[ How to make sure your convention exhibit staff is motivated and enthusiastic about your tradeshow. ]

Motivation ABC's: Tune Up Your Booth Staff, Part 2

Address the Individual

Selecting the proper people for your booth staff is the first step toward a great show. These people are your company’s ambassadors. Pick employees who are helpful, courteous, and professional. Make sure they have excellent product knowledge and customer service skills.

They must also have a positive attitude about working the trade show. Attitude is everything – and it manifests on an individual level. Walk around a trade show floor, and study the people staffing a number of booths. Body language alone will show you which employees don’t want to be there. Simmering resentment plays out in tense posture, negative facial expressions, and sour attitudes – none of which help generate sales.

Why might your staff be averse to attending the show? It may come down to cold, hard cash. Sales staff frequently feel that working a trade show interferes with their normal selling routine. Commission-based employees may actually be losing money by attending the show. Address these concerns proactively, resolving scheduling and compensation issues so your staff are free to concentrate on the show.

Give each staff member an individual goal. This could be generating a number of quality leads, a target number of new contacts, or something similar. Having a goal increases accountability, forces unproductive habits out of the picture, increases productivity, and builds motivation.

<< Motivation ABC's: Tune Up Your Booth Staff, part 1

>> Motivation ABC's: Tune Up Your Booth Staff, part 3