Who’s on show? How to pick the right candidate to represent your company.
With so many shows and conferences coming up in the next six months, who do you send to represent your company?
The event industry diary is chock full of trade shows and conferences in the coming months and all throughout the year you’ll find invite after invite to networking nights, launches and more. So who is best suited to attend and be the face of your company?
Finding the right person, that’s the best person with the right personality, might not always be the first person that springs to mind. It’s a tricky thing as often the impression they make when networking and presenting on your behalf is the face of your company.
We all have witnessed the many different personality types of people who, for whatever reason, were selected to work a trade show exhibit. Some were great while others probably should have stayed at home. Here is a somewhat entertaining look at a few of the more interesting personality types I’m sure we all have observed at one show or another over the years.
See if any of these characters sound familiar:
The Wallflower: You’ll find this person standing in the corner of the networking night venue or hanging out at the back of the expo stand doing everything they can to avoid talking to anyone. Their insecurity and shyness doesn’t make then a bad person, just not the person you want in social situations.
The Top Gun: This is the person everyone in the office assumes would be the best person to send out to conferences and trade shows. You’ll find this top salesperson always ready, willing and able to close a sale on every prospect, guests or show visitor within the 20m radius! They are far more likely to talk more than they listen and often drive new business away to the competition with their full-on attitude.
The Big Boss: Here ye here ye! The boss is in the room! You’ll often find a king folding court in the middle of the room or making procession down the trade show aisles projecting the image of being larger than life. Your average industry colleague is likely to be too intimidated to approach them with their ‘too important to be bothered’ attitude.
The Good Timer: You’ll find these ones standing around in groups with their conference mates they see once a year for a big catch up. To these folk, conferencing and trade shows are a holiday- a great excuse to go away, eat, drink and party on the company’s money and time. They won’t be nearly as interested in making great contacts as they are partying with their mates.
The Uninterested: This is the sales person who you’ll hear complaining that they have sales targets to meet and only a few days left to do so. They are so worried about the sales they aren’t getting by being away from the office that they’ll never make new contacts at the event.
The Casanova: Wedding ring left in the hotel room, you’ll find this one away from the spouse and feeling 21 again. Their sleazy behaviour severely tarnished their credibility and your company’s reputation.
So with all of these less than ideal candidates, how do you know who’s got the right qualities to do the job and come back with stacks of leads and contacts?
The Trade Show Coach, Susan Friedmann says that your ideal individual should want to be there. In other words, they like meeting new people and building relationships.
They wont mind the travel and being out of the office and are willing to work hard by taking on the often tough work that’s associated with running from seminar to seminar or being on your feet all day, holding the fort at a trade show.
They should have excellent questioning skills (open-ended questions, not yes/no questions) and are great listeners, which can be a tough skill to find in salespeople. You’ll want someone who can think on their feet and can easily adapt their focus to communicate well with others.
They’ll be well presented and have a healthy understanding of your company, its services or products. It’s an old cliché that you’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression, so you’ll want to make sure that the person you send to best represent your company represents your company best!
Have a look at everyone in your company, not just the usual suspects and you might find that a person you first thought of as suitable is your least likely candidate.
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Chifley Potts Point
