Do's and Don'ts of Trade Show Staffing
Posted: Sunday, August 02, 2009
by Matthew Theobald
Exhibition display solutions
Having spent many hours in exhibition and trade show environments as both an exhibitor and a customer, I am constantly amazed at the lack of training and unprofessionalism of those manning the stand.
The best way is to start with a list of what not to do. Such a list follows - and the horrifying thing is that everything on this list is done - and often - by staff at exhibitions, thus not only damaging their company's chances of gaining new sales leads but damaging their public image.
DO NOT
1. Do not drink on the stand. For a visitor to have alcohol fumes breathed all over him, or - worse - to be greeted by an obviously half-drunk salesman, will probably mean that he will never deal with your company.
And by the way, include eating heavily spiced food (particularly garlic) either the night before or on the day, in this prohibition.
2. Do not block entrances to the stand, or look like guards on sentry duty.
3. Don't eat on the stand.
4. Do not stand in groups chatting, Sit down and read the paper, or even just sit down. Staff should be on their feet all of the time. Any sitting-down should be done during break-times which, unless you are fortunate enough to have incorporated a staff area on your stand, should be taken away from the stand.
5. Do not pounce on every approaching visitor like a hungry cat, hover uncertainly near the prospect or chase the prospect. Always approach head-on.
6. Do not be long-winded in your sales talk, use high-pressure or "hard sell" sales techniques.
7. Do not make visitors wait for attention. Make certain that your staff have frequent breaks. Manning a stand can be tedious and exhausting and you need to retain their freshness and enthusiasm. And in your sales pitch remember that there is no product which does not have limitations. Be honest - it pays in the long run.
Finally in this negative section, a few statistics. Some research has been done on the way in which prospects are approached at exhibitions and it makes interesting, if depressing, reading.
The research was done at a wide variety of technical exhibitions and the researcher only recorded what happened on those stands where (a) he actually crossed the stand threshold, and (b) there was a representative free to speak to him.
1. Prospect not noticed or ignored by stand staff 50%.
2. Prospect approached with a "Can I help you?" by stand staff 40%
3. Poor opening remarks (e.g. "Are you just looking?" "Please take a leaflet" etc.) 8%
4. Good opening remarks 2%. This would indicate two things: at the exhibitions visited by the researcher 48% of the staff were doing their job badly and 50% weren't doing it at all!
The remedy for the 50% is easy - you tell them to do their job or get out! For the 48%, however, something can be done and I'll be looking at this in the next article.
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Matt has been involved in the design and production of exhibition stands for 2 decades and has run his large-format digital printing business in Maidenhead for the last 8 years. http://www.exdisplay.co.uk
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