The Secret to Trade Show Lead Collection

Friday, December 18, 2009 by Chris Tremblay

Tradeshow Sales GuysI was recently reminded that there is a "secret" to a successful trade show lead management program.  Last week, one of our customers exhibited at the ASHP 2009 show in Las Vegas.  At this show, they had a huge booth, and typically collect between 300 and 400 leads.  They are a multinational corporation, and just like every other exhibitor, they expect to collect a certain number of hot trade show leads, and to have those leads turn into sales after the event.

Dealing with the large amount of data that was generated at this show reminded me how such a simple goal can be very difficult to execute.  As you can read about in the other blog entries, we have strategies for trade show lead collection and trade show lead management, so I won't go into that here.  What I will say, (here is the secret) is that without someone to push the leads through the process after the show, you are not going to get the results you expect.

Most companies that we talk to have trouble with all facets of the trade show lead generation and management process, and this is mainly due to a lack of planning and follow through.  Bottomline is that if nobody is put in charge of this process, then the leads are not going to turn into sales on their own.

Green Show

Friday, December 18, 2009 by Chris Tremblay

Last week, we exhibited at a show, and were faced with the task of qualifying and following up on the tradeshow leads.  We should be really good at this considering that we facilitate this process for many other companies.  Like many of our customers, we were busy before the show, and didn't spend a ton of time planning for how we would deal with the leads at this show.  However, this didn't stop us from collecting well qualified leads, and following up with a "thank you" email, and a phone call within 4 days of the show.

At this particular show, the leads were on a magstripe badge, and we decided to use a handheld scanner instead of a laptop due to space considerations.  I was there, so I know that we qualified everyone we talked to.  We asked them the usual questions and we used this info to rate the leads.  Even with only 68 leads, our sales people had to take a week out of their already busy schedule to follow-up on these leads. 

Exhibiting at this show reminded me that it is not a simple task to turn trade show leads into sales.  It takes a little planning, and someone that wants to make it happen.  I wanted to write a blog that talked about how even with all our experience, we did something wrong, but it was a small show with 68 leads, and we already made 2 sales.   

 

What's your take on Trade Show Lead Generation?

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers
trade show scannerDo your sales and marketing teams have the same impression of the leads generated by your company's marketing efforts?  Are you sure?  I have been calling the 2 different departments within the same organizations for a few months and have found that they rarely have the same perception of sales leads.  I work specifically with companies to implement a trade show lead management solution, so I will speak to that issue. 

When I talk to marketing contacts, they usually think their trade show lead management program is great.  I normally hear that they use a exhibitor lead retrieval system, maybe qualify the leads with a paper lead form and then send all of the leads out to the sales people after the show. 

The sales contacts I speak with have a completely different outlook on trade show lead generation.  The sales people generally see the leads as a waste of time.  Most of the "leads" are not actively shopping for their products and they rarely find a good prospect out of the list of names they receive from any given show. 

The disconnect is really nothing more than a communication breakdown.  The marketing department thinks their trade show lead management solution is perfect, so they don't see the need for improvement.  The sales department labels the trade show leads as weak, and stops calling them.  My recommendation is to have a meeting with high level sales and marketing people to open up a discussion about the quality of leads coming in (from all sources, not just trade shows). 

There are many ways to improve a company's trade show lead generation process.  However, the only way to improve the process is to first diagnose the problems.   

Trade Show Leads Lack Information

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 by Chris Tremblay

I've noticed lately that trade shows are including less and less contact information on the attendee badges.  Most shows in the corporate sector are listening to their outspoken attendees and removing email addresses and phone numbers from the Scanner attendee badge.  For other reasons, I can only guess at, contact info has become less complete, leaving out zip codes, and even company names at some shows. 

At the show, companies that scan the badge with trade show lead retrieval system typically will have no way to add this info to the data file. This lack of contact info is often not noticed during the trade show lead generation process. 

The main effect of this is during the trade show follow up process, this missing information is noticed by sales, and often causes them to think the lead is cold.  Why wouldn't sales just use Google to find the phone number, or email address?  The answer to this is that a lead that has a name and address with no qualifying information is exactly the same as a cold call.  Obviously I'm making the assumption that the leads aren't qualified, but I see a lot of leads that are collected by the show system, and 99% of them contain no qualifying info, if you don't customize the qualifying questions.

