Event Technologies

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
 

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 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.

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 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 3^rd 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.
 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Working in your company’s trade show booth can be a tedious experience. Sometimes you are on your feet for 8 hours at a time, there are lulls in booth traffic, and you have the same conversation over and over. This makes it very difficult to motivate the booth staff. Below are some tips on how to keep your staff motivated to collect trade show leads.
 

Training – It is important to relay your company’s trade show strategies to the booth staff. It will not only help you achieve your goals, but it will also make the reps feel like part of the team.  

Properly staff the booth – If you have too many reps in the booth, there simply aren’t enough attendees to keep them all busy. This not only makes the reps bored, but it is very intimidating to attendees. It is better to have too many reps than to be understaffed, but if the show isn’t busy and you have reps standing around it’s better to cut some of the staff loose. Also, it’s important to rotate people in and out so they don’t get burned out. 

Establish goals – Establishing lead count goals for each rep can keep them engaged and focused on trade show lead generation. 

Hold a contest – Having a prize for the rep that collects the most trade show leads can spark a competition between the staff. You don’t have to break the bank here; a Starbucks gift card will usually do the trick. If you can get the reps to buy into the contest you will keep that trade show scanner beeping. 

Recognition – If you see a rep doing a good job, pull them aside and praise them. They will really appreciate it and will continue to work hard at the show. 
 

You spend months developing your trade show strategy. Make sure your staff is properly trained and motivated to see it through.  For more trade show advice, please click HERE.

Every time I go to a trade show with a client I see exhibitors with really nice giveaways. They want to increase traffic to their booth, and it works. These booths are normally packed with people wanting to be scanned so they have a shot at winning. Having a giveaway or promotion isn’t a bad idea; everyone wants to draw traffic to their booth. But if you do this you have to remember your ultimate goal: trade show ROI. 

Simply scanning everyone that comes by the booth only gives you a huge list of names. Case in point, I (a vendor) end up being one of those names. After these shows I receive a wide range of trade show lead follow up: post show mailers, emails and calls from sales reps. It’s all a huge waste of time, effort and resources because I am simply not a lead for these companies. I even tell them that as they scan my badge, but because they just keep scanning the conversation is never recorded. 

So what’s an exhibitor to do? If you have a popular giveaway, you will probably see a lot of traffic which makes trade show lead qualification at the first point of contact difficult (usually the information counter). What you can do is have a few different trade show lead retrieval systems throughout the booth. At the main counter, you can just have the trade show scanner offered by the show. This system will be for people coming up inquiring how to enter the contest. If you get a real prospect asking questions about your company, you can hand them off to a sales rep who will walk them around the booth, identify their needs and eventually scan them at another exhibitor lead retrieval system. At these other stations you will want to utilize either custom qualifiers with the show provided system or third party lead retrieval software. At the end of the show you can combine all of the leads to do the drawing. Then after the show you can send out only the qualified leads to the reps so they don’t waste their time on someone like me. For more trade show tips, please click HERE.

“How do I get my sales people to follow up on the trade show leads?” When I was at Exhibitor 2009 last spring, I heard this question repeatedly. I spoke with frustrated managers who put their heart and soul into trade show lead generation only to have the reps never follow up on the trade show leads. I suggested sitting down with the sales manager and getting down to the root of the problem. 

Usually, the reps will say that the trade show leads are no good. For the most part they are right; industry studies show that only 10-20% of trade show leads are actually ready for a sales call. So if you send out a list of 1,000 names you scanned at the show to the sales force, they will probably make a few calls and write the leads off as garbage. 

To combat this, ask the sales manager exactly what the sales department wants. If they need qualification information, make them define it precisely. If they only want the “hot” leads, ask them to categorize what a hot lead is. You can implement a lead management system that will ensure proper trade show lead qualification, lead rating, and sales lead distribution so the reps only receive the hot leads. This will give the sales reps no excuse for inadequate trade show lead follow up. Additionally, it will ultimately increase your trade show sales as well as your trade show ROI. If you would like to read a more in depth article on how to generate sales ready leads at trade shows, click HERE.

