Trade shows are a great opportunity to showcase your products or services, generate leads, and network with potential customers. But to make a lasting impression, you need to provide exceptional customer service during the event. How can you and your team achieve this goal? Here are some tips to help you prepare, engage, and follow up with your trade show visitors.
Before the trade show, you and your team should have a clear strategy and objectives. What are you hoping to achieve from the event? Who are your target audience and what are their pain points? How will you attract, qualify, and convert them? How will you measure your success? Having a plan will help you align your team, allocate your resources, and set your expectations.
Please be sure to train your booth staff. Please don't send the newbies without any support. Please make sure booth staff knows all expectations of behavior.
Set the goals and share them with the team. know your offer and value proposal, make the right questions, listen carefully, take your notes, and follow up the conversation; at the end of the day, send your thank you note, always chat something no transactional to connect at a personal level, and very important show-up, fresh and sharp with a big smile
I think it`s actually really simple… Ask good questions AND Listen to the answers. Visitors want to be heard…it`s not about you the exhibitor…it`s about them the visitor!
Six to eight weeks prior to the event reach out to key prospects and invite them to the booth and allow them to schedule meetings with a tool like Calendly. Use email to share your brand story from the perspective of your customers. Create a compelling storyline based on your prospects pain points and your brand essence. At the event ask more questions of your prospects and listen to their issues. Talk to them about what they will get from you not what you have. Ensure you have a mechanism for lead capture. Set follow up appointments based on an upfront contract so you understand whether your prospect has decided you’re their company of choice. Have a post event follow up and work to uncover additional reason they should buy from you.
Send staff that is motivated and engaging with face to face networking and lead generation. ??Engage leads to better qualify for follow up ??Take take to meet your existing customers ??Be proactive...
Your staff are the face of your brand at the trade show, so make sure they are well-trained and motivated. They should know your products or services inside out, be able to answer common questions, and demonstrate how you can solve your visitors' problems. They should also have good communication and interpersonal skills, be friendly and professional, and respect the visitors' time and space.
Make sure your staff understands that an empty booth reflects poorly on the organization. And never, ever break down early. You never know who might walk by at the very last minute.
How many times have I been at a trade show only to find the floor staff gathered in little groups, hands in pockets, talking about their last hunting or fishing trip, while there are customers looking for someone…anyone to ask a question! Please people, trade dhows are expensive and an important place to meet customers, talk about new and improved products and services. Don’t waste your company’s time and money. Be aware, be informed, be friendly. Even if you don’t know the answer, either bring that customer to someone who can answer the question or take good notes with contact information and a promise to get back with them very soon…and make sure to FOLLOW UP!
Make sure that everyone working the show with you knows the product, knows which role they will play, that everyone is prepared prior to, during, and most importantly after (circling back on that follow up) you will want everyone who worked the show with you to provide feedback on key meetings so that the follow-up can be executed in a professional manner.
Train staff extensively on product knowledge, communication, and problem-solving. Emphasize active listening, approachability, and responsiveness. Instruct them on engaging attendees positively, answering queries, and offering solutions. Equip them to represent the brand professionally, fostering a customer-centric approach that ensures an outstanding trade show experience.
Training should be very specific for trade show staff. In addition to knowing the company and product information, behaviors and expectations need to be clear as well. For example, most trade show veterans will tell you that booth staff should NEVER be seen eating in the booth. Not only is it tempting fate (dropping a Coke on that very expensive booth carpet!) but it is rude and a potential turn off to prospects.
Your booth is your first impression, so make it inviting and memorable. Use clear and attractive signage, banners, and displays to communicate your value proposition and catch the visitors' attention. Provide comfortable seating, lighting, and refreshments to make them feel at home. Use interactive elements, such as demos, videos, games, or contests, to create engagement and excitement. And don't forget to have enough promotional materials, such as brochures, flyers, or samples, to hand out to your visitors.
Open flow in the booth space with some high top tables to stand and interact with visitors. Set a team goal to not spend more than 5-10 minutes per visitor to make sure you can reach as many people as possible. Be certain to scan and collect a each visitor's information to follow up on the initial interaction. **Bonus points for adding in the follow up topic**
This is a subject that should take multiple deep and detailed conversations about long before the show. I 1. Don't block off the aisles 2. Be sure your staff aren't just parked on the furniture. 3. Color, texture, soft seating etc. Make it look warm and inviting. 4. Less is more. Don't cram your booth full of stuff, people will be overwhelmed and walk on by. 5. No one is going to read a ton of text on your graphics. 6. Interactive is HUGE right now. Games might feel silly, but they create engagement. 7. I don't believe promotional products are really necessary, but if you use them, make sure they are good quality and don't let everyone just shovel them into their bag. So much more to say....
Design a welcoming booth layout that attracts visitors. Ensure clear branding, easy navigation, and inviting visuals. Offer comfortable spaces for discussions, product displays, and demos. Train staff to greet warmly, engage actively, and create an inviting atmosphere, enhancing the overall customer service experience at the trade show.
Be welcoming and kind to all guest . Even if they are not buyers I learned you never know who's watching or walking in . Have a clean and neat booth Try to have enough staff so your booth is never unattended Network with others at the same event.
Positionieren Sie kommunikative Mitarbeiter am Rand Ihres Standes, um die Besucher im Gang pers?nlich auf den Stand einzuladen.
