Your company’s trade show exhibit is the focal point for any conference or event you’re attending, but it won’t be the only thing representing your business.  You and the rest of the staff will also get plenty of attention.  By understanding the dress code for any event, you can ensure you’ll be putting your best foot forward and impressing attendees.

Dress For The Trade Show Exhibit Event

Although most venues don’t have a formal dress code, they usually have fairly clear guidelines that attendees and exhibitors are expected to follow.  In most cases, casual clothes are frowned on; exceptions include sports themed events and recreational events such as boat shows.  For professional conferences (medical, legal, etc.) you should always dress as though it were an important day at the office.  If you’d wear a suit to meet your CEO, then a suit is best for a trade show booth.

Dress For The Venue

Make sure you check with the venue where your trade show exhibit and banner stands will be displayed.  There’s a huge difference between padded, carpeted flooring and a concrete convention hall.  The harder the floor, the more comfortable your shoes will need to be.  Women should avoid wearing sandals; they look too informal and toe and foot injuries are common in areas where there is a lot of wiring for dozens of trade show booths.

Wardrobe Details Are Important

Don’t forget that you’ll be working long hours on your feet at your trade show exhibit and dress accordingly.  You can dress professionally and still be comfortable if you keep a few things in mind:

1.  Your shoes will make or break your comfort when you’re on your feet for hours.  Women should avoid high heels; today there are gorgeous flats that will work with any business suit or dress you may wear.  Whatever you do, don’t wear new shoes or you’ll have aching, blistered feet before the end of the first day.

2.  Be aware of the norms in your industry and scale down or cover body art or piercings in order to avoid standing out as “inappropriate.”  In most cases, earrings are fine, but pierced noses and eyebrows can be viewed with disfavor in more conservative industries.  Remember, when working the booths and banner stands it’s about representing the company, not expressing your personal taste.

3.  You can wear jewelry in moderation.  The pieces should be classic and understated rather than loud and intrusive.  An armful of bangles is distracting and there’s already plenty of noise on the convention floor; you don’t want to have to compete with jangling jewelry to be heard.

4.  Polish your shoes!  This sounds simple, but there are executives who have admitted they check out the shoes of company reps.  Scuffed or neglected shoes say you aren’t interested in the details, which is a bad message no matter how awesome your trade show exhibit is.

5.  Working trade show booths means shaking a lot of hands, so be sure your hands look their best.  If possible, get a manicure a day or two before the event so your hands are well groomed.  Women should choose either a pale, neutral nail color or stick with a clear coat of polish.

6.  Take a small sewing kit with a needle, thread and a lint brush for quick clean-ups or repairs.

With all of these tips in mind, you’ll be sure to dress for success and have a great show!

Apparel is just one of the many things you need to talk about with your booth staff before a trade show.  For a deeper look at how to have the best team, read the Booth Staffing Guidebook.  Request your free copy of this 48-page workbook filled with articles, worksheets, and checklists by clicking here. 

A newly published white paper by Marketech reveals what 3,341 trade show attendees, in interviews held at 30 events, said caused them to visit trade show exhibits.   Skyline has sponsored this new research report and made it available free to exhibitors, who can get a copy by requesting it here.

The Value Of People, Product, and Promotions in Attracting Visitors To Trade Show Booths

Attendees gave their primary reasons for visiting trade show displays, and when the answers are grouped, you can see that people, product, and promotions are key in getting attendees into your exhibit:

Source: Marketech, Inc.

Product:  The number one reason given to enter a trade show booth was to obtain product information (32%).  Add product demo (11%) and you get to 43% of booth visitors interested in product.  So being ready to help attendees to learn about your products is paramount.

Promotion:  There are several reasons for visiting a booth that can be grouped under promotion:  Giveaway (17%), in booth activity (11%), refreshments / hospitality (8%), ad / promotion (5%), and invitation (1%).  Those add up to 42% of respondents.   So consider this – does your promotion budget equal 42% of your trade show budget?  Probably less – so promotions are worth the investment.

