How to Train Promotional Models to Increase Your Trade Show ROI

Hiring promotional models to assist at your next promotion is an effective sales and marketing technique for a company exhibiting at a trade show. Experienced trade show and promotional models draw in attendees and get better, more qualified leads for your brand. Seasoned promotional models also have a knack for scanning the crowd for potential customers to target and easily build rapport, create interest, and earn leads for the company.

However, despite their expertise in the industry, trade show and promotional models are not experts in your brand, products, and company mission. It is your job as the exhibitor to teach the brand ambassadors you hire about your brand and which talking points you want them to focus on during the promotional event. In doing so they will be better prepared at your booth and ultimately increase trade show leads and close more sales for your brand. Here are five tips for effectively training the promotional models you hire to help make a great first impressions at your upcoming trade show and promotional events!

5 Tips to Effectively Train Promotional Models for Your Next Trade Show

1. Teach Your Elevator Pitch

Every member of your trade show team should know your brand’s elevator pitch and be ready to use it as a way to attract attention and engage with attendees. However, knowing the company’s elevator pitch does not mean that you should teach your promotional models a stuffy, scripted speech that sounds rehearsed. Rather, the pitch should be kept in their minds, so they remember the direction they want the conversation to lead in and the information that is important to share with attendees.

2. Share Company Knowledgeable

Knowledge is power at trade shows and conventional events. Every member of your trade show team should be well-informed about your company, products and/or services offered. It is your job to ensure that the trade show models your brand hires have the correct, up-to-date, and most important information about your brand. Provide this information to the promotional models prior to the trade show so that they have more than enough time to review the information and come prepared with any questions they have the day of the promotional event.

 3. Teach them How to Read Your Customers

An attendee’s body language can tell your trade show team a lot without ever saying a word. By training your hired promotional models how to read your customers’ nonverbal communication, your team can easily modify their approach and close more sales for your brand. When training  models, keep in mind that introverted customers may be overwhelmed by an outgoing promotional model. Conversely, an extroverted customer may desire engaging, quick conversation. Teach and explain your business cycle and sales funnel the hired promotional models so that they know what types of reactions to expect from attendees and how to effectively respond to them.

4. Teach Them How to Be Memorable for Your Brand

It goes without saying that a company will be more memorable to the consumer after the trade show if they had notable, informative conversations with members of their team. Consumers tend to make judgments about the company and their products based on their interactions, so make sure your promotional team is ready for the challenge! The promotional models you hire will have years of experience working at trade shows and promotional events, however, it’s important for you to specifically explain to them the type of atmosphere you want your trade show booth to display, as well as the marketing theme your team is using throughout your promotion.

5. Encourage Brand Personas

Having a friendly, approachable promotional team is an important characteristic for your booth to have because it creates comfort and a warm atmosphere that attendees may positively respond to. But, don’t just encourage promotional models working for your brand to be friendly. Instead, encourage them to reflect and embody your brand’s persona, mission, and goals. Provide them with enough information, characteristics about your brand that they walk out onto the trade show floor like a seasoned sales member of your team. Half the battle at conventions is drawing in the attendees to your trade show booth.  One way to win this battle is by teaching promotional models to accurately reflect your brand’s persona.

Sales can be difficult to train, but by priming your team with these five tips you can help them remember what is important on the day of the trade show or promotional event. In the end, a powerful team, of sales members and promotional models, will give your company an advantage over the competition and result in an increased ROI.