After the trade show, you and your team should follow up with your leads as soon as possible. Send them a personalized email, thanking them for their interest and reminding them of your offer. Include a clear call to action, such as scheduling a demo, booking a consultation, or signing up for a trial. You can also use social media, phone calls, or newsletters to stay in touch and nurture your relationship with them.
I bring several thank you cards and stamped envelopes with me to shows. I write a quick thank you in the hotel, in the airport or on the plane to those I want to follow up with and mail as quickly as I can. A simple follow up that has been effective for me.
Follow up is key to a successful tradeshow. You want to be remembered! There are so many other vendors. Make yourself stand out by following up within 24 hours is possible... no longer than 48 hours.
Beenden Sie jedes Kundengespr?ch m?glichst mit einer klaren Folgeaktion die über den Informationsversand hinausgeht. Zum Beispiel Terminabsprache für eine Pr?sentation, telefonisches Nachfassen in einem bestimmten Zeitraum, Zusendung von Mustern etc. Und halten Sie sich an diese Absprachen
A GREAT lead retrieval program (NOT FROM SHOW SERVICES) will provide you with the tools to follow up during the show! Don't wait until after the show. Make sure your follow up is not cookie cutter and is personalized.
Don't lose sight of the fact visitors are attending the show for a reason. Try to book post show meetings AT the event. Conversion rates can be very high, as you are already talking in detail about your proposition at the show and people are likely to book a meeting to learn more. Make sure your post-show follow up's are quick and personalised (referencing specific details gained from the show) to build on the conversations you already had. Sending generic messaging will get lost in the noise of everyone else's messages, while a line or two that references a specific conversation will mean much more. Don't get put off if you don't get an instant response. You may need to go through more than one round of follow ups before people reply.
One of the best ways to improve your customer service is to ask for feedback from your visitors. You can use surveys, polls, or reviews to collect their opinions and suggestions. Find out what they liked and disliked about your booth, your staff, your products or services, and your follow-up. Use the feedback to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and to make changes for future events.
If you are going to do this, please do it via phone, not some generic catch all email. Make an actual phone call. For important customers and prospects schedule an actual meeting!
We all react differently to feedback requests. Generally speaking sending a blanket email is probably not the best approach, but sometimes can work for people who would prefer to leave anonymous comments. Using feedback as part of meetings gained from the show can be useful. It can feel part of a natural conversation, and also a good meeting icebreaker, to thank people for stopping by your stand and asking them what they thought about your stand and the show in general.
I always get perspective of not only customers but peers and colleagues within the industries. It’s very insightful to have feedback from two different perspectives. Be sure to have quantifiable questions not vague ones. Measurable feedback is important.
Customer service is not a one-time thing, but a continuous process of learning and improvement. You and your team should always look for ways to enhance your skills, knowledge, and performance. You can attend workshops, webinars, or courses on trade show best practices, customer service techniques, or product updates. You can also join online communities, forums, or groups where you can share your experiences, insights, and tips with other trade show professionals.
Take the data you have, whether from scanners or the surveys you wisely had your booth team take before they forgot everything. Map the trends - most scans early in the morning? Or perhaps your leads were not quite valid because folks were simply using your booth seats to rest their feet and not actually to listen to your demo effectively. Then, make changes. You should never show at the next trade show the same way as the last. There are always learnings - from staff planning, to placement to content. Always try to uplevel and evolve.
Debrief with your team and talk about everything that went well and everything that didn't. Nobody is perfect and we are all human, there will be errors, but we will learn and improve next time. Learn from mistakes don't dwell on them.
After the trade show, conduct debriefing sessions to discuss what worked well and areas for improvement. Use this feedback to continuously train and refine your team's customer service skills.
Crear un grupo de interesados en tus productos o servicios, interconectados entre ellos siempre será un valor a?adido enriquecedor para todos, y tu empresa será el centro de atención.
Make sure you have team members willing to stay for the duration of the floor time. We all know people that will start shutting down the booth a 1/2 hour or so before it ends to get out of there. You are spending $1,000's or 10s of thousands to be there. Sometimes that last 1/2 hour or hour is when the person you really wanted to talk to can break free. Or, at a recent show I was at, one of our primary suppliers texted & asked if I was still there. We had a bar in booth, they said can we bring a few people by, we didn't have time to talk during the show. I said sure. We ended up with a large group talking in a much quieter stage and with no distractions. It was great.
Make sure a booth visitor can complete a transaction if they wish to do so. Have access to your order and payment processing so the customer can place an order immediately if they choose. Also, know where your partners' booths are so you can direct them to those if you don't have everything they need to see or have questions you can't answer about a particular product.
Drawing crowds at your booth via a giveaway can be an effective way to give them a reason to stop. You need to make sure that the prize is something of value. Create hype with visuals that makes your booth stand out. Create postings on social media talking about the big give away. At the show, initiate conversation and then inquire if they'd like to exchange business cards. Do not put a fishbowl out front. Have your staff drop their card. This personal interaction can lay the groundwork for later participation in the giveaway.
Exceptional customer service during a trade show is about creating meaningful connections, providing value, and leaving a positive and memorable impression that extends beyond the event itself.
Be physically capable of a long day of standing, observing, and interacting with the flow of traffic, and a booth build and tear down in whatever role you take ownership of. A successful trade show will involve work that you'll never likely do in your office. You can't sit this one out. Just sayin'...