Facilitate joint pre-show meetings to align goals and roles. Encourage open communication during the show and create shared performance metrics to promote teamwork and collaboration.

Clear marketing and sales strategy in advance of any trade shows where both teams feel like they are working towards a common goal together. I believe incentives for both teams allows harmony, direction and respect to get the job done well!

Next week I will again train one of our client’s sales teams ahead of their exhibition season. Crucially in this session as well as the sales team, marketing & product managers will be in the room. This really helps as too many exhibitors have marketing plan the stand and sales man it as though these are separate disciplines. Events often get lost in vague objectives like “brand building” that are rarely measured and lack defined and shared objectives like leads, leads scores, confirmed next steps, clients engaged, deals progressed, demo’s conducted etc. Sales should also be involved at the outset of the creative process to define the conversation they want to have with prospects, from which the engagement tools/strategy should be crafted.

Why is anyone clashing at a trade show? Work that booth like a champ and set all that other malarky aside for a few days! Shake hands, kiss babies and demo the product. This isn't hard.

I’d start by getting everyone together for a quick huddle to clear the air. Sales and marketing usually want the same thing (more business!) but they might have different ways of getting there. I’d ask both sides to share what they need to make the trade show a win, and then point out where their goals overlap, like bringing in leads or building buzz. From there, it’s about making sure everyone knows their role and how they can support each other. It’s all about teamwork, not turf wars.