Exhibition Staff Training for Maximum Return

Even if you have showstopping exhibition display stand, it will be your staff that make or break your exhibition success.

Remember your exhibition staff are your company ambassadors. Ensuring your staff are trained to maximum effect will be the difference that makes the difference when it comes to achieving a return from your exhibition investment. When you train and incentivise them there is more chance they will deliver.

Selecting Your Stand Staff

Each member of your team should have:

• Enthusiasm
• Positive attitude
• Professionalism
• Eagerness
• Energy
• Determination
• Resilience

Exhibition Sales Training

It can be tempting to just choose members of your sales team. However, you might like to consider members of staff outside your sales team, but do ensure sure you choose your people carefully and train them effectively before the show. Make sure they are aware of your objectives for the exhibition and what you hope to achieve. It is essential that you train them, set targets and incentivise them on results.

The communication with visitors starts away from the stand…you only have 3 second to grab their attention. Hopefully your stand design and theme or attraction will draw people to your stand, but your staff are crucial to achieving success.

We all know exhibitions are a big part of any marketing budget and after spending time and money promoting your participation at the exhibition, you need to make sure your staff deliver on the day! After all, it is the priceless face to face interaction you’re getting when you choose to exhibit.

Pre-Show Briefing

On the morning of the show make sure you set aside time to do a pre-show briefing and remind them of your strategy, reasons and objectives for exhibiting at the show. They will need to keep this at the forefront of their minds, so you may wish to provide a mantra or fun metaphor to help them do this.

Also make sure they are clear on:

• Demonstrations/presentations to be given on the stand
• Explain the design of the stand including the graphics and messaging
• Explanation of how you want data and information to be captured
• Explanation of any competitions, giveaways or incentives
• Make the stand dress code VERY clear before they arrive
• A list of all the stand staff including a staff rota and scheduled breaks – it’s really important to have regular breaks
• Subsistence, accommodation and transport arrangements

Engagement Techniques

Once the team have been fully briefed on what to expect and your goals and expectations, it would be valuable to spend some time covering techniques.  Provide guidance on how to spot and engage potential customers.

Share some useful conversation starters to ensure they can confidently approach and engage visitors. Remind your team of the following:

• Establishing eye contact is the first step to a potential engagement
• Body language must be open and engaging, so avoid crossed arms/legs or bored/stern facial expressions
• Make conversations about the customer, learn about what they’re looking for and how your product or service meets their needs

Securing the Conversation

It is also important that they understand how to secure the conversation and come away with a positive next step. They need to:

• Capture all the necessary details
• Record information correctly and legibly
• Secure agreement to a follow up action

Securing means the action is confirmed, understood and agreed by both parties and that there is a commitment to a time frame for:

• You to visit them
• Them to visit you
• Telephone contact
• Email contact
• Send literature/quote/sample/testimonials etc.

It is important that the commitment is met so be sure to under promise and over deliver!

Finally, your staff should always thank the visitor for taking the time them.