12 Tips to help your booth staff succeed

Human interaction benefits your bottom line. Trade fairs exist to support that. People want to see the humans behind the company, not just come to your booth rental pick a well-designed brochure and leave. They have your website for that. What any prospect is looking for along with a solid bargain is compatibility.

Can the people in this company, help my company?
Are the people is this company dependable?
Are they professional?
Do they know what they are talking about?

And despite that, many companies still underestimate the importance booth staff plays for success.

Along with attractive rental exhibits, it’s important to have staff that is well-coordinated and a knowledgeable advocate for your brand. A trained staff doesn’t just amplify your booth success, they are essential for it. If your staff is unprepared, you will lose customers, and there is no best-case scenario here. Prospects remember!

They remember to dismiss a sloppy spokesman and they will remember follow-up on an attentive expert. Therefore, companies should carefully consider who they consider suitable for the job. A training program and a qualification requirement should be implemented in advance. Your booth staff is your most important asset and we have some tips to help them get better.

1) Start With Internal Training

After you’ve finalized your modular trade show booth, the first task to tackle is internal training. The ones you choose must be trained to answer every question about your company. This includes knowing:

What your brand’s USP is?
What differentiates your brand from your competitors?
What products or services are you offering?
Who should the staff call when they get inquires, that they can’t resolve?

Through this knowledge training, your staff will gain the confidence to deal with any customer inquires.

2) Create A Qualification Checklist

Before your staff knows what’s expected of them, you need to know if they have skills to represent the company at the trade fair. So, here are some ideas to get you started:

Pleasant Demeanor – Able to put customers at ease
Well-Mannered  – able to be considerate in tone and language
Client Speak – Knows how to speak to clients in terms they are familiar with
Client Understanding – Is familiar with the type of clients the company deals with
Confident Personality – able to talk to clients without hesitation
Pro-Active – able to manage dealing with the unexpected
Team Player – Know how to communicate and work with a team

Your employees don’t have to qualify for every point. They should qualify for half of these points. Other staff members should be able to pick up the slack.

3) Task Distribution

Based on the size of the booth rental you pick. There will be several tasks to manage. Your staff will have to manage the booth inventory, keep the booth clean, keep track of leads, give away marketing collateral and handle other responsibilities as per your plan. So,  assign every staff member, specific tasks as their responsibilities. This ensures that no-one is overwhelmed and everyone takes personal responsibility for their tasks.

4) Establish a social script

After task distribution, the next important category to pay attention to is rapport. Visitors expect an immediate response after they arrive at your booth. So, rehearsing a script of common questions and openers will help your staff feel more confident.

You should have a staff member acknowledge and inquire about any new prospect so that you don’t lose them. You want staff members to be involved and show a willingness to help.  Your staff should not be busy on their phones, even when another staff member is engaging a prospect, it comes across as quite unprofessional.

5) Customer profile

Let your staff know the type of customer you are looking for. Make it clear, who your potential customers are with detailed information. This will include their interests, age bracket, and profession. This lets your staff prepare beforehand and stay alert for opportunities to engage with the demographic you have specified.

6) Corporate Clothing

Corporate branding isn’t just for your booth, brochures, and giveaways. The clothes your staff wear as also important. Corporate clothing helps visitors from far away, see which company your staff is involved with.

Now, your staff does not need to go for the full uniformed look. For trade shows that have a more casual dress code, t-shirts, caps, large wristbands will do. The main point to remember is that your staff needs to be identifiable at a glance.

7) Hold Assessment Meetings

It’s advisable that before your exhibition day starts, you hold a short meeting to ensure that everything is in working conditions and every staff member is reminded of their responsibilities for the day. If you are participating in a 3-day trade fair then, these meetings can also help you find you assess any weak areas in your planning.

8) Consider using recruiters

If you don’t have the staff from your booth than consider hiring promoters through event management companies. You get access to a ready-made pool of people who are experienced at handling trade show booths. However, promoters are performers and prospects ultimately want to deal with staff that is actually company employees they can follow up with on a later date.

9) Don’t cut costs

Trade shows are expensive, companies rightfully want to keep costs low. And, staff cuts are the first to be considered. Setting up inexperienced employees as a staff is putting your brand image at risk. Your booth design is what draws visitors in. But, it is your staff that turns them into potential customers.

10) Consider specialized training

A trade show is a specialized event, your staff might not be used to socializing at such as high powered networking event. So consider providing training to your staff on how to make a sale happen. Also, let your staff sit with your marketing team so that they know more about how their brand works and how to pitch the brand to potential customers.

11) Use automation

Activities such as lead capture and task scheduling can be automated. This is especially useful if you are low on staff. Since then, they can focus on the task of building rapport with visitors, hosting presentations and ensuring that any demonstrations go off with minimal intrusions.

12) Use shifts

Your staff will get tired of standing and greeting. This will affect how they interact with visitors, leave a less desired impression of your brand. So, schedule regular breaks for your staff at the booth, throughout the day. Teach your staff, how they can work as a team and cover each other during high traffic times. A single lunch break isn’t always enough, a few short breaks in between will energize your staff throughout the day

Your stand personnel is an important asset

Your trade fair staffs are your trade show booth’s ambassadors and spokesperson. They play an important role in ensuring that your visitors feel heard at the booth. They are also the ones that carry out any engagement activity at the booth. So,  good training on all fronts is necessary. Don’t underestimate the impact your booth staff has on your brand.