How can you avoid this problem at your shows?  Using lead retrieval software that allows you to add contact info would be a good start.  But either way, you need to find out how much info will be on the badge before the show starts.  Notify your staff that the HOT leads should be asked for email and phone number information, and while they are at it, add qualifying info for the HOT leads. 

One last idea is to contact the show and ask them to start including the info you need to justify exhibiting at their show.


Trade Show Follow Up - Email

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers
Post Trade Show EmailOne of the easiest and cheapest trade show lead follow up methods is email.  While some industries don't prefer to communicate via email (doctors, for example), almost everyone has embraced email as a primary form of business communication. 

When constructing the copy for your post show email, you need to keep a few things in mind.  Here are a few trade show strategies for email follow up:

1.  Stand Out - Because email is such a standard form of communication, we all receive a lot of messages every day.  If you send a long winded email people will just delete it and move on.  Use graphics that catch their eye and try to keep the best parts of the message at the top so they show up in the preview pane.

3.  From/Subject - Use the From and Subject lines to brand your company.  This way even if they don't read the whole message your company still "registers" with the prospect.

4.  Timing - Sending the email directly after the show is imperative while your company is still fresh in your prospects' minds.  Keeping your name in front of them will help increase trade show sales.   

5.  Use a Call to Action - Present an offer or entice them to contact you in some way.

6.  Send a relevant message - If you use a lead scoring system, send a different message to the hot, warm and cold leads.  If you use lead retrieval software, send them product specific messages based on their interest on the show floor.  Including their local sales rep's contact information is a nice touch, too.

I hope you find these trade show tips helpful.  For additional tips, click HERE

Trade Show Tips: Dealing with Budget Cuts

Thursday, October 1, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers
Due to the slumping economy, many companies are cutting their trade show and marketing budgets.  While some cost cutting strategies can negatively impact your effectiveness, there are ways to cut costs that will not jeopardize your trade show ROI.  Below are a few tips on how to cut costs without reducing your overall performance.
  1. Focus your Resources - Instead of doing the same amount of shows halfhearted, cut or downsize shows that don't produce the best results.  If you had a 20 x 20 booth at a show last year that produced minimal trade show sales, you should think about getting a smaller booth or dropping the show from your schedule.  
  1. Renegotiate contracts - You are working with your current vendors for a reason.  You don't want to start cutting ties with your vendors when they perform a key service for you (if you use lead retrieval software, for example).  Instead, see if you can get better pricing.  Times are tough for everyone, and if your vendor really values your business they will do whatever they can within reason to keep you around.
  1. Do your Homework - If your vendors will not or can not budge, shop around.  Their competitors may have changed policies or come out with new products since you last evaluated them.  You may find a better, more cost effective option.  If not, you at least have some leverage when negotiating with your existing vendors.
It is more important than ever to produce results at your trade shows.  Sales are getting tougher and tougher so it is imperative to spend your marketing dollars wisely.  So instead of cutting services and doing shows improperly, focus on the right shows and do them well.  Exhibiting at 1 trade show properly is better than exhibiting at 5 shows poorly.

For additional trade show tips, click HERE.

Trade Show Tips: Follow up Preferences

Thursday, August 27, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers
If you ask an exhibitor about their trade show lead follow up plan they will usually tell you that they call all of the leads within a few weeks.  What if the attendee specifically asked you to follow up via email only? 

This is a common request on the show floor.  Either the prospect is going to be on the road for the next few weeks, they generally prefer to communicate via email, or maybe they really aren't all that interested in your company.  Whatever the reason, if someone requests email follow up only, your company will look bad if you bombard them with calls.  This could cost you the sale or waste your sales reps' time.  

By properly utilizing a lead retrieval system, you can record an attendee's follow up preference on the show floor.  You can accomplish this with the show sponsored trade show scanner or a more robust trade show software program.  Once you collect the leads, a solid lead management system will ensure your reps follow up properly. 

