Why is trade show selling becoming popular? Because it makes good business sense. In extensive research studies, the Trade Show Bureau (T.S.B.) has found that only 0.8 calls were required to close a sale at a trade show. On the other hand, McGraw-Hill Research reports that 5.1 sales calls are needed to close an average industrial sale! The odds are clearly on the side of trade shows. In addition, it costs $205.40 for the standard industrial sales call, according to McGraw-Hill Laboratory of Advertising Performance. The cost is only $68 for the average trade show lead, according to the Trade Show Bureau. In summary, according to the research, trade show selling costs less than standard industrial selling and is more efficient.

Why this difference? At a show, your audience is predisposed toward your product. They come to see you. They have set aside the time to see you. This isn’t an interruption of a busy day. William Mee, executive director of T.S.B. says, “The prospects can see, touch, and test products under optimal conditions.” One trade show consultant adds, “The typical trade show prospect has spent over $1,000 on travel and lodging to see you. They are predisposed to pay attention.”

The Magnitude of Trade Show Selling

Are you currently exhibiting and selling at trade shows? If you aren’t, you should carefully reconsider your position.

Over 9,500 trade shows are held each year in the United States and Canada, and annual corporate investment in trade shows now exceeds $18 billion. The Trade Show Bureau has found that over 250,000 companies exhibit at trade shows each year. The average company now spends over $125,000 on trade show marketing each year, and many Fortune 500 companies invest over $5,000,000 per year to reach the power buyers who attend trade shows.

Why, then, are so many CEOs and VPs of Sales unhappy with the results they achieve at trade shows? In 1980, we began our investigations of this most specialized form of salesmanship. We found, in a nutshell, that unwritten formulas existed for trade show success and trade show failure.

How To Succeed At Trade Shows

Study your best trade show sales superstars. Try to figure out what makes them tick. What makes them special. Surprisingly, research shows that some of the very best trade show salespeople are only average, or a little better than average, in day-to-day selling. Conversely, many of your field sales champions may be barely adequate performers in the chaotic and fast-paced world of trade shows.

New personality tests have been developed to measure the characteristics which are most needed in boothmanship selling. The Chally Profile measures energy level, extroversion, optimism, honesty, need to be with people, ability to do repetitive work, desire to do group work, stress tolerance, and assertiveness. You can profile your existing top trade show salespeople with the Chally and find out exactly how they differ from your regular salespeople. You can hire people in their image with similar scores on the Chally Profile. They are almost guaranteed to do well for you in trade show selling. This scientific approach takes much of the guesswork out of staffing your booth.

In addition to personality characteristics and traits, we have found there are 27 specific behaviors that are most highly correlated with success in trade show boothmanship. Most personality traits are inborn or constitutional and are therefore difficult to modify. You should hire people with the personality traits you need, rather than try to change personality. However, the 27 success behaviors we have identified can indeed be taught to improve the performance of most anyone who works in booths or exhibits.

Simple But True

While some of these skills may seem hopelessly simple and obvious, we have been surprised to find out how many highly-educated and otherwise competent salespeople overlook them in the high pressure environment of trade show selling. The solution: Select the people best suited for this specialized type of selling before you spend your $100,000 or more on the booth, travel, lodging, crew, literature, etc. Then, give everyone a four to five hour intensive training session the day before the show begins to sharpen their skills in “boothmanship.”

Generic or hype motivational “sales training” usually has little positive effect on the skills of people staffing your booth or exhibit. What is needed is training in the specific skills to be used in the booth in the next three or four days. The training should, of course, be fun and entertaining, but its main purpose must be to focus on the skills required. Customized role-playing situations should be set up in the training so that the salespeople can test out and get feedback on their skills before the trade show begins.

How To Use Words That Win

A salesman in a trade show booth may only have two minutes to get his message across. During that brief period of time, the prospect will decide if he is interested enough to stay and listen to a longer presentation or he’ll decide it is time to go on to another exhibit. In this respect, boothmanship has more in common with brief, intensive television advertising than it does with conventional, leisurely salesmanship.

