Avoid Booth Staff Duds: Thirteen Essential Questions You
Have to Ask
by Susan Friedmann,
Published on this site: February 11th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
Booth staff selection is the single most important factor
in your exhibiting success. More than graphics, signage, literature,
giveaways, or any other variable, it is the people you put
on the show floor that influence visitor's opinion of your organization. They are your ambassadors, representing
your company for the whole world to see. It is impossible
to stress enough how crucial your team is to your overall
success.
To ensure a top notch performance, begin preparing your booth
team four to six months prior to the event. You will need
the answers to the following questions:
- How many people are needed to staff the booth?
A number of variables need to be considered. How big is
your exhibit? How long is the show? Will you need employees
to give product demonstrations, work the hospitality suite,
teach seminars, or supervise contests? Ensure you have enough
staffing to have your booth manned at all times, while giving
your team a break every four to six hours. No one can be
'on' for twelve hours at a time.
- Who are the best people to represent the organization?
Working a trade show requires a unique mix of skills. You
want employees with excellent product knowledge, superlative
people skills, killer sales instincts, and a warm, engaging
personality. These people should be motivated self-starters,
able to think on their feet and work with little or no direction.
- Has staff training been organized?
To ensure success, prepare your team with all the skills
and tools they need. Training should cover assessing visitor
types, asking qualifying questions, handling difficult attendees,
lead generation and follow up, and many other factors.
- Has a pre-show meeting been scheduled?
Pre-show meetings play a critical role in ensuring that
your team understands their goals and objectives, expected
roles and duties, and is adequately supplied with background
knowledge to handle any unexpected surprises. Use this time
to clarify any areas of confusion and to address any staff
concerns.
- Is the booth team familiar with the products or services
being displayed?
To effectively sell products, you need to have thorough,
complete product knowledge. Too many times, organizations
send out rookie employees who only possess rudimentary knowledge.
This is frustrating for attendees, who won't come back to
find another employee who might have an answer - they'll
go to the competition instead.
- Has a practice demonstration session been organized?
Never assume that your employees know how to use the products
that they sell. It is entirely possible that they are not
completely familiar with every feature, especially if you
are introducing a new product. Take the time to thoroughly
train your team, and have them practice demonstrating the
product to familiarize themselves with the show floor routine.
- Will a technical representative be available to answer
questions?
Depending on your product/service line, it may be entirely
appropriate to send a technical representative to handle
specific product questions. Train this person in the basics
of salesmanship, but keep their duties largely relegated
to providing technical answers. Make sure they are aware
of the possibility of trade show espionage, to prevent them
from sharing too much information.
- Has a dress code been established?
Well before you arrive at the event, a dress code should
be established. Uniforms may be appropriate for your company,
but if they are not, clearly specify what you want your
team to be wearing. "Casual business" gives far
too much leeway. Instead, spell out "Black trousers
or skirt, white shirt, black blazer, red tie," or the
equivalent.
- Have badges been ordered for all booth personnel?
Everyone on your team needs a badge to enter the show floor,
access hospitality areas, and move freely about. Order these
badges well ahead of time, so that any errors or omissions
can be remedied in a timely fashion.
- Do booth personnel have sufficient business cards?
It is amazing how many business cards you can hand out during
the course of one trade show. Make sure your team is adequately
prepared.
- Has a booth schedule been planned?
A complete schedule will cover every moment from show arrival
to departure. Include who will be staffing the booth, break
times, technical support and assorted responsibilities.
It may be a good idea to include 'check in' time into the
schedule, so sales people acting as booth staff can check
messages back at the home office and make needed phone calls.
This will alleviate a great deal of staff anxiety.
- Who will oversee booth installation and dismantling?
Often overlooked, these two items can quickly become logistic
nightmares if no one is prepared to address them. Delegate
two people to this detail. Many show organizers provide
this service for a fee, but you may still want to have staff
members on hand supervising.
- Does that person understand the move-out procedure?
Someone has to arrange for moving the exhibit out of the
convention center, ensuring it is properly packed, and coordinate
shipping the whole thing back to the home office. Again,
a team should be clearly delegated this responsibility,
and provided with all the tools and resources they'll need
to succeed.
Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, the tradeshow coach,
Lake Placid, NY, author: "Meeting & Event Planning
for Dummies," working with companies to improve their
meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and
training. For a free copy of "10 Common Mistakes Exhibitors
Make"
e-mail: [email protected]
website: http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com
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