For additional trade show tips, please click HERE

A Different Lead System at Every Show

Friday, August 21, 2009 by Chris Tremblay

Every trade show you exhibit at seems to have a different trade show lead collection system.  How are you supposed to bring any consistency to the leads if the capabilities of the trade show lead scanner and demographic information you collect at each show is different?  This is a good quesiton and the honest answer is without some extra effort, you can't. 
 

One way to avoid this problem altogether is to buy your own lead collection software system that you can use at all of your shows.  However, these systems are expensive and require an equal amount of effort to maintain and setup at each event. So if you don't have the man power and money to manage one of these systems, or the budget to hire someone to do it for you, then you are left with the only other option: the trade show lead retrieval system.
 

The good news is that it can be done with some preparation and a bit of effort.  Using the custom qualifying option available at most of the shows and assigning one of your staff to follow through with the sales lead distribution and determining which leads sales should look at and which are not worth their time, will greatly increase your trade show ROI.
 

Of course you can hire a vendor like Event Technologies (shameless plug) to manage this process for you for a fraction of what you are spending to exhibit.  If you have the man power, please read our White Paper on how to get a handle on this process.  In addition, continue reading through the blog for other ideas that will improve your trade show sales efforts.

Trade Show Tips: Green Trade Show Strategy

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers
Trade Show Tips"Green" has become one of the biggest buzzwords of the past few years and it's here to stay.  Everywhere you go people are talking about climate change, increasing energy costs, dependency on foreign oil, and so on.  Consumers are becoming more aware of their impact on the environment and are looking to support corporations with eco friendly practices.  

As an exhibiting company, there are many trade show strategies you can implement to decrease your program's carbon footprint.  One strategy is eliminating paper collateral on site.  Instead of handing out 1,000 color catalogs on site, you can send out all requested information via email after the show. 

You can do this by using third party lead retrieval software.  These trade show software programs enable you to customize questions and have a "literature request" page where you can check off all of the catalogs each attendee wants.  After the show you can import your trade show leads into a lead management solution (some CRMs can do this, some email programs will work, or you can outsource this part of the process) and send out the requested literature to each attendee via email.  The more advanced systems will even provide reporting letting you know who opened the emails and clicked through to which pieces of literature. 

By collecting leads and fulfilling requests electronically, you will significantly decrease your trade show program's carbon footprint.  This process will eliminate the printing and shipping of all of those brochures and catalogs.  If the environmental impact isn't enough of a reason to implement this process, the cost savings on printing and shipping are huge.  An additional benefit is the quality of the leads.  Using a third party lead retrieval system will get you better qualified leads that are available to you whenever you want them (not when the show wants to get them to you). 

If an attendee says they would prefer to walk away with a brochure in hand, just explain your company's commitment to the environment and tell the prospect they will receive their information within a few days of the show (you can also do this nightly).   

For additional trade show tips, please click HERE.

For information on how to implement this trade show strategy into your program, click HERE.

Reformatting the Trade Show Leads

Monday, August 17, 2009 by Chris Tremblay
The trade show lead scanner is the easiest way to collect trade show leads.  If you're using the trade show lead retrieval system, the data you get after the show is rarely in the right format you need to put it into your CRM system.  So what do you have to do with the trade show leads to get them formatted correctly?

Here are a few trade show strategies for reformatting your trade show lead data:

1.  Combine the leads:  If you are using multiple lead systems, you need to get all those leads into one excel file.  This is fairly straight forward.  The best way to do this is to highlight the leads from one spreadsheet and copy them into the other sheet.  As you go, make sure the leads are lining up correctly.

2.  Converting a .txt file:  Many of the lead retrieval system companies give you a memory stick with the lead data in a .txt file. To convert this file into an Excel file is a fairly simple process.  Excel has a wizard built just for this.  To start the wizard, open Excel, and then Open a file.  When the menu pops up to find the file, you won't see your text file until you select "all files" from the menu on the bottom right.  Once you've selected your text file, simply go through the wizard, by picking the proper delimiter, which is usually a comma.  Make sure to convert all the phone/fax numbers to "text" on page 3 of the wizard, or else your phone numbers will be converted to scientific notation. 

