How many leads do you get at your biggest trade show? Let’s say you get 500 leads. Of them, how many are actually in your demographic sweetspot? How many let you scan their badge because they like your neon pink stress balls?
How many attendees where there? 10,000? 100,000? Of them, how many passed by your booth display? How many passed by your booth repeatedly? Have you seen the same several hundred faces pass your booth repeatedly?
Of the people that walked up your aisle, how many gravitated toward that one fancy looking trade show exhibit with all the intriguing displays and passed you up?
Well, if you picked the right trade show to exhibit at, it’s safe to say that about 10% of the attendees could be your customers. If you only captured leads from half the people who are in your market demographic, 5% of 10,000 is 500 qualified leads. That’s 500 people who actually have an interest in you. It’s NOT the 500 leads you normally get.
This nets you 500% more qualified leads. AND it culls away 400 time and productivity vortexes who would have spent hours chatting with your lead sales guys about nonsense. How much is THAT worth?
PROBLEMS:
So here’s the million dollar question, how do you
1. Increase your qualified lead volume by at least 500%?
2. Decrease your phantom lead volume by at least 80%?
ANSWERS:
1. Don’t give away chocolate (unless you’re a chocolate maker)
2. Don’t give away toys (unless you’re a toy maker)
If you want to take a quantum leap in your trade show ROI, you’ll need to ask trade show organizers and exhibit display makers for case studies
3. Yes, give away something valuable but ONLY if it didn’t cost you anything:
a. Give away proprietary data, a white paper, an ebook, but make sure it’s something that ONLY your prospects would be interested in.
b. Give away a valuable electronic research document so you have to get the freeloader’s email address
c. Sell samples of your products for $1 each. make the dollar go into an almost full see through charity box. this way you know exactly how many units you gave away and you earn wide spread good will. you BRAND yourself as a company that gives back. you’ll be remembered.
You can even mark footnote the donation box with the words, all profits will go to charity. After the charity, deduct the actual costs of samples.
d. Only give away items that directly lead to sales of your products or services and clearly display what it is that you’re giving away in a big overhead trade show truss display. (you don’t think THAT will bring you more traffic?)
4. Make alliances - Make deals with non competing exhibitors to trade leads. If you make 3 alliances you’ll get 100% more leads. simple math.
If you sell hot dogs and sausages and you’re at a food fair, make an alliance with a mustard maker and a bun maker.
5. Launch an adult easter egg hunt - Give a token to every vistor and tell them that if they go to booth number J-15, they can get another token. Then, if they go to booth number D-7, they can claim their free hot dog. of course, you’re still better off giving away a free database of some sort or other. AND if you put your heads together with your other marketing alliance partners, I’m sure you can come up with some pretty racy data your prospects would love to get a hold of.
6. To do all this, you’re going to have to dub a manager in your company the Director of Alliances.
7. And finally, you’re going to have to pick the brains of the organizers of the best trade shows and Trade Show Displays and Exhibits Companies that have a ton of experience in your particular industry. Contact the Exhibit Source.
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