Tips for Exhibiting Success: At the Show

Part two of our guide to trade show success: At the Show

Make sure you are well staffed and staff are well trained. The big downfall [at shows] is staffing. It's [the] most important ingredient to the success of your tradeshow booth. Consider your tradeshow booth as a mini-theater. If people are not engaging and standing back or talking to each other, that has hurt any investment you've made. You need to have top performers as the actors at this event. Do staff rotations to keep them fresh and engaged. People should spend no more than four hours at the booth, Cheryl Abbott of Eisenberg Vital & Ryze says.

Make sure people are dressed to impress and convey your message, be that in similar suits, uniforms or similar shirts, Abbott says.

Market to people as they enter the show. Have someone at the entrance to say, Check out XYZ exhibit' and walk them over to it, give them a map to it or give them a coupon, says Abbott.

Be succinct. The key here is provide enough interaction and information so [attendees are] engaged, but don't overwhelm them, Abbott says.

Assign people to be aisle catchers. These people should engage and qualify leads. It could be your marketing people, or maybe your receptionist has the most outgoing personality and is the right fit for this job, says Jennifer Brooks of Image 4. They should then hand off leads to an expert who can discuss how your company can solve a problem, or provide a demonstration of your product or service, she says. Trade shows are overstimulation-there's so much messaging. If you're not approachable or willing to engage, people are going to go onto the next booth. You really need to be willing to engage on the aisle, Brooks says.

Ultimately, it's about collecting contact information and qualified sales leads. That means getting people to give you their  information or card. At some shows, attendees are given badges with their information stored on them so they can be swiped, automatically transferring their information, Brooks says. People don't want to carry around bags of product brochures. Get their mailing information and mail them brochures, she says.