A Smiling Staff Equals a Successful Trade Show
I just returned from NAFA Institute & Expo in Detroit, and was once again pleased to see a trade show with increased attendance numbers from 2009. While walking along the show floor, I noticed three different types of exhibitors: those that “got it” and made their presence known to the attendees; those that did not seem to care at all, did nothing to attract attendees, and consequently complained about the show; and those that knew the value of exhibiting, did a good job, and received enough leads to satisfy the checkbook, but did not do anything to stand out from the crowd. This last group was by far the largest type of exhibitor at the show, and although I felt they made a good effort, they could really learn a thing or two.
And the company that they could learn from is Safelite Auto Glass. Safelite brought 5 company employees to the show, which seems like a lot for a 10×10 booth. But all 5 had their individual roles to play, and there were never more than 3 in the booth at a time. As you can see from the picture, they all wore the same booth “uniform” and came dressed with the best accessory of all…a big smile! They acted as if they were excited to be at the show and were constantly engaging the attendees. In fact, very few attendees made it past their booth without getting at least a “hello” from a Safelite booth staffer. They were running a contest which not only allowed them to interact with the attendees, but the attendees to interact with other attendees. Basically, they liked being at the trade show…and attendees liked being in their booth!
In fact, in speaking to the Safelite booth staff, they told me that they come to the show to have fun…with their current customers to continue the relationship building process and with potential customers to show them just how easy it is to work with Safelite. Did you notice what the 1st thing out of their mouth was? “We come here to have fun!”
There is no better way to ruin a trade show experience than to have the wrong staffers in your booth. They are the people who “make it or break it!” All the money in the world cannot make up for a lack of excitement, dedication, knowledge, or desire to succeed within the people who are standing in your booth and promoting your company. If your booth staffers are not welcoming and ready to engage the attendees of a show, the attendees (i.e. potential customers) will just walk on by the booth. Talk about a missed opportunity!
So take a lesson from Safelite…and remember to have fun at your next trade show!!
Copyright 2010. This article may be shared or referenced as long as the source is cited and linked. No portion of this article may be copied or reproduced without express written permission by the author.
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I could not agree with you more, Emilie. When your staff at a show is sitting around looking bored or like they’d rather be somewhere else; you are telling potential/current clients they are not important and neither is their business.
A great reason to never send someone to a show who does not want to be there. It should be a reward not a punishment.
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Emilie Barta Reply:
April 30th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
I absolutely agree with you, Traci…and I am a case study for your point. When I am walking around the show floor gathering customer testimonials for the association, I never stop at a booth where the staffers look bored or disinterested. Instead, I always approach the exhibitors who are smiling, engaged, and look like they want to talk to people. If I see arms crossed or someone on their computer I run far, far away!
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Know what the best part about this tradeshow strategy is? Smiles are free!
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Emilie Barta Reply:
April 30th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
That is such a great point, Heidi…thanks for mentioning it!
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Totally agree! I walked the tradeshow floors as an attendee and as an Event Manager at many, many shows and I was constantly amazed by the lack of FUN. If you’re going to be in a booth for hours at a time and your goal is to engage and sell your product, attitude is the first place to start.
Safelite staff reminds me of the book Fish – “Work made fun gets done.” Definitely applicable here and it makes a better and more productive experience for all. Maybe reverse the swag and hand out Fish to booth staff pre-show…it’s exactly what you’re talking about here.
Thanks for the post; I plan to share it as a reminder to some old friends.
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Emilie Barta Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I am so happy to hear that you will be sharing this post as a reminder to your friends, Mati! I completely agree about the importance of engaging the attendees at a trade show, and that one of the best ways to do it is by having fun. After all, who wants to work with a company that is grumpy or moody all of the time? Studies show that customers buy products from companies they like and trust…and I personally like and trust people with a smile o their face!! ;o)
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I like the idea of sending a lot of staff to the show – having “friends” to engage with is a good strategy to prevent boredom – and it makes the booth seem full of life.
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Emilie Barta Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Having the appropriate amount of booth staffers is very important to ensuring success at a trade show…that way no one gets to the point of exhaustion, there are enough employees to talk to potential clients and anser questions, and the booth staffers can motivate each other during long stretches of time. And you are absolutely correct in that exhibitors need to make sure that their booth is “full of life”…thanks for you comment, Christine!!
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Hello! I’m in internal communications at Safelite, and we would love to summarize and link to this from our intranet site. It would be great for our employees! Would this be alright with you?
Thanks!
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Emilie Barta Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Absolutely that would that be OK with me, Mallory! I am so happy that you feel your employees will benefit from my article…what a nice surprise for me. Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do to help your company with your trade shows, internal meetings, or external events!!
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Great info!
Keep this in mind when exhibiting at industry trade shows. Industry people seem to be the most critical, so we all need to go the extra mile to make sure that peers feel welcome and want to come see what is going on in our booth!
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Emilie Barta Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Thank you for your comment, Michael! You are absolutely correct that our peers are the most critical of us, so you’ll be happy to know that it seemed most of Safelite’s “neighbors” got in the game and kept the energy alive in the aisle. The ones that did not missed a huge opportunity to connect with the attendees, and appeared even more standoff-ish as a result of all of the fun happening around them!
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Good Job to the employees staffing the booth! Thank you for the enthusiasm, I’m just a new guy still, but this is my company, and my career, and its absolutely wonderful seeing others within the company as excited about SAFELITE as I am, keep it up!!!!!!
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Emilie Barta Reply:
May 9th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
I am hear to tell you that the Safelite employees made a strong first impression at NAFA, Corbett…thanks for your enthusiastic comment!
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You know what I love about this? In addition to the smiles and FUN factors (SOOOO agree with Heidi and Mati), they look comfortable in their uniforms. Not only was it a brilliant branding idea, but these guys just look so at home and perfect for the jerseys! Of course, judging by the background, this was obviously a very well-thought out plan that went way beyond uniforms…
But, I’m curious. Emilie, as a professional tradeshow representative, do you feel that certain attire can help the people in the booth feel less stiff and much more confident in approaching attendees? Like one of your banner pictures has you in a lab coat – it looks like it was a cool idea for whatever it was you were doing…
Would love to hear your thoughts and some of the better ideas you’ve seen
Midori Connolly, Chief AVGirl
http://www.twitter.com/GreenA_V
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Emilie Barta Reply:
May 9th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Thank you so much for your comment, Midori…and the inspiration for a future blog post!
The Safelite employees were comfortable in their uniforms and they made sense for the trade show for several reasons. The NAFA Institute & Expo is a business casual show so a “uniform” was acceptable attire; the show was in Detroit in which hockey is known as their most successful sport, hence the hockey jerseys; the colors of the Red Wings are red/white which are the colors of the jerseys, and consequently of the company logo; and the employees had a team effort approach and were playing a game in their booth, much like a sporting team playing the game of hockey.
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