Trade shows provide many benefits to a company, one of those being new lead generation. If you aren’t walking away from a trade show with valuable new business leads, then you may be wasting your important marketing dollars. It is vital that before you walk into any trade show you are fully prepared. These events are excellent opportunities to acquire quality leads and below are some tips on how best to utilize your next trade show.
Plan your work, then work your plan: If you don’t go into the process with a concrete plan you could come out empty-handed. Make sure you know what you want your end-game to be and work towards that for a clear and focused marketing plan. For instance, are you looking to spread awareness of a new product or highlight the benefits of an existing one?
Set clear goals and objectives: Don’t go in just hoping for an unclear outcome. Know the amount of leads you want so that you can work towards a number at the trade show and know what kind of business numbers you want to gain from your marketing investment. Goals and objectives will motivate you and your sales team to perform and best employ resources.
Image is everything: The main focus at your show will obviously be your booth/displays. Spend time working on your design and wording for the best signage possible. You want to make it very obvious what your company is selling, leave no guesswork to any passing potential customers.
Keep your eyes on the prize: Don’t spend too much time on small talk and work to spend time on finding out if the person will indeed provide a valuable lead. Make sure to move the conversation along so as not to waste time. Face-to-face networking is extremely important but there are only a finite number of hours at a trade show. Do not rush the conversation but make sure all communication is leading to why you are there, your business. If they are a good lead, they will be interested. Work on building relationships after the show when you have more time.
Quality data creates quality leads: Have an easy process to collect data and above all, make sure you are collecting the RIGHT data. Determining an effective plan will help you decide on the best data collection techniques and items. Make it a seamless process and build it into the sales conversation. iPad and tablet stands are a great tool for this step.
Finish the sale: One of the most important things you must do after successfully finishing up a trade show event is to FOLLOW-UP with all of your new leads. The excitement after a trade show dies down fast so make sure to follow up quickly. Try to be specific to each lead and avoid being generic (i.e. Thanks for stopping by our booth). They are more than likely receiving many follow-up calls; so just as much as you need to stand out at the show, you need to stand out in your follow up.
via visual.ly
Posted by Indy Displays