3.  All CAPS: Most of the trade show lead systems give you the leads in all CAPS.  This is easy to fix by using the function in excel that allows you to re-case text.  The function is called "PROPER".  It's best to skip the company name because you will end up with IBM as Ibm, or SAP as Sap.

4. Combining the Qualifiers into a useable format: This process is going to be different for every show that you do.  Using the find and replace, and concatenate features in excel should help you to piece this information back together.

It's possible that you will see a different trade show lead format at every show you participate in.  There is no standard way to reformat these leads.  Each one needs to be handled differently.  Hopefully some of the above techniques will help you to get the trade show lead information into a useable format.

BANT Plus

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 by Fred Tremblay

Trade show lead qualification methods are numerous, however, almost all companies have the same goal; to record attendee responses to a set of questions in the booth.  These question and answer sets, commonly referred to as "surveys", are based on the business rules that best defines the opportunity status of a tradeshow lead for an organization.  One popular method is called BANT, meaning Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe.  An example of a BANT survey might look like the following:

  1. Budget Process?
    • Budget Approved
    • Budget in Process
    • Budget not Approved
  2. Role in Decision?
    • Decision Maker
    • Influencer
    • Data Gatherer
  3. Is need identified?
    • Problem Identified
    • Solution Identified
  4. Timeframe to Purchase?
    • Immediate
    • 90 days
    • 6 months
    • 12 months plus

Enhancing this survey allows many organizations to better pinpoint which leads to respond to immediately and which ones can wait.  Some additional or alternate data points may be garnered from the following:

 

  1. Action Requested?
    • Rep Call Immediate
    • Rep Call Immediate
    • Send Literature
  2. Opportunity Size?
    • Large
    • Medium
    • Small
  3. Customer Status
    • Current
    • Past
    • Not Customer

Trade show advice from exhibiting veterans suggests asking the fewest questions possible to get the qualification data to satisfy your trade show software's requirements.  Picking and choosing the right set of questions and answers for your company is a continuous process requiring the involvement of both sales and marketing.

Trade Show Leads Are a Special Case

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 by Chris Tremblay

There are 10,000 business to business trade shows [1] held annually in the US and Canada that are tracked by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). The 1,500,000 plus exhibiting companies at these events in 2007 rented over 1.5 million Net Square Feet (NSF) of exhibit space and spent an average of $216 [2] for every attendee with whom they had a face to face conversation in their booth. All of this activity and money, $15 billion in the USA in 2007, generates literally millions of trade show leads, which according to CEIR, upwards of 80% are never followed-up – Ever!
 

A significant percentage of trade show leads never make it from the booth to the sales organization because of trade show lead management issues. If and when they do arrive, sales people complain that either the leads are worthless because they have no qualification info, or they arrive so late that they are too cold to warrant any effort. In either case, they usually end up at the bottom of an already large stack of less than productive opportunities and with that goes all that hard work and money.
 

The reasons for undelivered leads or sales getting worthless or late arriving trade show leads vary by organization and industry but by far and away the major contributor to the problem is the fact that trade show leads are different from those generated by the Internet, direct mail and media advertising and far more difficult to handle. If you think you can simply take trade show leads from the exhibition booth and drop them into your CRM system for distribution to sales reps you are in for a big surprise! Trade show leads are square pegs – they do not easily fit into the round processing holes of your CRM system.
 

First is the data completeness – much of it lacks qualification information. It is commonplace for exhibiting companies to rent badge scanning equipment from the show organizer to read the demographic data contained on the attendee admission badges and record some simple, preprogrammed "qualifiers" such as "SEND INFO" or "ADD ME TO YOUR MAILING LIST" to help with trade show follow up. These trade show scanners usually print a paper record of the badge information on which notes about the attendee’s interests can be hand written. Unfortunately, the information collected is rarely adequate to determine which leads are "sales ready" and in most cases it is not formatted for easy analysis. Exhibitors who choose not to ask to have their rented scanners preprogrammed with customized qualification data or simply collect business cards and write the notes on the back face even larger issues going forward.
 

