You just came back from your last trade show. You’ve amassed a stack of leads and you’re ready to start you’re your follow-up. If your sales team doesn’t accurately track and follow through on the show leads generated, then you’re simply throwing money out the marketing window. Developing a trade show platform for your business should include a post-show strategy way before you even gather up your stack of business leads! By integrating a comprehensive trade show lead follow-up system, you will actually improve your closing ratio.
Make sure that your follow-up is timely and well-designed, while your show information is still fresh and swirling around in their minds. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from vendors or company employees who have said things like: “Oh, I have this stack of business cards but I’ve been too busy to follow-up on any of the show leads.”
Your follow up window should occur immediately after you’ve made contact at the specific show you’re attending. If your follow up starts while you’re still at the trade show, it’s very possible that your connection with that prospect can be enhanced and can lead to an even stronger connection down the road. With all the possible connection points available to you today, including social media, it’s critically important that you use as many ways to connect as possible. This would include sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Follow these prospects as well on their social media sites so that you can keep track of their organizations. When you arrive home from a show, you can add their contact information into your sales tracking system.
The early bird catches the worm:
Remember, with leads it’s the “early bird who catches the worm”. The longer you take to follow-up on a lead, the lower the closing ratio. You should also keep track of a prospect’s meeting notes, along with special interests and discussions, plus any assurances that you made to a prospect. A promise kept can potentially be part of the client’s expectations. The worst mistake you can make is to lose or forget about any detail discussions, so keep a good record of what was said during and even after the trade show. Craft thoughtful e-mail replies so they do not appear as a canned, generic, or bland response, but make sure your e-mail follow ups are not the only contact made. Take time to get to know your prospects and keep notes about their likes and dislikes. Add something personal to the correspondence to improve the connection with your potential new business prospects.
In summary, 75-80% of all trade show leads are never even followed up on. Be organized with a post-show strategy and use person-to-person touch points to strengthen your relationships. And with this, the rewards will be in your favor!
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