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Tradeshow exhibit success requires
immediate follow-up on leads and activities generated
from the trade show floor. Giving booth visitors your
company literature, collecting contact information
about leads, and engaging in meaningful conversation
with prospects about your products represent only
a portion of the trade show sales process.
Immediate and continual follow-up
by mail, email, phone and personal visits is essential
to maximizing your revenue potential. Determining
how you will collect lead information and the materials
you will use in your follow-up activities needs to
occur during your trade show planning process.
Include different information and
literature for your marketing before, during and after
the event. For example, rather than sending the same
company promotional brochure that you mailed ahead
of time to registrants or had available in your exhibit
booth, plan ahead to send a new piece with additional
information and selling points that appeal to the
needs of your prospects. In your follow-up communication,
be sure to address specific interests or needs the
customer shared while visiting your booth. Any way
you can personalize your written or verbal communication
will yield greater marketing impact and put you closer
to securing a new client.
If you are making a follow-up phone
call, which always makes an impact, refer to the conversation
you had with the prospect when he or she was visiting
your booth. Or, send specific information the potential
customer requested and include a personalized handwritten
note. Mailing articles, fact sheets, and other detailed
product information that directly address customer
needs will send a message of service and commitment
that will help you solidify the sale.
The style and form
of follow-up in which you engage should be determined
by the sales potential of the lead. Before the event,
you should develop a “scoring” system
for leads generated from your tradeshow exhibit booth
and segment prospects for different types of follow-up
based on potential to buy.
So a prospect you
met at your tradeshow exhibit booth who has decision-making
authority and a large budget
would get a higher score and more intense follow-up
attention than someone picking up your literature
who represents a business that is auxiliary to your
product offering.
When making follow-up contact, include a special
offer specific offer to encourage your prospects
to take action. This may include special
pricing or value-added offers that are meaningful to helping prospective
customers be more successful.
In all follow-up activities,
timing is critical. Don’t let a hot prospect
become a cold lead because too much time has passed
before you’ve made contact. Leads from tradeshows
should first be contacted within a week of the show.
This article was written
by Jules Sowder, an executive marketing advisor with
20 years of experience developing strategic marketing
and sales solutions for large corporations, start-up
companies, and small businesses. She also has a resource
web site to help marketers and trade show exhibitors
maximize marketing and sales effectiveness: http://www.Trade-Show-Advisor.com |
