Exhibit Staff Training - Trade show training, exhibit staff training and more!

Instead of launching into a 20-minute answer to a visitor's first question, give them a brief overview, an elevator answer, until you know who they are, how knowledgeable they are, and what specifically they're interested in.

So should visitors be greeted in the public aisles around your booth? If so, how should it be done? And how soon should a visitor be greeted when they enter a booth? Every visitor to your booth should have a positive experience and it starts with the greeting. This podcast explains when and how to greet visitors politely and professionally.

You should be able to dismiss visitors when (1) Your conversation, with even the biggest sales prospect of the entire show, is at an end; (2) When you’ve been talking with an old friend, another exhibitor or some other lower-value visitor and now you need to engage, greet and qualify a potentially higher-value visitor, and (3) If the visitor is a pure time-waster – they’re keeping you from working with qualified visitors.

Do they have any idea how many people, how much time, and how much money it takes to exhibit at a trade show? Probably not. If you want your staff, especially salespeople, to understand that trade shows are expensive, serious sales and marketing opportunities, then check out this podcast. You might see a change in their behavior.

Either that or they’re always on their cell phones. This is not being approachable. And most times, your staff just doesn’t know what to do so they become unapproachable. This podcast talks about the most common things booth staffs do to be unapproachable. And just talking about these behaviors brings them to a conscious level and usually eliminates them.

And the reason is they may not be qualified. To find out if the visitor is qualified is a key trade show skill. This podcast discusses the importance of qualifying visitors and the five key qualifiers.

These questions help uncover essential lead generation information and they will help you decide how much time to spend with each visitor. This podcast talks about how important good qualifying questions are and gives some samples too.

No, you can’t. So don’t try. Too often an exhibit staff does not any objectives for their conversations with visitors. This podcasts offers up some tips and techniques on how to meet your, and the visitor’s objectives.

But may not be complete time wasters either. I have identified 11 different types of trade show visitors. Each one has their own agenda and their own objectives. And sometimes they match up with yours, sometimes not. Be able to identify all 11 types by listening to this podcast.

And you’ll also get some strategies and tips so that tough questions are handled professionally, honestly, and politely.

I think everyone who interacts with your exhibit staff should have a positive experience, even Booth Beggars. And sometimes, even a visitor who starts off as a Booth Beggar ends up a customer. How can you politely and professional handle Booth Beggars? This podcast gives you a few proven, repeatable tips.

This podcast details some polite, professional, and effective techniques to bring a conversation to a natural end. There are also a couple of suggestions on ending a conversation with a visitor, but not ending their visit. And, let’s not forget about ending a conversation by generating a lead. But remember, even the most productive conversation with your biggest customer needs to end at some point.

It’s all set up for visits with your most important customers. But to make it work, you need to plan ahead, line up your resources, and keep your colleagues informed. Even companies with very long sales cycles can move their customers a step or two along with a productive visit to a trade show booth.

And going from really slow to really congested can happen in minutes. Should an exhibit staff change what they do, and their priorities, depending upon how busy the booth is? I think so. This podcast offers up some suggestions on how to make the most out of a slow booth, a moderately busy booth, and a congested booth.

If you follow this simple model, your visitors will have better experiences and you will be able to handle more visitors. When it’s really busy in your booth, you can go through every step of this process in six minutes. This podcast describes each step and to move through it politely and productively.

But most exhibit staff just show up in the booth. And they are usually not ready with elevator answers, qualifying questions or even remembering how to dismiss. This podcast makes the case to be the best at every trade show you work, to make your competitors keep up with you, and for you to have more fun working in the booth.

Generating Leads - Qualified lead generation is a key activity at most trade shows.

But at most trade shows, most exhibit staffs do not generate as many qualified leads as they should. Why? They either don’t realize how important qualified lead generation is and/or they are not sure or awkward about doing it. This podcast makes a solid case for generating leads and gives a few tips on how to do it that’s comfortable for the staff person and the visitor.

That means it could be anyone; a colleague, competitor, booth beggar, a friend, or a customer who too much of your time. Time wasters can really keep you from being as productive as possible in a trade show booth. This podcast will help you identify time wasters and give you some ideas on how to deal with them politely and professionally.

Then you are talking about two, three or four other products or services. This podcast makes the case to master this key skill and gives you some cross-selling tips and techniques.

Politely interrupting a conversation between your colleagues or a colleague and a visitor needs to happen when someone else wants to talk with them. This podcast details how and when you should politely interrupt trade show conversations. Remember; there are no private conversations in the public areas of the booth.

A person assigned the role of a floater can help anyone, do anything, and can ensure consistent positive visitor experiences. This podcast talks about the importance and responsibilities of a floater in a trade show booth.