People:  Attendees said they visited booths because of the greeter (13%), product demo (that a person usually does!) (11%), and to see a rep (10%), which adds up to 34% of interested attendees.  Thus, the people that you choose to staff your booth truly matter.

Other findings from the study.

• Sponsorships and ads do increase brand awareness among trade show attendees, but do little to increase booth visitation.  If the goal is to get leads, then sponsorship appears to be the wrong promotional tool.
• Pre-show promotions are key in getting attendees to the booth, as only 20% said they visited because of “happenstance.”
• Giveaways and greeters are effective investments for driving booth traffic.

Trade show booths are the intersection of people, product and promotion, and all are essential in attracting attendees.

The Incredible Value Of A Proactive Booth Staffer

When asked who started the interaction between them and the booth staffer, attendees said that 89% of the engagements were started by the rep.  So without booth staffers that engage visitors, exhibitors will get far, far poorer results.

To Influence Attendees To Buy, Help Them Learn

Marketech believes this is the key takeaway from this research report:  There was a strong correlation between learning from an exhibitor and being more inclined to buy from them.  For example, when an attendee learns something new, they were 27% more inclined to buy from the exhibitor, but if they did not learn something new, they were only 6% more inclined to buy from the exhibitor.  An attendee who learns from you is more likely to become your client.

But it has to be relevant learning, cautions Marketech:  “Identifying the visitor’s agenda and speaking to it must be one of the most important elements in preparing a staff to work an event.  Otherwise, the exhibit staff is merely delivering an information dump that does not achieve either party’s objectives and is a waste of time.”

Other “Best Practices” Recommendations For Exhibitors:

• Create a reason for attendees to put you on their “must see” trade show list
• Ask your sales reps to invite their customers and prospects
• Be sure to train your staff to best engage with attendees
• Create a learning environment in your exhibit to drive purchasing behavior, and be creative in transforming known information into something new
• Teach technicians to mention your brand name while they do demonstrations to increase memorability with attendees
• Pay attention to non-customers and influencers, too, because they can spread the word to buyers, too
• Increase memorability with hands-on demos

The size of this study – based on over 3,000 interviews – gives you an unprecedented body of experience to help you enhance your trade show program.  There’s great advice here, especially about drawing in attendees with product info, promotions, and the right people, and about creating a true learning environment to make attendees more likely to buy from you.

Boost your trade show results with insights from this new white paper, What Attendees Tell Us About Best Practices, based on over 3,000 interviews with trade show attendees.  Click here to get your free copy now.

You never have a second chance to make a great first impression — except on the second day of a trade show!  That’s when you get a whole new batch of attendees to impress.

Because the first day of a trade show usually has the most foot traffic, Day 2 and 3 can be a let down by comparison.  But Day 1 is never perfect, and with the following plan, you can made quick adjustments to generate greater results on Day 2, even while the traffic is slower.

Here are several key areas you can monitor and adjust on Day 2:

Trade Show Booth Staffers:

• Are your staffers working well?  Are they spending the right amount of time with each attendee?
• What opening lines worked well?  Which bombed?
• Check each booth staffers’ lead counts, and if they are taking complete leads with notes about what attendees asked for, and especially if they are qualifying leads or not.
• Were all aisles around your island trade show display covered, or did staffers congregate in a few spots?
• Were your staffers comfortable delivering demos and using any interactive technology in the booth?  Are they smooth or shaky?
• If you hired Crowd Gatherers, how well did the hand off go from them to your own staffers?
• Your new booth staffers showing up for the first time on Day 2 will need the same complete booth staff training you gave before Day 1.
• If there is less traffic on Day 2, remember that you can only talk to one person at a time.  On a busy day there are a lot of people walking by that you can’t get to anyhow while you talk to an attendee.
• If there is a lot less traffic on Day 2 (or 3 …), go ahead and take longer with the leads that you do get.  Ask them deeper questions, or take longer demoing the product they like.

Promotions:

• Check your promotional giveaway quantities — are your trade show booth staffers giving them out at the right time to the right people, or just handing them out willy-nilly?
• Do you have enough giveaways to honor your promises for the rest of the show?
• Did your at-show promotion spin out of control, where your staffers got so caught up in the promo that they forgot to advance the buying cycle with attendees?

