Gathering a Crowd With Professional Exhibit Staff

Models at Recent 2012 NADA show in Las Vegas

Using crowd gatherers to attract more qualified prospects to your booth

Why are more and more exhibitors using professional crowd gatherers? It used to be thought that the more foot traffic into a booth meant more leads and sales. But the experienced marketers know it isn’t the volume of people that show up and travel through the booth that matters most, but the more qualified prospective customers and buyers that visit and interact with the presentations and demonstrations.

And although sales associates and marketing staffers are often relied upon to do this, it has been proven far more efficient to use professional crowd gatherers with their undying enthusiasm and genuine personality to transform attendees from outside spectators to inside exhibit participants.

Do these exceptionally talented crowd gatherers encourage every person to engage in their exchanges? The point is that the professionals do not mind and expect some evasion, and they take it all in stride as part of the job; a wearisome effort that can cause many salespeople with the skin of a rhino to burn out after a single day.

But the trained and experienced crowd gatherers are relentless. They wade through and vet out the negatives to get to the positives, never giving the “No’s” a second care. They realize it is all part of the territory and the function of being a crowd gatherer. They also realize they are there to help sell, and that their task is an important one.

Trade shows have definitely changed since the days when the pretty ladies were only required to look good. Today they have to look attractive, and know how to market! The crowd gatherer of 2011 is typically attired in business- or business-casual fashions depending on the attendees and the products.

Today’s crowd gatherers have prepared for their role just as a Shakespearean actor prepares for a performance for the Queen of England. These gifted men and women are able to answer many product questions, or can easily get the right person in front of the prospect to ensure the questions are answered to their satisfaction, while constantly moving the guests onward toward closing the sale.

Crowd gatherers today can help an exhibitor spend less time with Looky-Loos and more time with actual buyers, by connecting with people and asking the right questions in the right order and determining who to welcome from those who would otherwise waste the exhibitor’s time and energy.

The best crowd gatherers are so smooth and professional that they make visitors feel as though they have known them all their lives and quickly and efficiently build that bond of trust that enables and encourages the sale. Crowd gatherers imprint their personal brand with the product from the very first impression.

Once the visitors have become engaged and move from the aisle to the booth, the crowd gatherer can help visitors complete lead cards, record visitor information (like swiping attendees' badges to electronically record information), carry out prize drawings after a presentation, herd the booth visitors from their booth area to elsewhere in the exhibit, and then restore the space for the next presentation.

The use of expensive interactive exhibits is more effectively used when a crowd gatherer invites visitors into the space that wary attendees frequently walk past. By familiarizing the guests with the interactive media and encouraging the visitors to participate with hands-on use of the media, the crowd gatherer involves the visitors to become part of the experience, and even enjoy it.

Once they’ve had the interactive experience the relaxed visitors can enjoy the rest of the exhibit or talk to a sales associate who would be happy to answer any further questions and involve the attendee further into the sales process.

Rotating the crowd gatherers from multiple stations, such as at a reception desk to outside the booth aisle, also helps keep the presentations fresh and enhances the verbal delivery. Exhibitors are reporting increases of highly-qualified prospect of more than 20%, directly attributable to the interaction with professional crowd gatherers.

Businesses contemplating whether to exhibit at a trade show again or that have decided not to exhibit at trade shows could take a lesson from those who do and are successfully utilizing the talents and skills of professional crowd gatherers and street teams to acquire more leads and secure more sales.

See the Event Calendar for upcoming shows and hire a professional trade show model or crowd gatherer for your next event.

To hire professional crowd gatherers and trade show models for your next exhibit, contact the Preferred Promotional Model and Talent Group (PPG) at 817-490-5050 and book America’s top promo models anywhere in the U.S.