I plan on having a booth at a car show soon. I am thinking about holding a raffle for a “car show” related item. Is it kosher to charge for the raffle, say $1 each raffle ticket?

I am on a limited budget, so any ideas to present at the booth other than my logo printed on various promotional products.

Ken

Signed – Mr. Gray

Don’t clown around with your Booth Staffers & Boothmanship when it comes to your trade show exhibit display, leave that to the trade show entertainment.  Even a well built and well managed exhibit can fail to create the impact desired if your booth staff doesn’t properly portray your message and your company.

Give your booth staff the knowledge that is needed to impress your booth visitors, no one wants to wait to have questions answered.  Have a brainstorming session several months prior to the trade show and come up with questions that your prospect may have and define your answers as a team.  Depending on your product or service, figure out some of the simplest questions that prospects may ask, even brain storm with your kids, they are honest and direct and may have a magic answer just waiting for you.

You only get one chance to make a first impression, make it a professional one, having your booth staff appearing streamlined, neat, clean and ready to go will help that impression be a lasting one.

Do not allow your booth staff to hand out literature willy nilly, that is a scape goat and a conversation crusher.  Getting your booth staff to communicate & educate without literature, can leave a door open for later conversation.  Show a sample copy, and tell them you would like to mail them a cleaner version, getting their business card for after the trade show follow up.

Small displays can be classy expressions of your organization. Pay attention to detail, avoid clutter, use graphics effectively (remember trade show exhibits are like billboards and need to be read and understood easily and quickly) and realize when people stop, they want to talk to you.

Keeping your exhibit staffers on a schedule also helps form relationships with trade show attendees, giving them a familiar face to come back to.  Once a booth staffer engages in conversation with a prospect, they can tell them precise times they will be there and urge them to come back with any of their questions.

There are many boothmanship don’ts that I have seen on the exhibit floor as well.  Staffers sitting comfortably talking amongst themselves, it gives the wrong message.  The body language when booth staffers do this, comes off as “unapproachable” and that is not something you want your exhibit display to do.

Instead of having your staff stand in front of the display with their hands in their pockets or arms crossed, make sure they have something in their hands, a give-away, a piece of literature, entice your prospects into your booth.

After that first impression, here are some quick minutes of what happens with prospects at trade shows:

Prepare and practice questions that wont get a yes or no answer.

Determine if the prospect is worth presenting to and what to present.

Demo on just the prospects needs, not everything you know. Prepare for common objections and questions.

Lead card complete? Agree on the next step and go on to the next lead!

For more staff survival tips, booth etiquette & boothmanship

Thanks for your time, Kim