Event Technologies

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.