Trade Show Exhibit Design:

• Were there any parts of the exhibit that were missing or did not get set up completely before the show opened on the first day?  Make sure you get them taken care of before Day 2 starts.
• How well did the exhibit layout work within the flow of traffic for this show?  If there were glaring problems, can you make adjustments?
• Were you featuring any product in the booth that really did not generate any interest?  If so, can you remove it from the booth?  Better yet, can you replace it with a more popular product?
• Did attendees “get” your messaging?  If not, can you adjust?

Where To Get Feedback

If this is a lot to look for, remember that you’ve got help.  You can get great feedback from your team in a few ways:

• Take your booth staff team out to dinner after the first day.  Ask them how they thought the day went, and how to improve.
• Ask your booth staffing veterans.  They have the experience to know what worked before, and when things are getting off track.
• Ask your rookies.  They see things with fresh eyes.  They may have booth staffing knowledge from another company, too.
• Check your lead cards, and count leads per booth staffer, and percent leads completed per booth staffer.  Find who needs coaching, and who can do that coaching for you.

Implement Your Day 2 Plan

Host a pre-show meeting in the booth with your staffers one hour before the show starts on the second day.  Go over what’s been going well (such as any stellar leads taken on Day 1), what you would like to improve, and how you want to fix it.  Ask all the staffers for feedback, but especially the ones who have already given you good feedback that you want your entire team to hear.  Then get everyone on board with your fixes.

Some of these items may not be fixable for Day 2, or even any day while you are at the show.  If so, then use this checklist to review after your show is over, to prepare for your next show.

So while Day 1 is usually the busiest day of the show, with a perceptive eye, good teamwork, and flexibility, you can make Day 2 even better.

Whether it’s Day 1, Day 2, or later, trade shows provide great value to both exhibitors and attendees.  Read why – and how you can improve your results with this knowledge – in the 24-page white paper, The Value Of Trade Shows.  Click here to request your free copy. 

In Minnesota, we are raised to be “nice.”  But how far does that really get you?  For many, nice means passive-aggressive, nice means bite your tongue, or nice means smile and nod.  When you’re staffing a trade show booth you are acting as a host, and sometimes “nice,” in any of its definitions, doesn’t always cut it.

Go Beyond Nice

When you are exhibiting, you must put yourself in the mindset that all the prospects in the hall are your guests.  If you were hosting a party in your home, no matter the occasion, you would go out of your way to accommodate every single guest. You wouldn’t tell them to let themselves in the door, throw their coat over the back of a chair, and help themselves to whatever was in the fridge.  Guests in your trade show booth are no different.  They need to be warmly welcomed and engaged from the moment you see them.

The Pre-Party Planning

Part of being a good host is proper planning to ensure the event will run smoothly.  To have a spectacular trade show, have all your extras prepared.  Did you make all the appropriate phone calls and contacts to ensure your trade show exhibit will arrive on time and be set up properly?  Does your booth staff know when and where to be and what you expect of them?  Do you have an emergency kit with supplies for yourself and your booth?

Whether it’s a big theme to the party or the smallest details, having a plan and a back-up plan for everything will set yourself and your guests at ease.  Sure, you can get by without it but it will add a little zest and make everything more memorable if you do.  Failing to make your plan would be like having 20 people show up for a Super Bowl party and all you have to offer them is a bowl of stale Doritos — the game is still on but it’s just not the same.

In The Booth

Now that you’re at the show and in your booth, it’s your job to make everyone passing by feel welcomed and important.  Easier said than done.  Part of making people feel comfortable is being genuine. After all, you are exhibiting because you want to use your product or service to help people, right? Attendees don’t need a sales pitch from every booth staffer they walk by. Talk to them, get to know them, uncover their needs, or show them what you have to offer. Sales can come after the show but the time to make a good impression and develop trust is now. When the show is over, clearly relay those needs to a great salesperson and let them close the deal.

