Exhibit Follow-Up
Collective Review
Leads & Lessons Learned
Collective Review
When you came back from the last show, you were probably faced with a backlog of email and a big stack of mail. Now that you've had time to catch up, remember this: the most successful trade show marketers don't move on until they take time to look back. Take time now to schedule a meeting to review the Show!
Start by looking at your goals for the Show. Which ones did you achieve? Which fell short? If your booth reps don't work out of the same location, an e-Mail survey may be the best way to get good feedback. Ask each person what worked particularly well for them at the show? What didn't? Ask them what they saw competitors doing that seemed to be effective and attention getting. Give them a chance to comment on the workability of booth design and your lead tracking system.
If you don't ask, they may not tell. And ultimately, you will lose valuable information about lessons learned that could help increase your ROI at your next event.
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Leads & Lessons Learned
What if you took 80 percent of the cash in your wallet right now and ran it through the paper shredder? That, in essence, is how many companies treat their trade show leads. A recent report by Sales and Marketing Management magazine indicated that "80 percent of the leads generated will never be followed up."
If you haven't already followed up on every single one of your past show leads, you could be losing sales by the second.
Here are two suggestions to help initiate action:
(1) Re-qualify leads by phone
In face-to-face booth conversations, leads may be less than genuine. Booth visitors who aren't good prospects may be falsely complimentary in order to "spare your feelings." Conversely, great prospects may have been suffering from information overload and didn't really listen to your pitch. A quick post-show phone conversation will ensure that your "A" leads are still eager to buy, your "B" leads have future buying interest, and your "C" leads really are poor prospects.
(2) Match interest to expense
Send your best, most expensive literature and personalized cover letters to the A list. A basic cover letter and 2-color brochure will suffice for Bs. The quick and polite "thanks for stopping by our booth" card is the right follow-up for C leads.
If you find many of your leads are cold (bordering on frozen), make trade show lead management a hotter priority in the future. Assign a lead manager who doesn't attend the show so lead follow-up can happen immediately. Consider overnighting leads back to the lead manager when the show closes at the end of each day. Or enter them in a laptop database, email or fax them back.
Immediate follow-up lets you reach more than 40 percent more buyers!
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