Do you know what Trade Shows’ Attendees really want? Obtaining Expert’ Advice “On the Spot”. Are you Trade Show Ready for this?

The CEIR (Center for Exhibitions Industry Research) latest 2019 reports “Head of Marketing Insight series” provide current measured insights on what attendees want from exhibitions, what they value most about these events and how to market to them effectively.

These annual reports have  confirmed that over the last 5 years a major consideration for attending exhibitions and Trade Shows is the desire to keeping up to date with all things new (products, industry trends, hot topics) as well as the opportunity to interact with those products, the people behind the products and with industry experts. Beyond these desires, another objective emerged that is as important to keep in mind: Immediate Experts’ Advice.

The open-ended question used to ascertain attendees’ wish list was: “In thinking about the different face-to-face interactions you have experienced at exhibitions, what about these interactions is most valuable to you today that you anticipate will continue to hold value to you in the future?” Interesting results were uncovered when analysing thousands answers to this question. The recurring theme that emerged is the importance and value placed on the opportunities to engage in professional conversations, and one sentence that came up many times was ‘having questions answered on the spot.’

Recently the CEIR has been assessing attendees’ objectives every year in a survey named: “What Attendees Want from Trade Exhibitions”. Given this result, a new objective was added to the list of objectives rated for their importance as reasons for attending.  This reason achieved fifth ranking in terms of importance as a shopping need. Top ranked before this objective are those one would expect: interest in seeing all things new, interacting with products, discovering new trends, talking with industry experts.

The significance of this result, the importance placed on having questions answered, ‘on the spot’ should trigger some questions for anyone preparing to exhibit. This need should influence exhibitors’ choice regarding exhibit staffing, who should be in the booth by job function, what product knowledge do they need to have, do they have the ability to listen and give answers tailored to each individual attendee. It also has implications for exhibit staff training; how do they qualify attendees and direct them to the appropriate member on the booth who will know how to answer their questions.

Until now the trend has been to have sales and marketing staff in the booth, and perhaps a few executive managements. Very rarely do we see technical roles represented. Are attendees left frustrated by unanswered questions? Are exhibitors missing a major opportunity to connect with attendees by excluding technical staff? Are they missing important market feedback that can result in product enhancements or new products? In effect, are they turning away potential clients?

These findings reveal that whilst a well-planned and rehearsed elevator speech is important to have, it is not enough. A deeper level of product knowledge and ability to respond to a wide range of questions attendees may pose are also crucial. Attendees are very inquisitive when making purchase decisions and want to know a lot more than just a price. Essentially, this need speaks to the importance of using a consultative sales approach, listen first, ask questions and only provide answers after a proper assessment. Those exhibitors who follow this approach position themselves for a successful Trade Show, positive clients’ relations and long terms business growth.

So, if you are an exhibitor, are you staffing your booth purposefully? Do you have a booth-staff training program, and does it offer training to help them successfully answer questions, ‘on the spot’ ? Make sure you are positioning your organization’s exhibit program for success!

After thirty years and tons of research, I believe it is so important to ensure that trade exhibitions are understood and used to leverage long terms client’s relations and ultimately business growth.

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