Second is the time factor – trade show leads age very quickly. Everyone knows that to get the most out of your trade show investment you must get to the "hot" prospects before your competition. Since all of your competitors emerge from a trade show with the same list of leads, the sales organization that can focus on the high priority leads immediately will have the first crack at the high priority opportunities. The sales rep going straight for the A leads will beat the rep working alphabetically every time but the trick is identifying who are the A leads.
 

Third is the data quality – it is not very clean. The lead data coming from a trade show is more complex, contains more errors and is in a different format than any of the other lead data generated by web based, email or direct mail campaigns. Each show employs a different lead retrieval system for collecting and storing lead data.
 

At the end of the show the trade show leads are commonly made available to the exhibitor on USB memory sticks or files downloadable from the show’s website. In addition, show organizers use different schemes and formats for storing the lead data. If a company exhibits at 15 shows annually they have a good chance of seeing a dozen different, yet equally challenging formats and many IT organizations are not staffed or motivated to effectively handle the data. Simply put, there is nothing simple about processing trade show leads.

For exhibiting companies trade shows are classic good news, bad news propositions. The good news is that you have the opportunity to set up a branch office in the middle of hundreds or even thousands of potential customers. The bad news is that your competitors have the same opportunity and the prospects will see them all. When the show is over the race for trade show sales is on and as was once said, "… winning isn't everything, It's the only thing!"[3]


[1] Events with 3,000 net square feet of exhibit space and 10 or more exhibiting companies

[2] Exhibit Surveys Inc. – Annual Trade Show TRENDS 2007

[3] Henry Russell ("Red") Sanders – UCLA Football coach 1956
 

Trade Show Scanner: Argument against the show system

Monday, August 10, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers

Trade Show ScannerWhen talking about trade show lead capture, exhibitors have two viable options: the trade show scanner offered by the show or third party trade show software. Let’s explore the argument against using the show provided system. 

While the trade show lead retrieval system provided at the show is the most commonly used trade show lead capture device, it has some drawbacks. The main drawbacks are customizability, scalability, and appearance. 

Customizability - The main argument against the trade show scanner is the limited custom features. Most offer 20 qualifiers, which is good, but what if you need more than that? Some of my clients have 20 products they want to record. That leaves no room for the real important qualifying info (budget, authority, need and time frame) for your trade show leads. Plus, sometimes you run into a system where they offer no qualifiers.  Trade show lead qualification is very important, and these systems can’t adequately meet many exhibitors’ needs. 

Scalability - If you exhibit at 15 shows per year, you could see 15 different lead retrieval systems with different qualification capabilities. Another issue is with each system you will receive your leads in a different file format.  This makes it very difficult to implement a solid and consistent lead management program. 

Appearance - When you have put a ton of work and resources into making your booth look perfect, the last thing you want to do is put a big ugly gray box on top of your counter. While some of the systems are small, you are ultimately at the mercy of the trade show scanner supplier. 

When you combine the limited custom features, scalability, and appearance of the show provided systems, you may want to look elsewhere for your trade show lead generation needs.  There are many different third party lead retrieval systems that have unlimited customizability and provide you a clean looking, consistent way to collect trade show leads. 

If you would like a free consultation to help you determine the best system for you, please click HERE.

Trade Show Scanner: Argument for the show system

Monday, August 10, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers

Trade Show ScannerWhen talking about trade show lead capture, exhibitors have two viable options: the trade show scanner offered by the show or third party trade show software. Let’s explore the argument for using the show provided system. 

The trade show lead retrieval system provided at the show is the most commonly used trade show lead capture device. 3 reasons they are so popular are: convenience, reliability, and cost. 
 

Convenience - When you use the show provided lead retrieval system, all you have to do is go to their desk and pick it up. You don’t have to set anything up; you plug it in and it works. Another convenience is the minimal booth training. These boxes are very simple to use. 

Reliability – These systems are normally built well and rarely break on you. If they do break during the show, you can take it back to the desk and get a new one. On the other hand, if you own a 3rd party lead retrieval software system to collect trade show leads and a reader breaks, there normally is no on site support unless you contracted it before the show.   

