Booth staff are the face of your company at every exhibition, acting as the first point of contact to greet and nurture potential leads and introduce them to the right person on the team on the day. They also do more technical work behind the scenes, too. Good exhibition booth staff are not just for front of house; they’re also there to help maintain the booth itself and support the stand manager to make sure their exhibition strategy flows as well as possible.
With the Content Marketing Institute finding that 68% of B2B marketers leverage in-person events to market their brand, products and services, there is clearly a huge opportunity to meet new people and make highly profitable new working relationships at any and every trade event.
Your exhibition booth staff will be crucial to your success, but as the years roll by, B2B buyers’ behaviour continues to change. Thanks to the opportunities afforded by the internet and its inherently social nature, it’s easier for B2B buyers to make professional connections than ever before.
You’ll need to create the absolute best first impression as possible when generating leads at trade shows. By investing in and working with the right booth staff , though, any company is more than capable of generating fantastic returns if they follow a creative, bespoke strategy.
Here are three ways that the right booth staff can complement your overall B2B marketing efforts:
1: They can help you make the right connections
We mentioned strategy earlier, and the plan you create to generate and nurture leads on the day of the trade show is the foundation for any success you may have. The power and reach of social media can also be crucial to creating a better-rounded strategy as you search for and research the most valuable prospects that say they’ll be attending.
By doing some research and planning ahead on who you’d most like to make connections with, your booth staff will stand a greater chance of proactively targeting those people and attracting them to your exhibition space.
2: They can deliver a personal experience
At the same time, B2B buyers want a highly personalised experience when they choose to work with a new vendor. According to Demand Gen’s 2016 B2B Buyer’s Survey Report, 98% of buyers say they chose to partner with a company because of the timeliness of their response to enquiries, while 97% liked vendors’ demonstration of a stronger knowledge of the solution area and the business landscape.
As well as researching the people you wish to target, professional and experienced exhibition booth staff will deeply research the industry you’re a part of and get a firm understanding of the solutions your business is proposing, helping to nurture leads in an informative way and introduce them to the buying cycle.
3: They understand the importance of teamwork
Research by CEB Global highlights that as many as five people are involved in the B2B buying process. Again, this is where strategy is so important; working with an agency that works with booth staff who understand the value and importance of teamwork is crucial to success.
There’s no place for egos on the day; learning roles and introducing prospects to people who are able to answer their questions clearly and coherently is critical to the lead nurturing process and the perception of your brand across the wider industry – essential to building trust with B2B prospects and improving your trade show ROI.
Looking for the perfect exhibition booth staff?
Find out more about improving your returns at exhibitions with professional booth staff by speaking to the Expo Stars team today.