Advent Blog

Take the Lead on Follow-ups

It’s painful but true that only 20% of com­pa­nies who exhibit at tradeshows actu­ally fol­low up with the leads they gath­ered. Why do we work so hard and invest so much time, energy and resources and then not fol­low up with leads after the show? Let’s iden­tify rea­sons why com­pa­nies may not fol­low up before we talk about follow-up strategies.

1.   No plan. There will be leads after a trade show. Without a method in place to deal with the leads and with­out good orga­ni­za­tion, it’s dif­fi­cult to exe­cute the proper fol­low up. Companies need to develop a strat­egy for fol­low­ing up with these leads before the show begins but at least as soon as tear down is finished.

2.    Fatigue.  We invest so much energy at the trade show and then have lots to attend to when we get back to the office.  A well-developed strat­egy for fol­low up will make it much eas­ier and less demand­ing to effec­tively fol­low up.

3.   Sales per­son inter­fer­ence. It’s hard to admit, but sales­peo­ple are not per­fect. Say it slowly to your­self… Salespeople often pocket leads, fig­u­ra­tively and lit­er­ally, by putting the busi­ness cards of booth vis­i­tors in their pock­ets. Then, they get busy or dis­tracted, do not recall the needs or con­cerns of the prospect and just don’t fol­low up.

Since that is cleared up, let’s focus on some spe­cific strate­gies for excel­lent fol­low up. Exhibitors typ­i­cally invest in tradeshows to acquire, obtain, or grow cus­tomers. If this is your objec­tive, then you must estab­lish a rela­tion­ship by fol­low­ing up with your leads.

The first step is to develop a plan. A plan is crit­i­cal to man­ag­ing our time and resources for effec­tive fol­low up. 

The next step is to promptly fol­low up after a show. Why? Because the prospec­tive cus­tomer often remem­bers follow-up promises. By ful­fill­ing those promises, exhibitors are able to build on the foun­da­tion laid dur­ing the trade show to estab­lish a rela­tion­ship with prospec­tive customers.

Thirdly, antic­i­pate lead dis­tri­b­u­tion. If leads will be dis­trib­uted to sales­peo­ple, estab­lish a method for allo­cat­ing those leads. Whether it is by geo­graphic ter­ri­tory, indus­try sec­tor, prod­uct line or cus­tomer need, it is good to have a plan in place, so that you can ref­er­ence a sales­per­son when speak­ing with a prospect at the show.

Next, the plan should include a lead cap­ture strat­egy in the booth. A ques­tion­naire or care­ful note tak­ing allows exhibitors to under­stand what a prospect or cus­tomer needs. It also con­veys a con­cern about the rela­tion­ship and that you have care­fully lis­tened to their needs. Exhibitors may also ask what method of fol­low up they pre­fer and deter­mine next steps based on their level of need.

Finally, effec­tive fol­low up should not be a one-step process. Simply mail­ing the prover­bial infor­ma­tion packet is not enough. That is only the first step of many that should occur. You’ll have to deter­mine if the next step is a per­sonal phone call, an in-person visit, or an email.

All of these steps are impor­tant to achiev­ing the high­est level of suc­cess from a trade show: Have a plan in place before the show. Follow up promptly after the show.  Anticipate lead dis­tri­b­u­tion.  Capture impor­tant infor­ma­tion from booth visitors. 

Remember that fol­low up can take many forms.  It is a shame to invest time, energy, and resources in a trade show and then lose sight of why you went. To acquire, retain and grow cus­tomers effec­tively, we must have a com­pre­hen­sive and well-executed strat­egy for fol­low­ing up with leads gen­er­ated at a trade show. This will really add to your ROI!