Trade Show Booth Staff Training Expert, Susan Friedmann, CSP, The Tradeshow Coach

In my tradeshow training programs, I’ve always encouraged my clients’ exhibiting team to be 100% scripted and 100% flexible when it comes to interacting with booth visitors. What I mean by this is, you need to know what questions to ask to get the end result. For example, if your goal for the show is to find out more about how the economy is affecting various projects your prospects or existing customers are working on, you need prepare the right questions to ask, to collect that information. However, I have always advocated that despite how prepared you are, you also extreme flexibility, because the trade show floor is very unpredictable. You can never foresee 100% what’s going to happen, as no two shows are identical.

This weekend I attended a very special program conducted by Eric Lofholm, sales trainer and script writing guru.  Eric advocates the opposite philosophy. He believes that, with thought and pre-planning, you can anticipate almost all the situations and questions surrounding your prospects and customers.  Eric teaches that script writing is the key to help get you through any good, bad, or ugly situation.

Until this weekend, scripts, for me, conjured up visions of those telemarketers, who love to call during dinner time, and robotically spew out their script, which, in your mind, you can see them reading.  In other words, it was a totally negative exercise, which I’ve resisted like the plague.  How wrong could I be? The Eric Lofholm system prescribes script preparation for every possible scenario. Then, when written, internalizing your words to the point where they become a totally natural part of your conversation.  When you listen to the master exercising his skill, it’s totally mesmerizing and utterly believable. On the flight home from San Diego, my pen was flying across pages in my exercise book working on the numerous scripts I need.

Now, I realize that for many sales professionals, this concept isn’t new.  They use scripts in their field selling all the time.  However, does your exhibit team prepare scripts for the time on the show floor, or do they wing it? Because visitor interaction time is extremely limited, often 3-5 minutes, according to tradeshow research, sales reps need different scripts from the ones they use day-to-day.  The question is, do they have them? If not, I highly recommend they do, especially if you want to maximize prospect time in the booth.

Oh, I forgot to mention that once your scripts are written, they’re done for life. Editing and adding to your script book (another of Eric’s recommendations), is always allowable.

Back in a couple of days.  In the meantime, I’m busy writing my scripts.

This the fourth and final part of our Trends for 2010 tips. Today, I’m focusing on five rules to help you leverage technology to add to your trade show success.

1. Online is not an add-on.

The virtual component must be integral to every step of your trade-show planning.  Select the best online communities to reach your customers. And maintain your brand voice and image in every message.

2. Accessibility is key.

Make sure your trade-show web page is optimized for all the browsers, including those on smart phones. The design that looked great on Internet Explorer may be unreadable on a Droid.

3. Make your message move and speak.

Use web video, still images, and podcasting as well as text. Multimedia approaches engage more of the user’s attention. Live feeds from your booth can extend your trade show message to customers around the world, and YouTube videos can make it accessible months or years after the event is over.

4. Update often.

Keep your customers coming back to check for more. Good content may be news and links, helpful tips, community-building, or just the sense of a warm, engaging person as the face of the company.

5. Listen as well as talk.

Twitter, Facebook, and blogs offer almost instantaneous feedback on what’s working and what’s not. If a member of your booth staff was rude to a customer, you can be sure the news will be all over Twitter in five minutes. Monitor the Internet and the Twitterverse with automatic searches, and respond instantly to any problems.

I was inspired to write this blog today after reading a chapter in Carmine Gallo’s book “Fire Them Up!.” In it he talks about three types of communicators, “the blah, the mediocre and the inspirational.”

The first thing that popped into my mind was how this was the exact way to describe exhibitors – blah, mediocre and inspirational. Of these three types of tradeshow exhibitors, only one of should represent your company on the tradeshow floor.

You’ve all seen the “blah” exhibitors who have zero drive and enthusiasm or energy to be in the booth.  They’re on their computer, or cell phone most of the day. They’re convinced that exhibiting is a total waste of their time, and they just want to go and do their “real job” – whatever that is.

The “mediocre” exhibitor is one step better than the “blah” exhibitor. They take care of being in the booth, but aren’t really clear about what to do, and they just wing it in robotic fashion.

Finally, there’s the “inspirational” exhibitor who is energizing, engaging and electric!

What makes the difference between the three types? In a nutshell, the inspirational exhibitor wants to be at the show, knows what he or she wants to accomplish, and enjoys interacting with visitors. This person is also proud to be a company ambassador at the show, and finds real meaning (and fun) in the role they play.

If your have blah or mediocre people representing you, consider finding substitutes – people should consider it a privilege to be a company representative at the show. Plus, make sure that you provide some tradeshow training, so they are well-prepared with the essential exhibiting skills before they step foot in your booth.

Remember, it’s your people who can make or break relationships on the show floor, so prepare them well!

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What’s ahead for trade shows and other marketing efforts in 2010?

Last week, I referred you to the StrongMail “2010 Marketing Trends” survey which polled more than 1,000 business leaders across a wide range of industries about their marketing plans for the upcoming year. This week I’ll continue reviewing the trends.

Trend: Everybody is jumping on the social media bandwagon. A whopping 59% of surveyed companies will be increasing their social-media budgets. How many will be spending less? A mere 3%.

Social media has become the new essential tool for marketing.

3 things this means to you:

1.  Choose the right social networks. Twitter covers almost every audience. Facebook and Myspace pages work best for products with consumer appeal. LinkedIn groups are most appropriate for BtoB marketing.

2. Stay on message. The speed and flexibility of social media can be a huge advantage, but it can also be a pitfall. Set clear guidelines for all communications, and review the messages and results regularly.

3. Use social media to support trade show exhibits. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can allow you to increase the effectiveness of your trade show appearances. You’ll reap great benefits when you integrate social media into your overall marketing strategy.

In the fraught atmosphere of a trade show, your booth staff may not always remember to thank service people or complaining customers. According to a recent study through the American Marketing Assn., it states that customer gratitude enhances trust in business relationships which leads to ongoing positive results. When you start a cycle of thanks, you can even transform those difficult business relationships.

Train your booth staff to offer sincere thanks – and offer them yourself – to these five kinds of people, and your trade shows will run more smoothly.

1. The trade show organizers, maintenance workers, and staff.

Even when you arrive and find half your arrangements awry, thank them for their effort and for the half that was done correctly. They will remember your courtesy and do their best for you.

2. Your returning customers.

Existing customers are your company’s most important asset. Show your gratitude with smiles, gifts of useful information, and, don’t forget to give them some VIP treatment.

3. Complaining customers.

It can be hard to thank someone who has just pointed out your company’s flaws, but the complaining customer has just given you the priceless gift of honest feedback so that you can improve in the future.

4. Booth co-workers.

In the tight space and pressure-cooker atmosphere of a trade show booth, tensions can flare. A habit of gratitude instead of growling makes work more pleasant and strengthens working relationships.

5. The sales department.

When you hand over the precious trade show leads, thank Sales for following up. Show them you appreciate their hard work, and they are more likely to care about your hard work.

At the holiday season, we tend to express gratitude more freely than at other times of year. But, why wait, at any time of the year, sincere thanks acts as a powerful  relationship marketing tool.

Thanks to all of you who read this newsletter!

Send me your physical address and I’ll send you a personal thank you card!

In the meantime, if you would like to send someone a card, here’s a complimentary way for you to do that.