Heading Home

When all is said and done, any host would be remiss if they did not thank their guests for coming.  In Minnesota, the cycle of “Thank you” “No, thank you!” might go on for several minutes until all parties are equally thanked and made aware of their counterpart’s gratitude.  The same goes for your trade show booth.  Let the attendees know that you appreciate their time and offer a closing statement to commit to follow-up.

They will want to hear more about your company after that star treatment, don’tcha know!

The success of your trade show depends on your booth staff’s performance.  To help you multiply the results you get from your booth staffers, read the Booth Staffing Guidebook.  To request your 48-page book filled with insightful articles and worksheets, click here. 

Sorry, we’re not going to be talking about how to fix your love life in this post. However, there are a lot of similarities in getting the attention of a potential mate and getting the attention of a trade show attendee. You only have a few seconds to convey your message and attract those passing by.  And, unlike Craig’s List,  there is no “Missed Connection” section on a trade show’s website.

Compared to many international trade shows, U.S. shows have relatively short show hours and fewer show days.  This means that most attendees don’t have a lot of time to spend with any one particular trade show booth.  They will try to hit as many booths as they can. Oftentimes, there are other events associated with a show that attendees are also visiting.  In short, there is a lot of competition for attendee’s attention and you don’t have a lot of time to impress them.

Most U.S. shows have badges or name tags, often color-coded to quickly identify who is who, containing all of our information that can be scanned and exchanged quickly.  Attendees spend about 1-3 minutes at each station and move to the next one.  If you feel there is a connection or potential to do business you may exchange contact information. Sound familiar?  It’s sort of like speed dating!

So how do you effectively grab the attention of a passing attendee?

1. Use Eye Contact to Initiate a Conversation:

Check out my previous post on the Power of Eye Contact.  Making solid eye contact and simply initiating contact with an attendee is the first step.  Use engaging phrases, or “pick-up lines.”  My favorite one?  “Hi.” Just as simple as that!

In case that’s not your style, here are a few more:

“So what brings you to the show?”

“Are you looking for anything specific here at the show?”

If they are noticing something specific about your trade show exhibit, ask “What do you think about product X or product Y?”

2. Engage and Qualify Them:  

Now that you have their attention you need to pique their interest and qualify them as a potential lead.  This means asking a few questions and  getting them to provide as much information as possible.  You might not be able to spend a lot of time with this person so you want to make sure that if you or someone else follows up with them after the show, they will have all of the information that they need.  Ask them if they have tried your product or know your company.  Ask them what they thought of the current product or service they are using — what do they like or dislike about it?  Take a lot of clear notes, as this is valuable information that will help you reestablish the connection that you’ve created during the follow up.

2. Exchange information and Determine a Next Step:  

Now that you have engaged and qualified them, determine what the next step is and make sure you both know what that is going to be. Get their contact information so you don’t leave it up to them to follow up. Think of it this way: they are the bombshell that is getting approached by every guy in the bar.  Chances are, they just might not remember you.  Don’t take it personally though – they will be talking to a lot of people over the course of the show.  If you will personally be following up with them after the show, give them your contact information.  If someone else will be doing the follow up, let the attendee know you will be passing along all of the information you have and they will be contacted by someone else soon.

Remember, your company has spent a lot of time and money for you to be at the show and each attendee that walks by your booth could be an opportunity to make a connection.

85% of your trade show success depends on your booth staff. To ensure you’re making the most of every opportunity they have, read the Booth Staffing Guidebook.  Click here to request your free copy of the 48-page book filled with insightful articles, worksheets, and checklists.

The difference between a good booth staffer and a bad one can make the difference between a trade show that profitably boosts your brand and sales, and a tragic waste of your company’s time and money.  What can you do to ensure that you assemble a team of booth staffers that will get the job done right?

