It’s fall and time for trade show season. Your sales team has been tasked with staffing the booth and you are doing everything you can to ensure your team is motivated to attend and prospect at the show. What are you doing to coach your team to perform?
Here are some simple questions that have profound, unique answers that will improve your teams prospecting efficiency:
How are you changing your prospecting approach to suspects at the show versus everyday sales calls to prospects’ place of business? List out as many differences you can between the two scenarios:
- What are the inherent advantages or disadvantages?
- How can you capitalize on the disadvantages?
Is there an objective for the show? Are you creating awareness versus selling products or services?
- How do you know if it has been a successful show?
- What has been your past experience?
When your team encounters a prospect at the show, what information is needed to carry forward during a follow up call?
- Compelling reason(s) to change from whom they are buying from now.
- Commitment to change.
- What is the budget range they want to spend?
- Who are the decision-makers or what is the decision process?
In the booth, time is of the essence. List four quick questions to qualify or disqualify a prospect.
Think through or plan as to what to do with your team when they find a qualified prospect.
- Make a phone appointment on the spot for after the show?
- Book a face-to-face appointment for after the show?
- Just get contact information for a future visit or phone call (not the best idea)?
For you as the manager, your team will perform to the level of what you inspect.
- What are you going to ask them to deliver to you to demonstrate they were effective during the show?
- What is your show debrief plan or does everyone go off on their merry way?
This list of questions or prompts is by no means complete. You undoubtedly will have specific circumstances unique to your business and markets. Make those a part of your thought process to better lead, manage and control your trade show outcomes.
Dave Harman is an associate with Sandler Training. He has over 30 years’ experience in sales and sales management with Fortune 500 companies as well as small, family-owned organizations. He has held positions from sales to senior management with companies such as Conoco/Vista, Amresco and Ohio Awning, and owns his own business. He earned his MBA with a concentration in Marketing from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. You can reach him at [email protected] or (888) 448-2030.
