Simpler Selling
Trade Show Sales Training
Most trade show budgets get spent on the stand, the travel and the days out of the field. What actually happens at the booth, and what happens to the contacts collected there, gets treated as something the team will just figure out. It rarely gets figured out. Sellers who are excellent on a discovery call default to a rehearsed pitch the moment a stranger stops in front of them, because a trade show conversation runs on different rules: seconds instead of minutes, no meeting was booked, and the person in front of them didn't ask to be there.
The problem
Where trade show conversations actually go wrong
- The opener is a company pitch, not a reason for a stranger to keep listening
- Sellers ask about the visitor's role and company instead of their problem
- Nothing specific gets written down, so a follow-up can't tell one badge scan from another
- Good conversations happen and then evaporate because no next step got booked on the spot
- Leads sit for a week before anyone follows up, by which point the visitor barely remembers the stand
- The event gets judged on footfall and lead count instead of meetings actually booked
None of this needs a bigger stand or more staff on it. It needs the team to treat the floor as a selling skill, not something that sorts itself out with a badge scanner.
The approach
Inside the workshop
- 01
The Problem Pitch
Sellers replace the company pitch with an opener built around a problem the visitor is likely to recognise, giving them a reason to stay for the next question instead of a reason to nod and move on.
- 02
Questions That Uncover Problems
A compressed version of discovery built for five minutes standing up, not thirty on a call, that still gets to whether there's a real problem worth a follow-up conversation.
- 03
Capturing It Properly
What to note down in the moment, and how, so a follow-up email or call three days later can reference the actual conversation rather than a scanned badge and a guess.
- 04
Post-Show, Booking the Meeting
Turning a booth conversation into a calendared next step before the visitor leaves the stand, and a follow-up sequence for the ones who didn't book on the day, while the conversation is still fresh.
Outcomes
What changes at the next show
- Sellers open with something that earns thirty more seconds, not a pitch that ends the conversation
- Every genuine conversation produces a note specific enough to follow up on properly
- Meetings get booked on the stand instead of relying on a follow-up email weeks later
- The team can point to booked meetings and pipeline, not just footfall and badge scans
- Follow-up happens inside days, not the week after everyone's back at their desks
Formats
How it's delivered
4-Hour In-Person Workshop
Run with the team before they're on the stand, built around the four modules above: opening with a problem, compressed discovery, capturing what's said, and booking the meeting before anyone leaves the stand. Practised in short rounds against realistic booth scenarios, not sat through as a presentation.
Fit
Who this is for
- Companies sending a sales or SDR team to industry trade shows and conferences
- Teams who've come back from a show with a stack of contacts and no real pipeline to show for it
- Sales leaders who suspect the stand budget is outperforming what's actually said at it
- Marketing and events teams who want the people on the stand to be an asset, not a weak link
FAQs
Common questions
- Is this the same as your prospecting training?
- Related, but different. Prospecting training is about reaching out to someone who hasn't engaged yet. This is about a stranger standing in front of a seller for a few minutes, unplanned, with no research done in advance. The compression and the lack of prep make it a distinct skill worth practising separately.
- Does this only apply to trade shows, or industry conferences generally?
- Both. Trade shows and industry conferences create the same situation: short, unplanned conversations with people who didn't book a meeting. The workshop works for stand-based trade shows and conference floor conversations alike.
- Do you bring a script for the pitch?
- No. Scripts tend to fall apart the moment a real visitor asks something unexpected. We build the opener and the questions around your actual product and the problems your buyers recognise, then sellers practise saying it in their own words until it holds up under a real conversation.
- Can this run the week before a show?
- Yes, that's usually the best timing. Run close enough to the event that the modules are still fresh when the team is on the stand, and specific enough to that show's audience that it doesn't feel generic.
Got a show coming up?
Tell me which show and what you're hoping to walk away with. We'll build the session around that, not a generic stand-training deck.