It seems counter-intuitive to say it, but the best salesperson in your company is not always the best person to work on your booth at an Exhibition. This would seem to go against common business practice and in other situations, but exhibitions are very different selling environments Obviously, you need to have some salespeople on the booth but is the star of the office, the star on the show floor?
“People come to Exhibitions to Buy not be sold”
To be fair this quote could be attributable to pretty much every client business situation but where it becomes more obvious is at an exhibition because in most situations you have a very specific ROI…Exhibitions are about people power not necessarily sales power.
“85% of an exhibitor’s success lies in the performance of the staff”
Yes, it’s true and whilst this may not come as a surprise, its probably the area that companies pay the least amount of time on pre-show. It seems logical that the best salespeople should work the booth because that’s what they do…they sell your products and services during the year. But are we focussing on our business or that of our potential clients?
Successful exhibitors don’t focus on how good their salespeople are, they focus on who can deliver the most value to their clients. Looking at some examples below may help.
- Choosing Wisely: Just as an example, the best salesperson in your organisation may absolutely kill it on the phone and be able to sell your products all year around. That same amazing salesperson may crumble in a F2F environment. Being good or great at selling on the phone is not the same as being F2F. In fact, they are vastly different skillsets. You also potentially risk your top telephone salespersons confidence by dropping them in the Lions Den of an Exhibition Hall.
- Energy: Many salespeople have great energy and its part of the DNA for a lot of us. However, energy day to day and energy at a tradeshow are very, very different. Some great salespeople are so good at their job but don’t have a lot of patience for dealing with lots of people at one time or indeed handling the unavoidable tyre kickers at exhibitions. Working exhibitions involves lots of time on your feet and this does not always sit well with some salespeople.
- Closers: One of the great traits of great salespeople is their ability to close sales. This is not something that comes easily, and exhibitions and the great salesperson can get frustrated that its not happening quick enough. Exhibition selling is far more about patience.
- Overkill: There is a rule of thumb at Exhibitions that you should have 1 person on the stand per 6sqm of space. This may limit the amount of people you can bring to the Exhibition. There may be other people who need to be there, so you need to factor this into your staffing plan.
- Expertise: If you sell a technical product or one that needs a lot of demonstrating or explaining, the audience/visitors may be better served by having experts on the booth. The best salesperson may not be this person. By having technical experts in play as opposed to purely salespeople you are focusing more on the visitor’s requirement.
- Authenticity: Some salespeople get a bad rap for not being authentic. Sometimes its right! The key point of an Exhibition is to build relationships and the sale comes next. Someone who has a natural ability to build relationships can be far more valuable as the first point of contact.
- Demonstrating: A lot of companies will place a huge emphasis on demonstrating their product to prod the sales onto the next stage. The best salesperson may know all the features and benefits to the customer but not score highly in the more technical piece of actually demonstrating it.
Exhibitions are about the visitor experience and building credibility around your brand and company. The best salespeople may be able to excel at this in the field but don’t necessarily have the temperament to do the same for an exhibition.
There are also many objectives’ companies want to achieve outside of sales and when we consider these, we may find that its equally important to have other “personnel” on the stand. It could be technical people as described above, Meet and Greet people for VIP clients, Marketing people to really understand and get client feedback. Maybe it`s important that someone from senior management or even legal is there. It will depend entirely upon the show itself. You need people who are really passionate about the product and not totally focussed on their commission!
The real trick for tradeshow staffing is to pick the right people and not necessarily the best people. A recent article in an American magazine summed up trade show staffing and how to decide on the best people to work the stand in a unique way with the acronym…A.P.P.L.E.
A à Attitude: The people who work your booth should have a great attitude
P à Personality: You need the personality to be able to engage with lots of different types of people and buyers
P à Product Knowledge: Knowing your product is critical as you only get 1 chance to make a first impression and product knowledge is key when you have so many competitors in the same hall at the same time.
L à Location: People who are local to where most of the buyers come from are probably more likely to be able to engage with those buyers. People like familiarity
E à Experience: It goes without saying that you should have the experience to back up what you are saying as this build’s credibility, rapport and trust
As I finish up, I don’t want to knock all those great salespeople in your organisations as they may well be the best people to work your booth but it’s also worth considering your options.
They say that 75%+ of sales success comes from having passion and passion is not exclusive to the best salespeople in the world!
Stephan Murtagh,
The Exhibition Guy,
Dublin, Ireland