Three ways your staff can ruin, or transform, your exhibition stand
If you want to make the most of your exhibition stand, however big or small, then you need the right staff.
While it’s obvious that hiring inexperienced and unprofessional staff won’t give the best impression or get you the right leads, it can be difficult to quantify exactly what qualities a great exhibition team should possess.
So here Richard Edwards of Quatreus shares three ways your staff can ruin or transform your exhibition stand…
1. Appearance
As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Unfortunately, at exhibitions many of these judgments are made in a three-second glance toward your stand, so the appearance of your staff will play a big part in the attractiveness of your stand.
Here are some hard-and-fast do’s and don’ts:
DON’T:
– Have staff who look too young or inexperienced for the industry
– Allow your staff to come in looking hung-over
– Have personal belongings on show
DO:
– Align your staff’s appearance with your branding
– Keep your staff stimulated – there is nothing less appealing than bored-looking staff
– Hire staff who appear approachable and friendly
2.Activity/engagement
Completely passive staff are uninteresting, uninspiring, and will not attract visitors to your stand. On the flip side, overly proactive staff can be annoying and intimidating.
In order to stand out from the crowd it’s a good idea to see how the other stands in your area seem to be balancing their staff activity. If they are mostly passive then perhaps being a bit more proactive would help attract visitors to your stand. If you are in a busy and proactive section of an exhibition, on the other hand, then offering a quiet sanctuary might be a more effective approach.
Some do’s and don’ts when it comes to staff activity:
DON’T:
– Encourage your staff to be too pushy
– Allow your staff to huddle together chatting to one another
– Permit staff to have personal mobiles on their person, the temptation to reply to a text or check Facebook may prove too much
DO:
– Try to offer visitors a different experience to surrounding stands
– Give staff a break to walk around, get a coffee etc. every couple of hours to keep them refreshed and energised
– Encourage calm yet confident proactivity
3. Pitch and close
Your staff’s pitch to visitors is just as important as their appearance and engagement. On the one hand you need your staff to mention certain key features and benefits, yet a pitch that sounds scripted or over-rehearsed will come across as false.
The close is also very important to get right. Pushing too hard for a signup will often scare visitors away while not pushing hard enough will result in missed opportunities. Technology can make a big difference when it comes to the close. For example, ‘Delegatebag’ encourages signups by delivering a quick digital form on an iPad (everyone loves to play with technology).
Do’s and don’ts when it comes to pitching and closing:
DON’T:
– Push too hard for contact info – it can scare people
– Aim for the close too early – the visitor should seems comfortable with the information you’ve provided
– Simply hand out your card – at least write your stand number and the exhibition name on the back, (alternatively go for specialist software like Delegatebag)
DO:
– Slip product features and benefits into your sales pitch
– Make use of technology – people love to play with new tech
– Encourage questions and feedback, you never know what you might learn!
By getting the right staff, with the right appearance, activities and pitch you will ensure that you get the best return from your stand. So, as well as considering the design, branding and location of your exhibition stand – also pay close attention to who will be staffing it.
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