QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS

All too often stand staff see the opportunity at an exhibition as a method to ‘show and tell’. Sadly it is a fact that there will be nothing more persuasive that you can do than ‘ask and solve’. No matter how good you are at showing and telling, asking and solving will always work better with visitors. Sometimes you get an attempt at asking, such as, “Can I help you?” Well now, let me think. . . There are really only two answers to this, and the most common is ‘NO!’

It sounds obvious but if you do not think about questions to ask we tend to default to the ‘can I help’ version. Think up good opening lines (How are you enjoying the show?) or light hearted / cheeky ones (How’s the weather – I haven’t seen it for days! Or I’m gasping for a drink / fag and I can only do so with a client – do you fancy joining me?).

Give your team a refresher on Open and Closed questions so that they know why certain questions are better than others at starting a conversation. Open questions open up the conversation and are difficult to answer with a yes or no answer. These typically begin with Why, What, Who, When, Where and Why. Closed questions on the other hand, close the conversation and are most commonly answered with a yes or a no. These typically begin with a verb – Are, Do, Can, Is, Should, Could, Would etc. Closed questions are effective for confirming understanding and gaining commitment and they are very useful to signal that the conversation is at an end and it is time to go.

Reinforce these with proper body language and you are well on your way to making a difference.