THE 5 STEPS TO HIGH YIELD TRADE SHOW LEAD FOLLOW-UP & QUALIFICATION

Trade Show organizers should take a proactive role in educating and/or assisting exhibitors to generate and qualify leads – it only makes sense.

Therefore, what follows is information on two important steps for lead generation and qualification specific to trade shows.

• 5 Pre-show steps to take to insure best results

• 4 Trade show lead follow-up processes and best practices

FIVE PRE-SHOW STEPS TO TAKE TO INSURE BEST RESULTS Prior to the show much of the time and attention is paid to the booth display and logistics. Frequently, not enough effort is put into ensuring the right attendees show up at the booth. This is an important aspect in the quality vs. quantity balance of booth visitors. Simply put, the more qualified the attendees the better the lead generation results. Here are 5 pre-show marketing steps to consider along with preparing the booth and planning logistics.

1. Set specific attendee show objectives.

2. Data description and/or profile of the best targets likely to be at the show.

3. Use the profile for pre-show marketing campaigns.

4. Staff orientation and buy-in.

5. Customize the lead capture forms and tools.

FOUR TRADE SHOW LEAD FOLLOW-UP PROCESSES AND BEST PRACTICES The show is over, and now the important activity begins – capitalizing on those potential leads that visited the booth and engaged with a sales person. Let’s assume that most, if not all, provided the needed profile information established before the show. In addition, let’s assume that an existing lead qualification process exists.

If not, there are many books and white papers that detail how to best qualify, nurture and convert leads. This white paper is about best practices in trade show lead follow-up so that you can utilize your existing lead qualification process. There are four basic principles to use that will optimize trade show lead follow-up systems. They are:

1. Prioritization

2. Speed

3. Relevance

4. Persistence

Summary

So now what are you going to do? Hopefully there are a few ideas, recommendations and best practices that make sense and apply to your trade show lead system. Possibly trying to redo all your marketing plans and processes is too much to bite off. If so, pick one of the pre-show steps and one follow-up process to implement. The obvious goal is to improve results of trade show participation. Generating leads is the main contributor to results and the more attention to what happens after the show will certainly improve these results.