To help you find and prepare a winning booth staffer team, here are the 10 best ideas on booth staffing that I’ve collected over the years, and now share with you:

1. Choose staffers who actually want to staff your trade show booth and have the right attitude.  Then, train chosen staffers for product, company, and customer knowledge as needed.
2. Your booth staffers will be more motivated when they understand clearly just how much you are investing at each show, what are the company’s goals and your goals for them at the show.
3. A staffer that is able to stay focused on aisle traffic, watch attendees walking down the aisle for the right moment, and engage with them can get double, triple, or more leads than a booth staffer who is distracted or too shy.
4. Your booth staffers don’t have time to tell your entire company history.  So train staffers to ask what matters most to your booth visitors, and then share only the relevant part of your story.
5. Tell your booth staffers it’s essential they take a minute after each visitor conversation to write down a few sentences about what that lead said and wants, before going on to the next lead.
6. Spend enough time training your booth staffers to give them the chance to succeed.  A half hour just before the show starts is not nearly enough.  For example, can staffers all smoothly demontrate your newest products?
7. New booth staffers benefit enormously by doing practice booth staff role playing before the trade show.  It gets them over their fears and engrains the training much more memorably.
8. Invest in bringing enough staffers so they can maximize the investment you’ve already spent in booth space, trade show exhibits, show expenses and services, and promotions.
9. Surprisingly, introverted booth staffers can outperform extroverted booth staffers, because they can be more focused on engaging attendees and may listen more to your booth visitors’ needs.
10. Offer prizes and/or recognition for the staffers who gather the highest quantity of qualified leads.

Your booth staffers are the ambassadors of your brand.  What they say and do matters.  A lot.  Use these 10 tips to ensure that your staff performs at a higher level and gets more from your trade show investment.

I’m sure you’ve learned your own booth staffing secrets while gracing the ailes of your trade show booth.  We’d love to hear your best ideas in the comment box below.

This article is one of a series on Top 10 Tips for various key trade show topics:
> Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Promotions

> Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Exhibit Design

>Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Lead Management

Booth staffing is just one part of effective exhibiting.  To see what else makes exhibitors successful, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. To request this guidebook full of tips and ideas, click here. 

The busy season is over and you’ve just exhibited at the same trade shows that you always exhibit at, year after year.  Which can make you too easily fall into the “same old, same-old” mindset: Same competitors, same booth staff, same exhibit, same promotions, same city, same products, same, same, same.

Be careful. That complacency can dangerously slip into irrelevancy.

To keep your edge, try to see trade shows with fresh eyes.  Give yourself some time at your next few shows to get re-inspired.  All you need is your eyes, your feet, and an open mind.

Question everything

When you next walk your show, give yourself permission to question everything.  Put your curiosity on steroids and let it run off the leash.  As you walk down the aisles, ask yourself these key questions – and don’t stop walking until you’ve witnessed the answers for yourself:

• What trade show booths are getting more traffic?  And why?
• Which booths seem to not only attract visitors, but put them at ease to the point they look like they don’t want to leave?
• Look for booth staffers and visitors truly engaged in meaningful conversations — what did they do to get there?
• What at-show activities are generating a crowd, and keeping the right people in the booth?
• What new trade show exhibit designs are you seeing that are catching your eye (and getting more attendees)?  Is it their messaging, shape, color, products, or something else?
• How are booth staffers dressing, more relaxed or more formally?
• Where in the show hall are the hot spots of traffic — and did that change during the day?
• Follow some attendees (at a discreet distance!) and watch what catches their eye, and what they blow right past.

Gain crucial booth staffer insights

I walked a show last week with many of these questions in mind.  Within an hour the difference between good and bad booth staffers was visible; in two hours it was obvious; and by the end of the day it was astonishingly appalling.  Some booth staffers were great and others had me shaking my head asking, who would wreck their entire trade show program by bringing these horrible staffers?

Try it yourself: walk your trade show and see who does a good job engaging you, and who ignores you — even when you walk into their booth!  Who pays attention to all attendees as they walk by, and who is on the phone, even when you reach for a business card on their table?  Who is friendly even at the end of the show, and who looks like they need a trip to the spa?  Who offers a friendly engaging question and turns it into a meaningful conversation, and who says “Hi,” and then shuts up?  By the end of this walk you will have a burning desire to put far greater emphasis on the choosing and training of your booth staff.

You may also notice, depending on the industry your show is in, how incredibly valuable a simple, yet clear product demo is, in stopping and keeping interested booth visitors.

