At this year’s Exhibitor2007 conference, a trade show for people who put on trade shows, there were showgirls, a hypnotist, and a pool player doing trick shots, but they weren’t there just to entertain. Instead, they were pitching themselves to companies seeking to boost returns on their trade show investments.
Attendance at the top 200 shows in the U.S. was 4.7 million last year and is on the rebound but still down from the peak of 5.1 million in 1996, according to TradeshowWeek.
That’s why a cottage industry has sprung up to improve the return on investment at shows. Consultant Martin Smith puts cameras over the booths of clients such as Toshiba and Xerox (XRX) to monitor performance. He discourages them from designing booths with walls, platforms, or sharply contrasting carpet that can discourage walk-in traffic.
His cameras often catch salespeople sitting, talking on cell phones, or eating when they should be at the edge of the booth drawing in prospective clients. The best way to boost customer contacts? “A really aggressive sales staff,” he says.
That’s music to the ears of Matthew Hill, who trains corporate salespeople to maximize their time in the booths. “A big mistake a lot of people make is that they treat this like a one-on-one sales call in the field,” he says.
Hill tells salespeople to invite other prospective clients into a conversation so they can connect with two or more customers at once.
Photo by Gelbach Designs.
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