Don’t Forget the Follow Up

You’ve exhibited at a major trade show and have arrived back at your desk with a spreadsheet of prospects you met at the show. Now it’s time to follow-up. Problem is, you have mountains for paperwork, your expense report, and a presentation for a current client that has requested meeting you in 2 days. What do you do? If you’ve planned ahead of time, you already have a strategy in place and won’t have to worry about the timeliness of the leads. You’ve got it covered.

Trade show follow-up should begin within seven days of a show. The people you met with are eager to find solutions to their problems and your busy inbox is not their concern. They want answers and are fired up about meeting the people who can help them. This increased level of interest will provide you with a higher chance of receiving a positive reception when you do reach out.

Trade shows attract serious buyers.

Ninety percent of attendees use exhibitions as their number one source of purchasing information. They come to shows for a reason. In fact, 76% of them have a pre-set agenda. They know what they want and whom they want to see. From the exhibitor’s point of view, these leads cost half as much as a traditional field sales call.

Most attendees only need to hear from an exhibitor once to make a purchasing decision because they have already seen the products and services and know what is being offered before the follow-up call. Because trade shows offer one-stop shopping, they have checked out your competition. So you don’t want that competition following up before you do. In fact, fifty-seven percent of B2B attendees make a purchasing decision in the next twelve months after a trade show.

When you return from a show, organize your leads by creating three or four categories (immediate needs, long term potential, decision influencers, tire kickers). Next, determine an effective way of acknowledging each visitor that you met with in the booth. A simple thank you for visiting or mention that their name is being passed along to a field rep who will be in touch with them shortly can go a long way.

Assign the duty of following up to someone else. Temporary help or an intern work well in this area. Investing a few hundred dollars for temporary clerical help will more than pay for itself in the additional business generated. Once the first contact is made via letter or email, your standard staff can take it from there.