You have made the commitment to attend trade shows. You have hired and paid the staff, expensed the travel and in some cases lodging, you have purchased the uniforms and you have a captivating trade show display. Because of it all, you have gotten some great leads. Now you have to follow-up on those qualified leads. This is the challenge.
Trade show lead follow-up has long been a problem. Why go through the effort and expense of exhibiting at a show with no follow-up plans in place. This is such a waste of precious marketing dollars. However, it is done all the time by companies who must think that this activity is just not that important.
Lead Follow-up Problem Overall
Here is a breakdown of companies overall approach to leads, not just trade show leads. One statistic shows that the majority of leads are never follow-up.
Does Your Company Qualify Leads for Sales?
- 58% No
- 42% Yes
How to “fix” this problem?
The root of the problem is “accountability.” Senior management needs to require this information from their staff. When there is a mandate from senior management, performance measures are normally in place to gauge progress.
Forward thinking exhibition managers tackle this issue with excellent results. Sometimes they have tied it into calculating a return of trade show performance or they just want to streamline their internal marketing/sales processes.
Getting A Sales Person Involved
Have a key sales person in the planning process of the lead qualification form that you will use at the trade show. Having their fingerprints all over the thinking process and the lead scoring parameters ensures they are more willing to follow-up. This sales person can communicate to his/her peers the measures which are in place, so the teams knows their time is not being wasted with all of the non-leads.
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