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Staffing Trade Show Exhibits 101
Author : Steve Booth (the trade show display guy)
How well your trade show exhibit staff is trained will directly effect how well your trade show exhibit does at the show. A well-trained staff means a successful trade show. A poorly trained staff (or untrained staff) most likely means a pending trade show disaster. It's just that simple.
Fortunately, proper training for trade show exhibits doesn't require a lot of training or even complicated training. It just requires a healthy dose of common sense. To be a successful trade show exhibitor, you must understand what to do, and more importantly, what not to do. Your trade show exhibit will only be a success if you have good staff and they know what to do (and what not to do). There are ten basic and fundamental rules for staffing trade show exhibits. Learn and follow these ten rules and insure your trade show marketing efforts pay off. Whether you have a staff of one or a staff of many, the same golden rules apply.
RULE 1. STAND. Get your rear end out of your chair and stand up. Don't sit. Stand. Staffers on their feet with an open stance are much more approachable than staffers sitting with crossed arms. If you are in your booth, you should be on your feet... standing.
RULE 2. STAY HEALTHY. Always take care of yourself! Get enough of sleep the night before. Eat a full breakfast. Drink plenty of water. And remember you'll be standing a lot (see rule 1), so wear comfortable shoes.
RULE 3. IDENTIFY YOURSELF. Get and wear professional name tag with both your name and your company name on it. Make sure it is easy for other people to read.
RULE 4. SMILE AND BE FRIENDLY. Smile big and greet your prospect. Ask them their name. Then use their name when you talk with them. People will appreciate it. So find out their name and use it. When your conversation is finished, thank them for stopping by your booth, and again, use their name.
RULE 5. ASK QUESTIONS. Don't forget this simple advice - before you can recommend a solution, you must know what your customer's problem is! Don't begin explaining to a prospect what you can do for them until after they have told you what they need. Ask questions, and listen to their answers. Ask more questions. Your goal is to find out what they need. It's only after you understandwhat your prospect needs that can you then tell them how you can help them. Of course, but asking questions, you may find out they don't really need what you are offering, in which case you need to thank them and move on.
RULE 6. AVOID "YES-NO" QUESTIONS. Always think first and then ask open ended questions, not yes-no questions. When you ask a prospect a yes-no question, you usually just get a simple yes-no answer, and that's the end of the conversation. Instead of asking, "Can I help you", try asking "What are you looking for at the show today?" The first question could be answered "NO", but the second question requires an answer (though you may still get a "nothing", but that just means you need to ask another open-ended question. Always make your questions open ended, and then ask follow up questions.
RULE 7. LISTEN. Understand and use the 90-10 rule. Ninety percent of your conversation should be listening. Ten percent of your conversation should be talking. You learn more about your prospect when you are listening and not talking. Ask questions. Listen. Listen. Listen... and listen some more.
RULE 8. IGNORE. Pay close attention to the prospects that stop at your exhibit, but ignore the other trade show staffers and the many trade show booth distractions. Trade show exhibit hours are definately not the time to discuss your last vacation or the new office dress code. Don't talk to the other trade show staffers, unless it's to introduce a prospect or customer to them for more information. And remember that real live human customers in front of you take precedence over customers that may call you on your cell phone.
RULE 9. GIVE FREELY. One widely used way to generate more trade show traffic and reward people for stopping by your trade show exhibit is to hand out trade show giveaways. A simple and useful trade show giveaway (with your business and contact info on it) is an great way to thank prospects for talking with you, and it also will help them remember you and your company later. While trade show giveaways aren't required, many successful trade show exhibits hand them out. There are lots of trade show giveaway ideas out there. You can have cheap trade show giveaways (i.e. pens) for the general public and more expensive trade show giveaways (i.e. usb thumb drives) for existing high-value customers that stop by.
RULE 10. FOCUS. FOCUS. FOCUS. Focus on your trade show exhibit, not the trade show exhibits on either side of you or your competitor's exhibit on the other side of the show. Resist the temptation to disappear from the booth and do "competitive research". Do your competitive research after the trade show is closed for the day. TIVO the all important ball game so you can watch it when you get home. During the hours the trade show floor and trade show exhibits are open, you must be staffing your exhibit booth. You must be standing with a smile on your face, greeting people by name, and ready to do business.
Follow these ten golden rules for staffing trade show exhibits, and make your next trade show exhibit your best exhibit yet!
Author's Resource Box
This article on Staffing Trade Show Exhibits 101 is brought to you by the always helpful trade show exhibits experts at Pinnacle Displays. Stop by their website and check out their selection of portable trade show exhibits. All of their exhibits (including their high impact full graphics custom trade show exhibits) can be ordered online, and include free ground shipping.
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Articlebliss
Tags: trade show exhibits, staffing your trade show exhibit, trade show exhibit staff training
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Submitted : 2009-09-15 Word Count : 998 Popularity: 133 Times Viewed: 7
