaging with customers throughout the show. You will double your lead count from the show, by being very proactive with customers. Don’t just sit down and wait for customers to come to you. Ensure you are standing up and engaging with as many people as they walk by.
Engaging with people can be as simple as asking them a question. “Hey, are looking to get any painting done this year?”
You can also hand out different prizes, like branded materials that are listed above. You can give away candy or even set up a game at your booth to bring people in. People love free things, so if you can draw in more people by giving things away, this allows you to have a conversation.
Another recommendation is providing some sort of promotion for the customers at the home show. I typically did a 5-10 percent discount for anyone that I gave me their information at the home show. You could also do a giveaway. “If you sign up today, you will be in the running for a free bedroom repaint.”
Once you have gotten the attention of a customer, it is important to get their information, so you can schedule an estimate or follow up with them later.
Many customers may be reluctant to give away contact information and you will have a lot of customers just ask for a business card. Try to avoid giving away business cards before talking with them and trying to get their contact info. You could give away 300 business cards at a home show and you might hear back from 10 of them. This is why it is important that you have a way of contacting them.
Always start the conversation off by asking them what they are looking to get done. Once you get them talking about the project, it is easier to keep them engaged with you at the booth.
When you get leads at a home show, you can split them up into two buckets, Hot leads and Cold leads. Hot leads are people that are very interested in and serious about getting their house painted. Cold leads are people that are just “shopping around” or entering your raffle if you are running one.
Always try to schedule the estimate right there at the booth if you can. “We can come out and get you free estimate on that project, is there a day and time that would work well for you?”
You can go old school with a pen and paper sign up sheet, but we recommend you use your booking page on your website: “yourwebsite.com/book”. You will need to have a laptop up, where they can just type of their information and schedule a time for the estimate.
You may also provide them with a QR code, where they can scan and use their own mobile device to schedule. It is very easy to get a QR code for your website. Just visit any of these QR Generator sites and use your domain as the destination:
If they are not open to scheduling an estimate, use the new customer form on your business’s website to get the customer’s information. This will be automatically ingested into our Call Center’s workflow and put into a qualification + scheduling process.
If this is not an option for you due to the busyness of the home show or poor connection in the warehouse, you can also get the following information from the customer manually and send it to support@withhoist.com:
Once they are scheduled or you have contact information, be sure to give them a business card, so they have a way of contacting you, just in case.
If customers don’t schedule a time for the estimate, it is crucial that you follow up the following week from the show, unless they specified otherwise. Chances are they spoke to other contractors at the show, and speed to the lead is crucial to ensure you are giving yourself an opportunity to close that deal.
The Monday following the show you want to send a text or email to each customer who did not schedule an appointment saying something like this: “Hi Mr. Jones - This is Chris with Riggins Painting. We had spoke at the home show this past weekend regarding some painting projects that you had coming up. I wanted to follow up and see if there would be a good time for us to come out provide you with that free estimate.”
If you don’t get a response from the text message by Wednesday, make a phone call and leave a voicemail. Your goal should be to try and contact customers 3 separate times in that first week following the home show. Speed to the lead is crucial. If you don’t get a response in that first week, move them into my normal drip campaign/follow up process.
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