In boothmanship, every word and every second counts. The most successful exhibitors at trade shows invariably provide their salespeople with scripts and give them practice in the use of these scripts. They don’t expect and don’t want their salespeople to “wing it” when prospects walk onto that expensive $95-a-square-foot exhibit space. In their television advertising, does Ford Motor Company just turn the camera on a salesman and let him shoot from the hip? Of course not -their air time is too valuable.

The “air time” your salespeople have with prospects at an expensive trade show is almost as valuable. The Trade Show Bureau has found that $8 billion is spent each year by corporations in travel, meals, lodging, and in some cases, clothing, for the salespeople they use at trade shows. The result is that we pay top dollar to get our salespeople to trade shows in good condition, well-fed, well-rested, and well-dressed. Doesn’t it make sense to spend a few dollars more to teach them what to say once they are there?

The idea of scripting the words of trade show salespeople is relatively new, but it is catching on rapidly. Mario Carranza, vice-president of sales for Toshiba Medical, says, “We have captured the words of our very best exhibit salespeople and we have organized them into written scripts. We are now teaching these persuasive words to our other salespeople and it is resulting in increased business at every show. Also, these scripts take the pressure off other salespeople. They don’t have to try to think of the most persuasive way of describing equipment and handling objections. We’ve done all the work for them.”

Supervising the Booth for Maximum Profits

Upper management must be present at the booth throughout most of the show. This insures that all the salespeople will give their best efforts and that they will not treat the whole event as a big company-sponsored party. We have been amazed at the almost complete lack of supervision by upper management at expensive trade shows around the country.

Salespeople must be held accountable for what they produce or fail to produce at trade shows. The best ones want to be held accountable. They want to be shown how to succeed, they want to work hard, and they want to enjoy the rewards they earn.

We have found the most effective method of trade show supervision is to use a short, simple, easy-to-use rating scale on the aforementioned 27 key behaviors in effective boothmanship. At key points throughout the day, your sales managers can observe and score the performance of your salespeople. Then, during breaks, they can give your people personal one-on-one feedback on behaviors they can quickly improve. Salespeople are surprised to learn they forgot to smile, forgot to give out business cards or to ask for them, forgot to shake hands, or some other key behavior. They are grateful for the feedback. They now know where they stand. It is easy to improve the two or three areas one is weak in with this kind of specific coaching and counseling. In some cases, the leap in professionalism and self-confidence this kind of coaching gives is dramatic.

For best results, this coaching should be given in a very supportive environment, with generous strokes and compliments. Also tell your people about the areas they are strong in. Catch them being good, and they will be much more likely to remember and repeat these effective sales behaviors. You may be rewarded with hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in increased sales during the show or shortly afterwards (depending on the type of products you sell).

Boothmanship can be as strategic, well-planned, well-managed, organized and rewarding as any other part of your business.

Donald J. Moine, Ph.D., is an industrial and organizational psychologist and trade show consultant with the Association of Human Achievement in Redondo Beach, California. He is coauthor, along with John Herd, of the Prentice-Hall book Modern Persuasion Strategies: the Hidden Advantage in Selling. For more information on Dr. Moine’s “Boothmanship Salesmanship” programs, call 213/379- 2510.

Essential Behavioral Skills for Boothmanship

Keen observational skills in noticing approaching customers and prospects.
Skills in making rapid contact.
Matching the body language of the prospect.
Warmth skills: smiling and positive emotions.
Ability to make small talk quickly and naturally.
Qualifying skills.
Matching speech rate.
Matching speech volume.
Adjusting vocabulary for level of technical expertise.
Adjusting for the emotional climate.
Active listening skills.
Questioning and probing skills.
Respecting opinions and beliefs of the prospect.
Suitable levels of dominance.
Appropriate attention to detail – but not too much.
Ability to isolate and handle objections.
Building of minor agreements.
Leading the prospect to an action step: either closing or setting another appointment.
Use of trial closes.
Obtaining names of other decision makers.
Appropriate dress.
Not being distracted in sales presentation.
Keeping booth area neat.
Courtesy.
Maintaining good eye contact.
Relaxed, friendly, yet professional attitude.
Shaking hands.