THE CLEANING SHOW PREVIEW
On Show For The First Time…
Brian Chapman, Managing Director at The Supplies House said: “This is very exciting for us, and we have made a substantial investment in the stand space and design. However, for me, this show is our chance to show everyone that growing up as an organisation is all about people, personality and process.”
Brian believes that a good exhibition is about how people behave on the stand. He says, “The show ran in the NEC for many years. It had perhaps become a victim of this long running success, and I’ve seen many companies fall foul of how not to run a stand with a ‘more of the same’ approach. We are determined to try our best to learn from this and make our first stand at the new London based show a resounding success.”
Say What You Do And
Do What You Say The Supplies House Do’s and Don’ts are simple – and apart from stand design, are mostly people focussed:
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Firstly, and most importantly, the stand has to appeal to visitors –
make them want to come and talk to you. Too much text and detail puts people off – they stand back, try and read, and can become overwhelmed, so they give your stand a miss. Conversely, no clear vision of what you do means people also won’t bother! Put simply, they have a lot to do in a short space of time. So it is vitally important to be clear and concise in your messaging – think – what do people want to see? What is in it for them?
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Brian explained: “It is very easy to become wrapped up in your own business and believe that everyone else understands what the company does, and sees it the way you do. The whole process of rebranding and relocating has given us chance to regroup and look at things the way others might. We’re trying a number of new and different ways of presenting ourselves to appeal to our target audiences of contract cleaners, event companies, educational establishments and Facilities Managers.”
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The stand layout is important. Barriers and blocking furniture
stop visitors from coming onto the stand. Someone “policing” a reception desk also does not encourage people to want to investigate.
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Too many stand staff hanging around in “gaggles”, talking to each
other makes people give the stand a wide birth.
Conversely, wanting help and not being able to get anyone’s
attention is also irritating. Make someone on the stand responsible for identifying new visitors, and also for ensuring the successful flow of visitors around the stand.
Nothing says “I’m not interested”, like staff talking on a mobile phone
to someone else – just don’t do it. Brian said: “I’m not a fan of eating and drinking on a stand either. Hospitality is all well and good – but in its place. All venues provide eating and drinking facilities – so that customers can take some down time and regroup. Looking at someone else eating and drinking is not a great start to a business relationship.”
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The Supplies House has had an exciting couple of years, with a new brand, new premises, new staff, a new Facebook site, Twitter and some new products added to their range. So, it made sense that they should try something else new and take their own stand at the new Cleaning Show at the Excel Centre this year.
Simple but helpful – make sure people who can assist are obvious
to visitors – a uniform, or “can I help?” badge. And use staff who are not afraid to approach visitors – they need to be outgoing, polite and persistent, but without being intrusive. It is quite a specific personality type that can “serve” a stand well – so don’t put a ‘convenient resource’ on the job – because your sales staff are busy, put your best resource on this extremely important ‘hostess function’.
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Give customers a reason to visit – an offer or promotional pack that
is of value. And put it in something that’s easy to carry.
Do not laden visitors with a “mountain of literature” that they
have to carry round. They will just put it down and leave it somewhere. The need for literature is an ideal follow up activity – you can make their life easy by emailing/posting them what they need after the show.
Collect the correct core information and any follow up
actions, and ensure that customers leave with a clear view of what you will do, in terms of both your actions, and your Data Protection obligations in collecting that data.
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Have a little fun! Brian added: “Our industry can be a little
‘grey’. Toilet roll and cleaning chemicals are not always ‘fun’, but they are essential, we all need them and we can use our industry experience to help people make sensible, best value decisions”, but it doesn’t have to be boring!”
www.tomorrowscleaning.com
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