And what else will you find?  That’s up to you to find out; when you get re-inspired with the fresh set of eyes you’ll get after your walk around your next trade show.  You’ll come away with an overflowing list of new things you want to try next year.  And that sure beats the same old thing any day!

For more tips on what to look for and do at your next trade show, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. To receive your free copy of this 32 page book, click here.

YOU the Exhibitor have invested hours and hours in meetings, discussing booth structure, how you want the booth to look, what main message you want your attendees to know, and more.  So when the booth looks great but doesn’t get the results you want, your first reflex may be to blame your booth staff.

Don’t blame them just yet.  There may be other things that were overlooked while your team focused on the exhibit design.

Did you also invest time before your show:

1. Planning Promotions – 3 months prior to your trade show, did you gather your team to discuss how you are going to promote your upcoming show and to who?  And then execute on your plan? Suggestions for this are: send out mailers, an email campaign, add to your email signature, call current clients and prospects for a personal invite – if and where possible book appointments right at the show.

2. Booth Staff Training – Did you set the right expectations with your staff?  Tell them you want them to Dress for Success and bring your Smile.  In the first 6 seconds as the attendee walks by your booth they will decide if they are entering it and if you are interested in them.  A big NO NO in today’s world of technology is to be disconnected with your attendees by having your interest focused more on your Blackberry/iPhone or eating lunch, rather than being 100% focused on the attendees who have come specifically to YOUR booth.

3. Planning A Staff Schedule – Did you run them into the ground?  Instead, be sure each booth staff knows when they are “on” and when their breaks are.  Schedule breaks and lunches so the booth is always staffed properly – you do not want to miss out on the opportunity that came along when nobody was there.  Decide before the show how many staff you will need and what their specific roles are.

Finally, when you are at the show, lead by example.  The most important training you can give your staff is to lead by example. Managers, Executives, more experienced staff should be mixed with new or less experienced staff.  The best training is on-site training – first hand.

 Just in case you still think it’s the booth staff’s fault,  pick up the Booth Staffing Guidebook, full of ideas  and tips for a successful staff.  Click here for your free, 46-page copy. 

He sure looked like a perfectly good prospect.  He had the right color badge.  He works at a company that is in the right vertical market and the right size.  And your uncanny booth staffing sixth sense told you he even had an approved budget for your product.

Yet with barely a glance he sailed right on past your booth.  So why didn’t he drop anchor?  Perhaps for one or more of these 8 reasons:

1. Your booth looked too boring.  Like too many other exhibitors, your trade show booth has dull colors, too much text, and too many small images.
2. Your benefit was not clear.  With all that text, or else none at all, your trade show booth graphics didn’t quickly communicate what you sell — and why you are worth buying from.
3. He doesn’t know you can solve his problems.  Because he doesn’t know your company yet, and what it can do for him.
4. Your booth staffers didn’t appeal to him.  They looked unprofessional, uninterested, unmotivated, and pre-occupied — not the kind of people he wants to talk to — let alone buy from, for that matter.
5. Your booth staff didn’t attempt to engage him.  Rather than offer a greeting or ask a question, they stared into space, or talked with each other, or into the phone.
6. Your booth space lacks activity.  It looks too dull compared to other exhibitors who are having energetic conversations, presentations, demos, and more.
7. He wasn’t invited.  He has only so much time to visit booths, so those that asked him to visit before the show get first dibs.  Or perhaps…
8. He already has an appointment.  He breezed past you on the way to a meeting with another exhibitor further into the hall.  But you can still get him on his return trip — if he walks down your aisle again.

If you want to stop the parade of qualified attendees walking by, but not into, your booth, then improve your exhibit’s visual appeal, amp up your booth staff, create engaging activities, and get on attendees’ dance card before the show starts.

Then you can have many good conversations in your booth.  Which sure beats talking to yourself.

For more ways to prevent trade show attendees from passing you by, check out the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This guidebook is full of tips and ideas for successful exhibiting.  Click here to request your free copy. 

Do you have sales people who are “volunteered” to staff your trade show booth?  While you welcome the good help, there are some things that could make sales people great help. So here’s an open letter to your sales people who will be staffing your trade show displays.  Share it with whomever you wish!

