Have you thought about saving yourself money by handling a trade show all by yourself? Don’t. Nobody deserves to handle that type of stress alone. Too often companies believe it is better to have an elaborate exhibit at a trade show but slack on hiring help that is the backbone to your entire display at these types of events. While having a great display to draw the attention of attendees is a great attraction, it is also important to have enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff on hand.
Before the Trade Show
Include your team or staff to help you brainstorm on the goals of exhibiting at a tradeshow: do you want leads, customer relationship awareness, or market leadership? Getting the right kind of traffic to your booth starts before the trade show and depends on the staff you hire! Hire double the staff you think you might need. On top of the email blasts you might be sending out, also give staff or your team an incentive to make personal phone calls to prospective clients that you’d like to meet at the trade show, set up appointments! Have staff help you set up the smaller booth pieces and get organized. If you have a 20’ X 20’ or a big, elaborate setup, best to let the professional builders put that up before the show.
Extra Help Equals More Engagement During a Trade Show
Having staff at a trade show simply makes you look put together. It’s all about appearances, isn’t it? This is your company’s chance to make the ultimate impression on people. Those who approach your booth are interested in what your company has to offer because of the impression that you’ve made. Not only do they want to be visually enticed but they want to speak with someone as soon as they walk up to your booth, someone who is well trained and is enthusiastic about the product(s). If you are under-staffed, you will lose consumers as they walk around for hours looking at booth after booth after booth. If they have a question, they’ll likely want to pop in and pop out with the answer. Be sure you can give them that experience, or a longer more engaging one if they need it.
Good staff will embody your brand and approach consumers in a way that fits with your company. Some brands might call for staff to be in front of the booth, with a go-getter approach, approaching people head on! Some companies will have staff handing out unique giveaways or giving samples out. Others may take a more relaxed approach. In these instances, you need to have something that entices them to come into the booth, and once they’re in, then the staff can chat with them. Have staff alternating between approaching attendees, passing out raffle tickets for a giveaway or other engaging activities and recording data.
Provide staff with a smartphone or tablet to note who they speak to, their phone number and email address. Also have the entire sales rep roster on that device for staff to text the appropriate contact if an appointment, prospective client, etc walks up. Have one staff member respond to leads, as soon as the prospective client walks away from your booth, with follow up emails, etc. Don’t miss a lead… following up a day or week later may be TOO late. Many attendees make deals at the show.
Make it EXTRA fun for your staff! You can provide an incentive to your staff, such as, whoever gets the most leads will receive a bonus!
Some Brand Greet Trade Show Models working hard!
After the Trade Show
If your staff can set up the display, they can very well tear it down! Every staff member should have a specific task while breaking down the booth. Assign these tasks ahead of time and you’ll be a well-oiled machine, and out of there in no time! From electronics to lights, to brochures and shipping, all of these items need to be packed up! Be sure to have enough packaging materials, including peanuts and bubble wrap. You’ll likely want to use your expensive and beautiful display again in the future, so do take extra care with it.
Hold a post-conference recap with your team to evaluate how you did. Finish up contacting potential leads via email, phone, etc.
With an eye catching display and staff to back you up, you will be drawing in more potential customers, making your company’s attendance at any trade show a hit!
Cheers to your success!
-Team Brand Greet
Author: Holly Feagle
Holly Feagle writes for Brand Greet’s blog, among the many other hats she wears such as our social media gal, event planner, designer, and more! She’s a creative, artistic soul, who loves animals, laughter, event planning, all the little details, and has a huge heart! We’re very happy to have her around!
Photo credits to:
http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-27334-top-10-highlights-from-conexpo-conagg-2014/10/
http://www.core77.com/blog/international_home_housewares_show/