There are hundreds of details to worry about at every trade show, but exhibit and event staff professionalism is absolutely vital to any successful trade show experience. A well-prepared booth exhibit staff can mean the difference between a trade show program that flourishes and one that flops; especially when it comes to ROI and lead generation. Taking a trade show booth training course is a great way to ensure success at your next trade show, and a good way to prepare your staff for anything that might come their way during an event.
Your trade show booth staff is your key asset.
Never underestimate the importance of your exhibit staff: they’re your main brand ambassadors and play a vital role in the success of your trade show exhibit. This means good training and preparation are essential! Your booth staff should have excellent presentation skills and speaking skills and be well-versed in business etiquette and the key concepts of your brand.
Trade-show-specific staff training is important even if your booth staff are already trained salespeople, simply because the rhythm of the sales cycle is different at a show compared to sales in the field. In the conventional sales process, a rep can spend an entire day working with a single client. However, at a trade show, one of your booth staff could talk to three or four different visitors in half an hour. Every visitor is a potential lead, and at busy shows, you might be faced with a constant stream of traffic.
Training your trade show team to succeed and bring in leads.
Sometimes training a great booth team means taking a new, unfamiliar approach. A lot of technical people never thought their jobs involved anything but answering questions or talking to each other. We get them to look at the strategy of the trade show. The basic strategy of going to a trade show is to get face time with people who might become customers. It’s really quite that clean and simple.
In other words, even your techies need trade show training, not just the dedicated sales staff. When you’re assigning booth roles, you’ll naturally fit each person to a role that best suits their skills. Still, everyone should be ready to engage and converse with booth visitors.
Establishing clear trade show goals and roles.
Each member of your team should know exactly what their role is. They should have clear job descriptions and well-defined goals, as well as clear guidelines on how to do their jobs throughout the trade show or event. Most importantly, the staff on your sales floor need specific skills training in how to talk to visitors and how to start and direct conversations. These things are too important to leave to chance and improvisation.
Having well-defined goals is important for your success because it helps you decide what you need to focus on at the show. The same is true for your staff. If they have clear goals, they’ll work more productively, with a greater degree of focus.
Setting firm guidelines for booth behavior.
Trade show attendees expect prompt attention when they arrive at your trade show booth. Ideally, a team member should engage a new visitor within 15 to 20 seconds to avoid losing them. You never know when the next big client is going to pass by, so every on-duty member of your team should always be friendly and ready to engage. Nobody should be texting or talking on their phone, eating, or leaning against display cabinets.
One easy way to do this is to create a simple list of “do” and “don’t” behaviors to ensure your staff makes a good impression. For instance, as well as being ready to engage new visitors, trade show staff members should be well-groomed and appropriately dressed. Each staff member should come prepared to take the lead with any new visitor or attendee and be ready to answer questions and follow up with potential leads.
Looking for ways to train your trade show booth staff? Our trade show training program is based on years of experience on the trade show floor, and we can help you focus your lead generation efforts and make each trade show a success. Learn more about Trade Show Infotainer’s trade show training here.