Cost - The show provided system is the cheapest lead retrieval system for most exhibitors. While some exhibitors can justify the cost of ownership for third party trade show software, most companies just don’t exhibit enough to make the numbers work. 
 

When you combine the convenience, reliability and cost of the show provided scanners, it is a pretty good deal as long as you use the custom qualifiers. You can get into trouble, however, if you only walk away from the show with a list of names and no trade show lead qualification information.

If you would like a free consultation to help you determine the best system for you, please click HERE.
 


Third Party Software: Argument against it

Monday, August 10, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers

When talking about trade show lead capture, exhibitors have two viable options: the trade show scanner offered by the show or third party trade show software. Let’s explore the argument against using a third party exhibitor lead retrieval system. 

There are 4 main arguments against third party lead retrieval systems: compatibility, resources, expense, and improving technology.
 

Compatibility - Third party lead retrieval systems can read most of the badges out there. Most isn’t all. Some companies encrypt their badge so these systems can’t read them. Some have proprietary badges that enable the exhibitor to use their own software as long as they rent the show box. While these shows are not common, they do exist.

Resources - While most of the third party systems are not horribly difficult to setup once you’ve been trained, there still is a setup process. You need to figure out who is providing the trade show scanner at the show (to make sure there are no compatibility issues), obtain a sample badge for setup, import your company logos, and type in your survey questions. While it doesn’t take too long to get the lead retrieval system setup, if you have 40 shows per year finding any free time can be difficult. 

Expense - Trade show software is more expensive than the systems provided onsite. If you exhibit at enough shows it makes sense on the surface, but when you put other costs into the equation you really have to use the system at a lot of shows to make it the same price as the show system. The sample badge I mentioned above normally doesn’t come free; companies normally charge $100-500 for it. The setup time isn’t a cost out of your budget, but your time comes at a price. Another cost is shipping the unit from show to show. When everything is factored in it is difficult to do enough shows to make the cost of these systems comparable to the cost of the trade show scanner offered by show management. 

Technology - The scanners offered by the shows have improved over the years. Using the show system to collect trade show leads is a very good option in some cases. Some companies even offer a lead retrieval software system that has many of the same custom features as the third party systems. Depending on your trade show lead qualification needs, some of the more basic systems can often get the job done as well. 


If you would like a free consultation to help you determine the best system for you, please click HERE.

Third Party Software: Argument for it

Monday, August 10, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers

When talking about trade show lead capture, exhibitors have two viable options: the trade show scanner offered by the show or third party trade show software. Let’s explore the argument for using a third party exhibitor lead retrieval system. 

Third party trade show lead retrieval solutions are software based and normally run on a laptop or a handheld device (they can also run on tablets, kiosks and other PC based computers). They vary in capabilities, but for the most part they enable you to customize a survey with as many questions as you need, put your company or product logos on every screen and customize an export file format. They also can read just about any trade show badge out there. Some systems are available for purchase and some work on yearly license agreements. 

This all adds up to a system that you can use at just about every show, customize for perfect trade show lead qualification and create an export file that will be the same at every show. Having this data opens up a world of opportunities for trade show follow up. You can electronically fulfill information requests immediately, easily upload leads into your CRM with custom tabs for your qualification data and provide reports to management letting them know how the trade show leads were. Because this is a consistent process at every show, implementing a lead management system becomes much easier. No more typing in leads from paper or dealing with different formats from the different boxes you use at every show. 

While the sticker shock for these systems throws off a lot of exhibitors, if you sit down and crunch the numbers it can actually save you money. If you purchase a system it will eventually pay for itself (it’s just a matter of how many shows you do). For the systems you lease on yearly agreements, as long as you exhibit at enough shows it will either be the same price as the trade show lead retrieval system or cheaper. 

Even if you don’t exhibit at enough shows for the cost to be the same as the show system, these lead retrieval systems are also available for rent. While the rental price is normally more expensive than the show system, their capabilities are so far superior it’s worth it. In fact, because they are so different, it really doesn’t make sense to compare the cost of these systems vs. the cost of the show system. The question is: what is it worth to your organization to collect highly qualified trade show leads (vs. just the contact info you get from the show system). Ultimately, if you exhibit to collect trade show leads, you should be willing to pay a premium for your lead retrieval system.

