Selecting the Right Exhibit Staff

Success at a meeting, convention, or trade show is often determined by the men and women staffing the exhibit. In attendees’ eyes, the person representing your company or organization IS your company or organization. Research has shown that on the show floor, people are the most influential factor in buyers' perceptions of a supplier, followed by the company, and finally its products and services.

Your exhibit personnel are your most important asset at events that bring you face-to-face with your best customers and prospects because people buy from people. They interact with and influence your prospects’ and customers’ perceptions, attitudes, and ultimately the decisions they make. Exhibit staff should be selected carefully and motivated to accomplish your specific goals and objectives.

Planning for a show or event should start with a goal setting exercise. Clearly defined goals will guide the many decisions that you’ will need to make prior to, at and after a show, one of the most important of which is how to staff your exhibit to accomplish your goals. How will you know whom to select? What qualifications should guide your staffing decisions? Should you staff with your sales and marketing personnel or would you be better off with more technical people? How many executives should attend? Which ones? Why? All of these decisions will be easier to make with clearly defined goals.

The answer to many of these staffing questions depends upon the specific skills, knowledge, and capabilities required to accomplish each of your specific goals. Analyzing these three factors will help you to select people who: (1) have the knowledge; and (2) have the communication skills required to consistently conduct mutually beneficial conversations and accomplish your specific goals.

Let’s say that your goal is to generate 200 qualified leads. You might start the process of determining exhibit staff by asking yourself (or discussing with your internal customers and associates) “What specific knowledge and skills will be required to accomplish this goal? What will the exhibit worker need to know and be able to do with each visitor to our exhibit?”

In terms of knowledge, what, and how much will your exhibit staff need to know about your:

Company or organization’s key messages and brand;

• Your target audience and the show’s attendees;
• Your products, services and solutions;
• Government regulations;
• Pre-, at- and post-show promotions, announcements and activities;
• Competitive position (strengths and weaknesses); and
• Plans for post-show follow-up.

You’ll need people with good interpersonal skills. They’ll need to be competent or proficient at, among other things:

• Engaging, greeting and welcoming exhibit visitors;
• Probing to identify each visitor’s specific goals, problems, needs and interests;
• Qualifying the opportunity by asking the specific qualifying questions on your lead form;
• Presenting or detailing your products and services at the right technical level;
• Weaving in your key messages and differentiators;
• Capturing all of the appropriate attendee information; and
• Stimulating interest in your post-show follow-up activities.

The third question to ask yourself or discuss regards exhibit workers’ capabilities – the melding of their knowledge and skills. These questions include:

• What specific capabilities are required for each specific goal?
• Will you need people to demonstrate a product or multiple products?
• Will they need to be able to talk at a technical level with one prospect, and then at a strategic level with the next?
• What specific roles will they be in and what tasks will they need to perform?

Answering the skills, knowledge, and capabilities questions will help you select the right people to staff your exhibit and accomplish your specific goals and objectives.

These suggestions assume that you have a large staff of people from which to choose. If the pool of people from which you can select your staff is small, think about people who possess most of the characteristics we’ve discussed and try to select a mix of people who have complementary expertise and experience. Use internal or external training programs to improve their communication skills, knowledge, and capabilities. Training will improve the probability that you will achieve (or exceed) your goals and objectives for a given meeting or show.

Once you have selected your staff, meet with them before the show to discuss your strategy, plan, and goals for the event, as well as to answer their questions and listen to their suggestions to improve results. Prior to the start of the show. you should explain your goals, why the goals are important (to the company and to each of them), and why they were selected to represent your company or organization. Clearly explain each person’s roles and responsibilities before, at, and after the show. Make sure that they know what is expected of them, and if appropriate, how their results will be measured.

Make sure that they understand each other’s roles, responsibilities, and areas of expertise or specialization so they can work more fluidly as a team. Inform them which executives will be at the show, why they are attending, and what their roles and responsibilities will be. Explain how, if at all, you want them to interact with the press as well.

If you have a contest to motivate your staff, create one where people are competing against a standard, not against each other. If we continue with our example of generating 200 qualified leads, reward anyone who generates 15 qualified leads with a letter to their manager complementing their accomplishments and contribution to your company’s success at the show. Have a second level of reward for people who generate 25 qualified leads. These people should receive the letter and an additional reward. Providing incentives that everyone can attain will motivate top performance without generating (counter-productive) competition among members of your staff. Often people who meet or exceed the goal will help their peers succeed as well.

Enhance the probability of your success by defining your specific goals and selecting exhibit personnel with the right communication skills, knowledge, and capabilities. Train to address any deficiencies and strengthen competencies. Define each person’s roles and responsibilities and motivate everyone to succeed.

About the Author

Keith Reznick’s company, Creative Training Solutions designs and delivers live and online training programs for exhibit staff and sales professionals. He can be reached via e-mail at keith@creativetraining.com or by phone at 856-784-3466. Keith and strategic partner Ed Jones recently announced two new cost-effective easy-to-use live and web-based programs to increase exhibit staff effectiveness and event results. Visit www.tradeshowadvantage.com for more information