Managing Leads from the Show

It’s that time of year again. I’m not talking about winter in the Midwest. I’m talking about the hustle and bustle of trade show season. You’ve carefully allocated the time needed to coordinate, travel to, and exhibit at a show. Put that same amount of effort and coordination into an organized lead follow up program to maximize your investment.

Ultimately, marketing and trade show booth coordinators get evaluated based on how good of a job sales does following up on trade show leads. Many times leads generated on the trade show floor go unfulfilled. 

If your sales team doesn’t follow up on leads in a timely manner, you are throwing money down the drain. If follow up isn’t explicitly scheduled, ‘real life’ gets in the way once the sales team is back on their regular beat. Sales and marketing need to come to an agreement on what qualifies as a viable lead, a plan for lead fulfillment and set realistic and acceptable measures of accountability. 

Here are some tips to help you lead when it comes to maximizing leads:

• Score your leads – If your criteria are based primarily on budget and buying power, a lead from a decision-maker with a sizable budget would receive a higher score than a lead from someone without the authority or means to buy your product. This scoring process helps your sales team prioritize the most valuable leads to focus on first.

• Email follow up – It’s important to thank all visitors who agreed to have their badge scanned for visiting your both. There are automated programs to help you streamline this outreach. Be sure you include a link to your website and better yet, invite them to a webinar that engages them with more detailed information about your products.

• Phone follow up – If someone gave you their contact information expecting you to call them, then do it! Prospects talk to a lot of vendors on the show floor so try to think of something unique about your conversation that will jog their memory. Did you talk about sports? Family? Even those little details can help make reconnections easier. 

• Keep an eye on your leads – Consider subscribing to a customer relationship management program (CRM) system, that will help you track follow up and allow you to create reports that show how many qualified leads you generated, how many were handed off to the sales reps, how many leads they followed up on and which ones actually resulted in a sale.

World Class Graphics and Displays can help your booth be a memorable experience for prospects. With thoughtful planning, you can make your lead follow up program a memorable and rewarding experience that maximizes your trade show investment. Contact us today for ideas for impact on the show floor. And beyond.