The story
A few years ago I was manning our stand at Marketing Week. I had identified beforehand the high worth decision makers that I wanted to meet and sent them all personal invitations.
At one point I needed a comfort break. Luckily a colleague was in the vicinity who could ‘keep an eye’ on the stand whilst I had a quick 10 minute break.
When I returned to the stand, I realised I had missed a valuable opportunity. My colleague eagerly informed me that one of the high worth prospects that I had invited had come by the stand, asked for me, then left his card.
Despite my best efforts to follow up, I never got through to speak to them.
The learning
Your exhibition stand must be manned at all times with people who are fully briefed on who might visit the stand and how to engage them.
It is the responsibility of the person organising the exhibition to make sure that happens with a comprehensive briefing to the stand team.
You can invest a significant amount of money in a stand, space and marketing but you don’t know just when your best potential customer will walk on to the stand. Someone must always be there, primed and welcoming.