Sounds implausible I know but the story goes something like this. Several years ago I was exhibiting in the US at a Government trade Show in Washington DC. Our stand was doing OK but the one next door was enjoying twice the number of visitors. Their stand didn’t look dramatically different from our own and the product was not exactly amazing so intrigued as to their success I asked one of their sales people why they were doing so well.

It turned out that the reason for their success was a humble jigsaw puzzle. On their stand was a large jigsaw with a piece missing. The company had bought a database of attendees from the organisers and mailed everyone in the list a jigsaw piece. Visitors would come to the stand with their own jigsaw piece and if it was the one missing from the puzzle they would win a games console. This initiative obviously worked as droves of visitors would turn up every day to try their luck and be chatted to by sales people while they were waiting.

What’s this got to do with a Star Wars video winning a£100,000 contract, well the jigsaw spawned an idea but you’ll have to wait for my next entry for an explanation – Episode II A New Sale! (sorry I couldn’t resist that).

We all know it's a bad idea to use our mobile whilst cycling likewise it never ceases to amaze me how experienced business people who would not dream of answering their mobile phone in a meeting, suddenly decide that normal business etiquette does not apply because they're on an exhibition stand.

Following on from my last entry visitor surveys show that another pet hate is the mobile phone. It's bad enough if it goes off in the first place as this interrupts the flow of the conversation whilst you fumble to turn it off. However unbelievably I've seen some staff actually answer it completely alienating the customer.

Best practice is to switch the mobile off or set to silent, preferably switched off because there's always the temptation if you feel a vibration in your jacket to just check who it's from or the potential to lose your concentration mid conversation with your prospect.

Playing 'angry birds', sending texts, checking your email to pass the time on a quiet stand is irritating to visitors, even using the phone in the aisle is seen as bad form by prospects.

If staff need to use the phone best practice is to leave the stand and go somewhere like the coffee bar where they're obviously off duty. Mobile phones are fantastic tools however like everything else in life there's a 'time and a place' and it's not on the exhibition stand.

Jon Howarth - Manning the Stand - Exhibition Training

You may also be interested in: Ten questions your staff should know the answers to before you let them loose on your stand.

 

 
Being pounced upon or ignored are the top two pet hates of exhibition visitors.  It's ironic that these are the two extremes of stand staff behaviour that visitors often encounter.  So what's the answer? How do you tread that line between pushiness and neglect?

Pouncing on visitiors is often a result of over enthuisiasm, staff are so anxious to seize every potential opportunity that they come across as overbearing.  On the other hand ignoring the visitor can be the result of staff lacking confidence in initiating contact and being desperately worried about being seen as pushy.  Occasionally it could be misplaced arrogance, the 'if they have a real interest they'll approach me' type attitude.

Visitors initially need to feel that you're available if they want you.  Staff can begin by acknowledging the visitors presence by a simple smile or greeting without necessarily moving towards the visitor, this gives the signal that it's safe to proceed and if they have an immediate query you're there to help.  After a 'period' whilst the visitor takes in the stand, your material or some object of interest it's time to initiate contact (a subject for future discussion), the length of the 'period' will normally be a few seconds it's down to the visitors' body language. 

When staff make contact if their manner is easy going, pleasant and they qualify well they should not be perceived by the visitor as being pushy.  Visitors equate pushiness with being kept around when they want to go because they can see no benefit in the conversation, this is often because stand staff have not qualified correctly so they're talking about stuff the visitor has no interest in.

Of course, the overriding factor at an exhibition is that you are there to make contact with visitors so there's no shying away from that, however you want those contacts to be positive so in common with most things in life there is a middle way.

Jon Howarth

You may also be interested in: Ten questions your staff should know the answers to before you let them loose on your stand.

 

Here's something different - the Batak Game.  It's a reaction based game in which players must hit the randomly illuminated buttons to score points.  There are 29 different games you can play, the most popular is the 30 second accumulator.

Great for an exhibition stand as it looks good, doesn't take up too much room (8ft high x 6ft wide and 2 ft deep) and will generate alot of interest as your visitor's competitive streaks come out and they try to beat the highest scores.

You can also have your graphics on the back drop giving your brand an extra boost.  The game costs from £350 per day to hire including delivery and intial training (better deals are available for longer periods).

Visit www.batakgame.co.uk for more info.

Jon Howarth - Manning the Stand - Exhibition Training

Statistics from the CEIR (Centre for Exhibition Industry Research) tell us that 76% of those visiting a B2B trade show have already decided upon the stands they’re going to visit before they arrive at the event.

The implication for exhibitors is twofold.  First of all it makes sense to invest in some pre-exhibition marketing to ensure your company is on the list of stands to be visited.  Second, if you’re not on that list the chances of those visitors drifting over to your stand is limited if you don’t have something that grabs their attention.

Some exhibitors don’t see the need to come up with an exhibition attractor, they believe their stand design, graphics or brand will be enough.  This may be true for some companies but for the vast majority of small to medium sized exhibitors, their visual offering will be lost in the sea of stands.  Others believe an attraction will be too expensive and the preserve of those with mega marketing budgets or they think it might be bit tacky.  With a bit of imagination the cost need not be prohibitive (see previous blog entries) also if you’re spending £5,000 upwards on event, an extra £500 to potentially double the number of visitors seems like a sound investment.  Whether an attraction is tacky or not is determined by your company’s positioning and of course what you choose.

If you’re looking for some ideas here’s a company www.exhibitionstandattractions.co.uk  who provide a range of games that can be used on an exhibition stand, they may not suit your individual application but it should start to get the old grey matter working around the types of things available.

Jon Howarth - Manning the Stand - Exhibition Training