Staff Training and Support for Trade Shows
There is a saying that goes ‘you’re only as good as your team’. This saying can be applied to many different scenarios but is especially relevant when discussing what team you would like to have on the floor at your next trade show. Whether you like it or not, your business’ success at a show heavily relies on the team you have there representing you as these are who attendees will be interacting with and will base their impression of your business on – in short – they must know their stuff. This article will endeavour to highlight why it is so important to ensure your staff are correctly trained for your trade show and highlight some effective tips for how to do this.
6 tips to help train your trade show team
It’s no secret that every business has a reason for exhibiting. That’s why the staff you have at your trade show should be trained accordingly to understand the dynamics of the trade show, the fundamentals of why the business is there and how their role and presence at the show slots into that.
Setting Clear Objectives
Setting clear objectives for what you wish to achieve when exhibiting is crucial as it will help your staff understand what they need to be working towards throughout the duration of the show. Ensuring that your team is well versed in your objectives and well prepared is a must in order to maximise your ROI for the show. If your stand has demonstrations, ensure that you practise these rigorously with your staff. Training your staff how to converse is also crucial as they will need to be able to identify time wasters fairly quickly, talk and listen to potential prospects and convert them into customers and be able to keep existing customers happy. It pays to be prepared so make sure this is something you prioritise!
Product knowledge and presentation skills
It is essential that your staff know all about your products or services as that is, after all, why everyone is there! They should be prepared for attendees to be asking a lot of questions and such should have an answer for all of these. You could provide a script or a list of frequently asked questions that staff should study and know by heart by the time the show rolls around (but of course, they can keep them on hand just in case). If your staff will be presenting, you should practise this with them meticulously to ensure that they know exactly what they’re doing and that the presentation is kept short (between 7-10 minutes) as people’s time at trade shows is precious and they have a lot of stands to see. Keeping your presentation short, sweet, to the point and information rich will prove very effective in keeping attendees attention spans whilst maximising the amount of information absorbed by them. You could also explore the option of providing multiple presentations throughout the day to hit different audiences as they ebb and flow throughout the hall.
Engaging with visitors
Having staff on your stand that are confident and comfortable talking to people is vital as the whole nature of a trade show is to network. The best way to begin a conversation in this scenario is to ask a question – and think bigger than ‘how are you’. Your staff want to be asking questions such as what brought them to the show or what they are looking forward to from the day so they can figure out a natural way to steer the conversation back to your business and how your products can be of help to them. Don’t forget that people are extremely busy and have a lot to pack into the day, so get those follow up calls/meetings scheduled or, at the very least, get an email address (and consent) to organise a follow up after the show.
Role-playing and scenario training
Role playing and scenario training can be invaluable when training staff on trade show etiquette. It’s widely known that people learn differently and so where some members of staff may benefit from presentation style training, other members may thrive with a more kinaesthetic approach. Role playing can be a fantastic way for your staff to practise and prepare for scenarios that could play out on the day of the show and will give you an insight into their knowledge of your products/business, how they deal with complaints or queries and how they can think on their feet. Here you can identify any pain points and organise for more training where necessary.
Handling Challenging Situations
Hopefully there will be very few challenging situations for your staff to deal with at the show but you should prepare them accordingly. This would be the perfect way to utilise your role playing training effectively. Make sure that you provide the protocol you would like them to follow for handling complaints, rejections or concerns and ensure these responses are polite and handled with decorum.
Feedback and continuous improvement
The feedback you receive after your exhibition is just as important as the show itself. This feedback can come from the staff themselves and will help you identify what went well and any pain points for improvement in the training thus allowing you to continuously improve your offering as a business on a wider scale. Your follow up with prospects should also include a section where they can give feedback about their interaction with your staff as this can also highlight some things that you may have missed in training.
Making sure your staff are correctly trained is a vital part of your overarching exhibition strategy. The people you choose are representative of your business for the day/s of your exhibit so it is essential that they are equipped with the correct training and have access to the proper support before, during and after the show. We hope this article has provided you with enough information on the importance of training your staff for trade shows and given you the steps to help you approach this both efficiently and professionally.