Training Booth Staff is Key

For an Effective Trade Show Exhibit Display

An eye-catching, high-impact trade show exhibit display can draw visitors to your booth. Pre-marketing and event participation will also attract people who are interested in what you have to offer.

Yet, it is incumbent on your booth staff to create meaningful dialog with your visitors and identify who are high opportunity prospects for further follow-up.

The impression your team members make while working the booth will determine how effective they are at qualifying and generating viable leads.

Your visitors will not judge you and your product by the beauty of your trade show display. Rather they will consider your staff’s behavior and appearance as key to their interest level in your product. According to authors Jay Levinson, Mark Smith and Orvel Wilson in their book Guerrilla Trade Show Selling, the following staff behavior annoys booth visitors and inhibits sales effectiveness, based on surveys they conducted.

Top Ten Things That Drive Visitors Nuts

Being ignored
A staff that does not know the products
Eating in the exhibit
Being interrupted
Hands in pockets
Being kept around when they’re ready to move on
Excessive Touching
Gum
Continuous throat-clearing
Bad breath

More Things to Avoid When Working a Booth

In addition to Levinson, Smith and Wilson's list, here are additional things that you should never do in a trade show booth:

Talk on your cell phone. If it is absolutely necessary, step out of view and ensure someone is covering your booth area.
Touch up your makeup or hair
Have your back turned to the aisle where your display faces
Wear wrinkled or soiled clothing
Sit down vs. stand and greet passersby
Not keeping eye contact during conversations with display visitors
Take photos or video if individuals without getting their permission

While not doing these behaviors seems obvious, they happen to some degree at every event. So don’t invest in your exhibit display without planning to invest in training your staff on how to project professional behavior and achieve top performance.