Paint happy faces on the booth personnel if you have to, but make sure they all appear to be enthusiastic about being there and meeting the attendees. Better yet, make sure they want to be there. Burned out booth personnel who would rather be someplace else just aren’t going to do the best job for the company—no matter how much you wish they would! Try these tips to create booth enthusiasm.

•Only the best sales reps are allowed to participate

•Do the opposite of casual which everyone now does by differentiating your company and putting suits on the staff

•Remove anything a sales person can sit on

•Train, coach, train, motivate, train, respect

•Job share booth duties – make in booth life a study in fairness

•Give them something to shoot for—rewards, goals, recognition

•Put some fun into the experience – plan a night out, monetary rewards, plaques

If you have a heavy exhibit schedule, rotate personnel. And if you don’t have enough personnel, consider hiring additional staff assistants. Low pressure selling is what prospects want most when visiting an exhibit. A hard sales pitch often turns prospects away. Research identifies that attendees’ first choice is to talk with non-salespeople staffing a booth – service people, product management or similar company personnel – then to be transferred to the salesperson to establish action plans for follow-up. Buyers are experiencing more stress in business and prefer a consultative sales approach versus sales hype. They are more knowledgeable and seek education that will help the decision process.