Companies with serious growth ambitions know that attending a trade show isn’t just a chance to show their face. Done right, it’s a measurable marketing opportunity that gives them the chance to build serious long-term relationships with a highly-targeted audience and get ahead of the competition. For a successful show though, it’s essential to have approachable and engaging trade show talent, who are professional and understand the message of the business to its core. In fact, the consequences of using inexperienced, apathetic trade show talent can be worse than you may realise.

Exhibition shows can be fantastic opportunities for you to engage potential customer and produce a real ROI for your business. Download our guide on how you can make the most of your exhibition with an effective strategy.

This isn’t a day out; it’s a serious business opportunity in the corporate calendar. If your team is unapproachable, worried about rejection, glued to their phones or working off a script, the likelihood is that they risk scaring valuable prospects away.

“Your most talented and outgoing employees are your greatest asset,” Corporate entertainment expert David Spark recently told Entrepreneur. “Yet the time and money spent at trade shows and conferences is rarely focused on the people and their ability to engage.”

This engagement is “a conference’s most sought-after asset” and cannot be achieved by tempting freebies or an impressive booth design. While these elements might lead people to your booth, the all-important follow-up conversations primarily happen due to an authentic human connection.

A trade show is an incredible growth opportunity

There are immense benefits to having a personable and professional team at your disposal during a trade exhibition. Statistics from SageWorld show that more than 50% of a show’s attendees are there for the first time, giving companies the chance to win new clients with a polished first impression.

What’s more, 51% of attendees also request that a sales representative visits their business after the show, while 70% of attendees visit with the explicit intent of forging strong commercial partnerships. These attendees are on a mission, and it’s crucial that your staff connect with them.

Repeat business is crucial for the growth of any business, and an exhibition space can be one of the best places to meet prospects that will work with you long into the future. However, unpolished behaviour can turn people away from your booth on the day of the trade show.

it can also have a serious negative long-term impact on potential prospects, even ones you haven’t yet met. Even though we live in a digital age, there’s still little more effective than word of mouth marketing. In short – bad news travels fast!

Invest in professional trade show talent for business growth

It’s incredibly easy to make a bad name for yourself at trade shows despite having the best of intentions. A lot of marketing managers simply don’t have the time, experience or budget to train a specialist exhibition team that knows how to start effective conversations, attract targeted leads and build lasting relationships.

Hiring professional trade show talent can solve this problem. However, if your business attends a great number of exhibitions, or you offer a particularly complex product or service, you might prefer to staff your booth internally.

Luckily, Expo Stars can work with you to train your internal teams and produce a bespoke exhibition strategy. As trade show talent specialists, we have plenty of industry knowledge to share. Our personalised Exhibiting Success Team Training programmes support organisations in upskilling sales staff, avoiding common exhibiting mistakes and embracing the whole exhibiting experience.

We can help ambitious marketing managers to perfect attendant engagement strategies, clarify and quantify their lead gathering objectives, and train staff to perform specific tasks at a booth that will attract profitable footfall and generate qualified sales leads.

Why not work with a company who cares as much about your growth and success as you do? We can help you make the best first impression possible at trade shows, whatever your sector.

If you’re interested in upskilling your internal trade show talent, then Expo Stars can help by providing the right training, complemented by an exhibition strategy tailored to your business goals. Contact us today to find out more.