Dear Sales Guy,

You have been hand-chosen to staff our booth at our next trade show. We picked you because you have so many of the skills and knowledge we need:

• You know our products inside and out, our competitors, and most importantly, our customers.
• You’re friendly, have good people skills, and aren’t afraid to strike up a conversation.

These are essential skills for a booth staffer.  However, there are some…issues…that I’d like to address, and hope that these 9 points will enlighten you and help you be an even greater staffer in our booth:

1. Rise Up To The Challenge:  You can help us reach more prospects face-to-face over the next 2-3 days than you’d be able to see in more than a month of field selling.  We’ve invested substantial marketing dollars to drink from this sales fire hose.  So be focused and engaged, and help us grow the company.

2. Your New Quota:  While staffing our booth, you have a new quota: 2 qualified leads an hour.  So leave the office behind and concentrate on helping us achieve a successful show.

3. Shift Gears:  The trade show isn’t the same as field selling.  You don’t have 20 minutes to chat about the local football team or what you did last weekend.  In that short time you’ve lost too many potential leads who walked by the booth.  You’ve got to build that relationship quickly so you can then qualify them. Present only the part of our story they care about, and then close on an agreed-upon next step.

4. Talk To Attendees:  Throughout the show, keep focused on engaging potential prospects, not the other company employees. When you chat up our company big wigs in the booth, you’re actually taking two booth staffers out of action.  Better to impress them by hustling to get the most qualified leads. Even better, wait until you get your very best lead of the day, then introduce them to our company CMO, VP of Sales or other high-titled booth staffer.  You’ll impress the booth visitor, and our top execs, at the same time.

5. Quality Leads:  Don’t complain about the trade show lead quality; improve it.  Just as every cold call you make doesn’t ring the cash register, not every visitor to our booth is an immediate sale.  So rate the leads, A, B, and C quality, and help prioritize lead follow up by your teammates, and ensure the best leads don’t get lost in the pile.

6. Set Appointments:  Call your best clients and prospects to schedule meetings at the show.  Use the trade show to your advantage.  For prospects you haven’t been able to get an appointment in their office, you may get face time with them in our booth.  Once there, you’ve got all its visual proof, our top execs, and our new products to advance the buying cycle.  Or invite your clients, to up-sell or cross-sell them on our proven products they haven’t bought yet.  Tell me who and what times and I’ll set aside meeting space and corral whoever you need on our end to meet with them.

7. Ignore Territories:  Work hard to turn visitors into leads, no matter if they are from outside your territory.  We’ve invested too much to have you not give your all because you won’t benefit 100% directly from the lead.  Remember that we’ve invested a lot in training, salary, and benefits to help you succeed as a company sales person.  And that somewhere soon, at another show we exhibit at, there’s another company sales person who is hustling to get a lead for you.

8. All The Leads, Please:  While this may not apply to you, please, please, please don’t pocket your very best leads from the show. The sales you get will not get credited to the show, and so we may not be able to justify exhibiting the following year.  Which would mean fewer high quality leads for you in the future.  And if I can’t prove sufficient ROI from the show, I could even lose my job.

9. Follow Up:  Follow up on our trade show leads immediately after the show. You’ve been away from your own accounts for a few days, and can’t wait to get back into your usual groove.  But remember that we’ve invested about $200-$300 per lead, and that many of these leads will buy from somebody.  That might as well be you – so if some get assigned to you, keep following up with them.  Better yet, when they do buy from you, let me know, so I can better track our trade show ROI, and keep improving our programs.

I’m grateful to have you on our booth staffing team.  Your skills, knowledge, and positive attitude will help us leave the show with a much fuller pipeline of future sales.  I hope you don’t think me too forward for writing you this letter.  Please keep an open mind and take these suggestions to heart.  Do that, help us succeed, and I’ll go to the wall for you.

Sincerely,

Your Trade Show Manager

For more ways to take your booth staffers from good to great, read the Booth Staffing Guidebook.  This 48-page book is filled with insightful articles, worksheets, and checklists to get the most from your staff at trade shows. Click here to request your free copy.