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Staffing your company's exhibit at a show is hard work. Staying motivated can be a real challenge, especially at the end of a day, when traffic is slow, and your feet hurt. 1. Select people who want to be there. Select people who want to be at the shows. Often employees are just told to "just show up." Given a choice, they would often prefer not to. 2. Leave negative attitudes behind. Salespeople often feel that working shows interferes with their normal selling routine. When employees have a negative attitude their body language lets everyone know how they feel. 3. Realize everyone is an ambassador. Company ambassadors should be helpful, courteous and professional. This can strengthen the company's image and gain new customers. Choose your team carefully. 4. Encourage personal goals. Each staff member should have at least one personal goal they want to achieve. This increases accountability, changes unproductive habits, increases productivity, and also builds motivation. 5. Get top management support. When top management is supportive of the tradeshow activities, attends the show, helps in the booth, participates in training programs and pre and post-show activities, their enthusiasm is contagious. 6. Keep the team informed. A critical element of motivational success is letting the team know what is expected of them at the show and then providing any training necessary for them to do their job effectively. 7. Create a positive, fun and reinforcing environment. Management is responsible for creating a positive, fun and reinforcing environment. Rewards and personal recognition provide an effective way of encouraging higher levels of performance. 8. Know your staff. Managers need to know their individual staff members and what motivates them. The power of recognition and appreciation far outweighs financial rewards. 9. Team spirit. Everyone in the exhibit should be working together as a team, helping each other out whenever and wherever necessary. If there are a large number of staffers, split them up into teams with technical people working alongside sales people. 10. Review performance. After each day conduct debriefing sessions to review performance. Team members should be encouraged to give and receive feedback from their colleagues. |