If you would like a free consultation to help you determine the best system for you, please click HERE.

Trade Show Leads: Marketing vs. Sales (part 4)

Monday, August 10, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers

Post Show

After the show there are a number of different trade show lead management responsibilities. Here are some facets of a good lead management program and who takes care of each task.
 

Lead Cleanup – Depending on the trade show lead retrieval system used, there may be duplicates, bad swipes and just bad information in your lead file. Traditionally, the marketing department takes care of cleaning up the lead file before sending it off to sales

Lead Rating - Some companies implement a lead scoring system for proper lead rating. In this scenario, the sales department has to acutely define the different levels of rating and make sure they are in line with what is collected onsite. This technical process is usually outsourced to lead management solution experts, but can be taken care of internally by either the sales or marketing department. 

Sales Lead Distribution – Delivering the leads to the appropriate sales rep in a timely manner is vital to any lead management system. The sales lead distribution process really depends on internal systems in place and corporate structure. However, the sales lead distribution process is normally taken care of by either the sales or IT department.
 

All in all, the trade show lead generation and management process is not as simple as it seems. However, with thorough planning and preparation, you can implement a good lead management solution. If you don’t know quite where to start, we would be happy to give you a free consultation of your current process to give you some pointers.  For more information, please click HERE.

Trade Show Leads: Marketing vs. Sales (part 3)

Monday, August 10, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers

Onsite

Once onsite, it is up to the marketing department to train the booth staff on best trade show lead capture practices. The booth is traditionally staffed by sales representatives, so convincing them that proper trade show lead qualification will improve their trade show follow up process shouldn’t be too difficult. 

Next you need to make sure everyone in the booth knows how to use the lead retrieval system you have in your booth. If you hire outside staff to work in the booth, just instruct them on how to use the trade show scanner and stress the importance of recording as much information as possible (at the very least with the most promising leads). Another good onsite trade show strategy is giving a prize to the staff member that collects the most leads each day of the show. 

The last step is to take all of the leads and get them in the hands of your post show processing contacts. 

To go to step 4 (post show trade show leads responsibilities), please click HERE.

To return to step 2 (pre show trade show leads responsibilities please click HERE.

Trade Show Leads: Marketing vs. Sales (part 2)

Monday, August 10, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers

Pre Show

When thinking about collecting leads at a trade show, the main goal should be to collect as many qualified leads as possible. There is a lot of planning and training that goes into trade show lead qualification. 

The first task is figuring out what information you want to gather. It is imperative to involve both sales and marketing in this process. Once everyone agrees on what information to collect, it is up to marketing to figure out how to collect that information. 

Choosing the appropriate exhibitor lead retrieval system to use on site hinges on the amount of information you want to gather, and your budget constraints. If you only need to collect a little bit of information and you have severe budget constraints, you can use the show sponsored trade show scanner with custom qualifiers. If you need to collect a lot of very specific information, you will want to look into third party trade show software for lead collection. The third party trade show lead capture systems are more expensive, but provide very thorough and customizable qualification options. 

To go to part 3 (on site trade show leads responsibilities), please click HERE.

To go back to part 1 (introduction), please click HERE.


Trade Show Leads: Marketing vs. Sales (part 1)

Monday, August 10, 2009 by Kevin Ehlers

Every exhibitor has different goals for their trade show program. One common thread with almost every exhibitor is collecting qualified trade show leads.

I have a lot of managers as me where certain responsibilities should lie regarding trade show lead generation and management. When thinking about trade show leads, the responsibilities of marketing and sales seem fairly cut and dried. Marketing manages the show so they’re in charge of trade show lead capture and the sales department is in charge of the selling, so they take the leads after the show and handle trade show lead follow up. 

Unfortunately there are a number of details that fall somewhere in between departments that are imperative to a successful trade show strategy and increasing trade show ROI. This is the introduction to a series on the responsibilities of marketing and sales during pre-show planning, onsite execution and post trade show follow up in regards to trade show leads. 

To go to Part 2 (pre-show responsibilities), please click HERE.