How can you engage and qualify leads as trade show staff?

1 Preparing your staff

Before the trade show, you should train your staff on your goals, value proposition, target audience, and key messages. You should also provide them with clear guidelines on how to dress, behave, and communicate with visitors, as well as how to use any tools or materials you have prepared for the event. Make sure your staff understands their roles and responsibilities, and how to work as a team. You should also assign a lead manager who can oversee the staff, monitor the booth activity, and handle any issues or questions.

3 Qualifying leads

Once you have engaged a visitor, you need to qualify them as a potential lead. This means finding out if they have a problem or need that your product or service can solve, if they have the authority and budget to make a decision, and if they have a timeline or urgency to buy. You can use a simple framework called BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeframe) to guide your questions and assess the visitor's level of interest and readiness. You should also listen actively, take notes, and use positive body language and feedback.

4 Capturing information

After you have qualified a lead, you need to capture their information and permission to follow up with them. You can use different methods to collect their contact details, such as business cards, forms, scanners, or apps. You should also ask them about their preferred communication channel and frequency, and what kind of information or offer they would like to receive from you. You should also thank them for their time and interest, and give them a clear next step or call to action.

5 Following up

The last step of trade show staffing is to follow up with your leads promptly and effectively. You should have a system in place to sort, prioritize, and assign your leads to your sales team or yourself. You should also have a plan to nurture your leads with relevant and personalized content, such as emails, phone calls, social media messages, or webinars. You should also track and measure your follow-up activities and results, and adjust your strategy accordingly. The goal is to move your leads along the sales funnel and convert them into customers.

6 Improving your skills

Trade show staffing is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice and feedback. You should always evaluate your performance and results after each trade show, and identify your strengths and weaknesses. You should also seek feedback from your colleagues, managers, and customers, and learn from their insights and suggestions. You should also keep up with the latest trends and best practices in trade show marketing and sales, and apply them to your own strategy and tactics. By doing so, you will be able to engage and qualify leads more effectively and efficiently as trade show staff.