Effective Delegation at the Trade Show

You can’t do it all yourself—especially at the trade show exhibit. Delegation is an important part of effective teamwork at the trade show. Your staff might all be experienced with trade shows and eager to make sales, but if there are no assigned jobs, you could still end up with a disorganized, ineffective booth.

Effective delegation isn’t as simple as it looks—it takes some skill and sensitivity. Here are some tips for delegating successfully at the trade show.

Pair people and tasks that are suited to each other. If one of your staff members is not great with large groups—but is terrific in a one-on-one situation with a prospect—this isn’t the person to put in charge of demonstrating the product to large crowds. But he might be extremely effective as the person assigned to speak one-on-one with important prospects. Choose people suited to each task, taking into account each person’s knowledge, experience, and natural gifts.

Make sure you’re clear. You’ll need to be completely clear about what each employee’s responsibilities are. Make sure each employee knows what he’s doing, the result you expect, and any restrictions on the means he may take to accomplish the goal.

Prepare ahead of time. An hour before the trade show isn’t the time to tell everyone on your staff what their roles are. Make sure each person knows which tasks are theirs ahead of time so they can prepare.Once you get to the trade show, there will be plenty to do. Following are a few roles you should assign to staff people. Depending on the number of people you have at your booth, some may be responsible for more than one of the following tasks.

Set-up and dismantling. Choose one person—possibly two, depending on the complexity of your booth—to be in charge of building the booth at the beginning of the show and taking it down at close. This person should pick up the shipped booth components, arrange for set-up onsite, and ensure the booth is packed correctly and shipped back home when the show is over.

Scoping out the competition: Give a person the responsibility of doing a little spying on the competition. Have this person evaluate your competition’s product, marketing messages, sales methods, pricing, and all other information that might be relevant to your business. Because this person will need to spend time away from the booth, they’ll also have the opportunity to discuss industry trends and perhaps learn new things about the general business climate that could affect your company.

Meeting and greeting: Assign one person to be the friendly face of your company, meeting and greeting casual visitors and discussing the product. This person should be outgoing and always ready to talk to people, as well as extremely knowledgeable about the product and the company.

Landing the big fish: Assign one person to talk to big prospects—anyone in your industry who makes purchasing decisions and might be able to place a large order—as well as “live” prospects, or those who are ready to order. These high-profile prospects should be given some one-on-one time with a knowledgeable, effective salesperson who can answer their questions and reassure them that yours is the company they want to choose—and you should have someone behind the booth who’s always available to talk to them.

Demonstrations: Choose a person to be in charge of demonstrations if you’re giving them at your booth. This person should know well before the show that they’ll be handling demonstrations, and should be given plenty of time to practice. Choose someone for this task who’s flamboyant and able to entertain a crowd.

Keeping employees on message: A senior salesperson or staff member should be in charge of monitoring the sales tactics of other employees at the booth, and ensuring they’re all on message. This person should gather employees together before the start of each show day and make sure everyone is focused on the same goals and message, and monitor and provide guidance to salespeople throughout the day.No matter the number of people at your booth, your sales team could be disorganized—or it could run smoothly. Effective delegation ensures everyone knows their role and that all important tasks get done. Follow these tips, and you should be able to delegate tasks without hassle at the trade show.