Make sure you have well trained, well presented, professional sales people manning your exhibition stand. Your product specialists may well know their product inside out but if they have no people skills or sales training they are not likely to be able to create a lead or make the sale. On the flip side, your sales people must know their product and be well informed. A good team working on your stand is ultimately far more important on the day than a great looking exhibition stand.

Try and find out before attending the exhibition or trade show where your bigger competitors are in the hall. It could be to your advantage to get an allocated space closer to a company which is selling a similar product to your own, especially if they are a large well-known company, as they will attract your target audience into your vicinity for you.

Make sure you have all information you’ll need at the ready on your exhibition stand. Have printed brochures at the ready and displayed clearly. If someone shows an interest in your brochures, ask them straight out what they are looking for. You’ll know from their answer if they are a real prospect or just collecting info. Either way, it is good for you to get your company’s name out there but just don’t spend precious man time on someone who is just browsing. You may miss out on the one who is there to buy!

If your product/s warrant it, have a selection of printed material. Have specific handouts for each product you are selling. If someone is interested in a certain product, they want to feel that you have exactly what they need and will want that specific information without having to plough through lots of other stuff. 

Use AV where possible. Even if you are doubling up on info you already have in your printed material, a video display is far more direct and immediate. In an exhibition hall environment there are so many things going on that you need to use whatever devices you can to attract attention. Anything with light and noise will attract a crowd far easier than a nice glossy brochure!

Once people are on your stand, have some basic rules in place with your staff as to their sales pitch. If someone is ‘just looking’ make sure you get their details anyway.  Maybe have a competition barrel where people can drop their business card or fill in their details to win a prize. That way you have all their contact details to follow up after the show.

Don’t waste time with potential customers if they are not looking to buy now. Get their details, give them some info but move on. Obviously you don’t need to be rude, but do be firm. You can work on them later. You are there to do a job. Don’t waste the time you have on your stand. If someone is looking to buy now, have a ‘meeting area’ ready with seating and privacy where you can make them feel comfortable. Have coffee/drink/food on hand which will ensure they stay at least for a short while.

Exhibiting at a trade show is not cheap. Every minute is precious and should be accounted for, but with a great sales team on your stand coupled with a good product and an experienced exhibition company working behind the scenes, you will find that exhibiting at a trade show can be a very profitable exercise.

Trade show marketing can be an exhausting few days for your staff, so plan to train enough people to allow individuals to take sufficient breaks throughout the day. Rotating staff around and sufficient breaks means that individual staff members can maintain their energy. Tired or fatigued individuals find it extremely difficult to effectively engage with the potential customers at the trade show, which means your staff members could lose customers.

Plan a roster that allows a staff member a break every two hours, even if it is just a ten minute break. Once you have selected the staff for your exhibition stand, you need to train the staff. Ensuring your staff members know exactly what is required and expected of them during the trade show and at the exhibition stand will help your staff to effectively market your business.

Product Knowledge
Ensure your staff members know all about the products you want to display on the exhibition stand. Walk through each product and product brochure, so that individual staff members know where to find the information when a customer asks. The more your staff members know without needing to refer to the product brochures, the more professional your business appears. Test your staff members on product knowledge before you send them to the exhibition stand.

Demonstration Techniques
Train your staff in the precise methods of demonstrating your products to show the products to potential customers in the best light. Give each individual the opportunity to practice the product demonstrations rather than simply watch an expert demonstrate the product, as this will give you a chance to ensure each staff member can demonstrate the products correctly at the exhibition stand.

Customer Enquiries
Dealing with customer enquiries is not always easy, especially when your staff at the trade show may not necessarily be from the customer service department. Training is essential for your exhibition staff on which enquiries to answer on the spot at the trade show and which to refer to a salesperson who can call the prospective customer the next business day. The customer does not necessarily expect complex enquiries to be answered within the trade show atmosphere, and your staff members are better employed in gathering as many prospective customer’s details as possible during the trade show, than spending one hour with one customer.

Company Representatives
Finally, in the training session for your exhibition staff, remind the staff members that they will be the company representatives at the trade show. Presenting a smiling, upbeat, and most of all professional appearance is an essential part of the image you want your staff to portray at the trade show. Tell the staff what standards of behaviour you expect both at the actual exhibition stand and elsewhere at the trade show, even on the staff member’s breaks. If your staff member is wearing a brightly coloured t-shirt with your company logo on it, to attract people to the exhibition stand, he or she will be identified with the company even when not at the actual exhibition stand.

Training your staff for the exhibition is essential, because it is unlikely that representing the company at trade shows is an every day occurrence. The better equipped your staff are to present a professional image and to answer the appropriate customer enquiries, the more successful your exhibition stand will be.

Just as you will carefully plan the appearance of your display stand, with the appropriate portable displays, signage, banner stands, and exhibition style lighting, you need to carefully plan what your representatives will be wearing. Comfortable clothing is a must, especially shoes, as the staff member will be spending a long time at the exhibition stand, standing and talking to your prospective customers.

However, you also want to encourage a uniform and professional look for your staff, and something that attracts attention to your staff member and identifies them as part of your exhibition stand, even when they are away from the stand itself. This is why many companies will invest in bright coloured, printed t-shirts or caps for their staff at the exhibition stand to wear.

Knowledge of your products, prices, specials, and options available is a must for any staff members manning an exhibition stand or trade show display. Remember, these are the people your prospective customers will be dealing with and asking questions of. Not all of your potential customers will be willing to wait until the salesperson follows up from the trade show or exhibition next week, to have their questions answered.

Ensure you have plenty of brochures and reading material readily available for customers to pick up as well.  Plan the design of your display stand so that the brochures are easily available to all passing customers. If you are working in a modular exhibition stand, have brochures available from each end or corner of the stand. Consider the placement of the exhibition furniture to allow your potential customers unimpeded access to your important information.

Professional staff will ensure your money spent on the event hiring equipment, banners, display stands, and the exhibition stand itself, is well spent. If your staff members display a level of professionalism that encourages potential customers to see your company as professional, you have won half the battle. Ensure your staff members receive appropriate training about the goals of the company in attending the exhibition and expected behaviours while they are your ambassadors at the expo or trade show.

A large part of manning an exhibition stand is being able to relate well and quickly to a big crowd made up of many different individuals, each with different needs and expectations from attending the exhibition. You need staff members who are confident and well able to deal with people. It may be better to train someone who exudes confidence in the product knowledge, rather than send the specialist expert on the product, who has difficulty in talking with lots of people. Remember you need to attract people to your exhibition stand, and someone who is shy and prefers to sit in a corner of the trade show booth will not achieve this goal for your company.  Teach your staff that each conversation matters, and encourage them to smile at every visitor.

Make sure that your staff who are manning the exhibition stand and display area for your company are professional, exude confidence in the products and your company, and have the tools and training available to them to adequately represent your company. This way, you will ensure your exhibition stand is a true success.