Your company’s trade show marketing success is a reflection of several factors that converge to bring about a specific objective. One of the most important factors is your trade show booth staff’s ability to approach visitors and qualify them as leads. These leads are what make your trade show marketing plan worthwhile. Because it’s unlikely that your staff will know how to do this naturally, you’ll need to train them. Here are 3 tips for training your employees to qualify trade show leads:
The Hard Sell Doesn’t Work
A lot of exhibitors often think they should “hard sell” visitors. But, aggressive sales tactics are ineffective at trade shows. Most attendees are not at the event to buy products. They attend in order to find potential solutions. While visiting the booths, they collect pertinent information along with a few promotional trade show giveaways. If your employee corners them with a hard sell, it turns them off and makes your company less desirable in their eyes.
Focus On Visitors’ Needs
The most effective salespeople listen more than they talk. They ask questions in order to identify needs. Your trade show employees should do the same. Train your booth staff to focus on attendees’ needs and subtly uncover their problems. Once your employees understand the problems that are facing attendees, they can more effectively coax them into the next step in the lead process (i.e. gathering contact information).
Too often, exhibitors and their staff are so absorbed with making a sale that they neglect to consider what attendees want. They may sell something to that attendee, but they’ll damage their brand and chances for establishing a long-term, profitable relationship in the process.
Engage Without Dominating
Train your staff to approach visitors in a non-threatening way. Attendees don’t want to feel cornered in your booth, especially if space is limited. Your employees should approach them in a manner that encourages open conversation. Coach your staff to allow room between them and visitors so they won’t seem to dominate the space. Then, your employees should begin asking questions to identify the visitor’s most pressing needs. The more the visitor talks, the longer he’s likely to stay and consider doing business with your company.
Qualifying leads so that you and your staff can follow-up after the event should be a crucial part of your trade show marketing plan. Using tools such as cash cubes and prize wheels to draw people to your booth along with high-quality promotions giveaways is important. But, ultimately, your success comes from following up on leads collected at the event. To do that effectively, you must train your employees to approach visitors and qualify them.
About the author:
Jonathan Edelman provides helpful advice about trade show strategies. With years of experience in the trenches, he is an expert on booth displays, follow up techniques, and using trade show marketing strategies to boost revenue.