Most trade show managers cringe when they think of their company’s lead management system. It just gets worse when they think about improving it. Unfortunately there is no one way to handle trade show leads. Every company has different products, sales cycles, number of sales reps, CRM system, IT staff, marketing resources...well you get the idea. When faced with improving trade show lead management, forget about how you currently handle the leads. Instead write down the ideal trade show lead management solution. Start by answering these questions:

What information do you need to collect onsite for adequate trade show lead qualification?

Do the reps need to receive every lead, or just the leads ready for a sales call?

How quickly do you need to get the leads to the reps? 

Once you get these questions answered, you can determine what type of trade show lead retrieval system to use onsite. The rest all depends on those variable factors I mentioned earlier (CRM system, number of reps, resources, etc.). However, if you know what you ultimately want to accomplish there are lead management solutions available that can help you figure out how to accomplish your trade show goals. There are many trade show strategies that can vastly improve your trade show sales. If you would like us to evaluate your current lead management process for free, please click HERE.

Another suggestion: It’s ok to improve your process one step at a time. “Fixing” your current system most likely won’t happen overnight, so tweaking your trade show strategy for little improvements is better than sitting back and cringing at the thought of your current system.

Trade show lead generation is the reason most exhibitors go to their shows. Many companies struggle with adequate trade show lead qualification. Some ask too many questions, some too few and some just ask the wrong questions altogether. Proper lead qualification is a very important step in any lead management system. 

Most exhibitor lead retrieval systems offer standard lead qualifiers. These vary from show to show and system to system. The good news is most trade show scanners also offer custom qualifiers. They will give you 10 to 20 customized responses for each lead you collect. It is imperative for marketing and sales to work together on determining the qualifiers. Remember, these are sales leads so obtaining marketing driven responses is not the best trade show strategy here. Unfortunately, the sales department doesn’t always know what they want.

Think of the 10 to 20 custom qualifiers as responses to questions like: What is your timeframe to purchase? How much budget do you have for this project? I recommend starting with a set of BANT “questions” – Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe. This will give you a good place to begin the conversation and you can brainstorm with sales from there.  If you can implement a good trade show lead qualification process, you will be able to apply lead scoring, lead rating, improve sales lead distribution and ultimately increase trade show sales. For additional trade show advice, click HERE.

The cheapest and easiest trade show lead follow up method is sending a post show email. After successful trade show lead qualification with your preferred lead retrieval system it is fairly simple to put together a customized email for your trade show leads. The easiest way to do this is by using the mail merge feature available in Microsoft Word, a basic email program, or a web service. This will enable you to send a personalized message to each attendee. The message can be a simple thank you with a link to your website and corporate contact information. 

There are a number of more advanced trade show strategies that can help the sales process. If you use a trade show scanner with custom qualifiers or trade show lead retrieval software, you can implement a lead rating program. This will enable you to send a different email message to the A, B, and C leads. You can also send links to specific brochures requested onsite if you record that information during onsite trade show lead qualification.

There are email services out there that can track who opens the email, who clicks on which link, who wants to be removed from your list, and much more. When implemented across a few shows, using an email service can be a powerful lead management solution (notifying a sales rep that a prospect has opened your email 5 times is VERY helpful information). While the marketing department is a great resource to put together the correct email message, if you are short staffed you may want to hire an outside firm to write the email message for you. To implement some of the more advanced trade show lead follow up techniques, you may also want to talk to lead management consultants about a customized lead management program.  For additional trade show advice, click HERE.

If you own or consistently rent a third party lead retrieval system you have probably come across an encrypted badge. Many exhibitors use lead retrieval software to ensure proper trade show lead qualification as a part of their trade show lead management program. Since you have made such a large investment in implementing your lead management system, don’t sit back and let the show encrypt the badge on you. 

The bottom line here is the show organization chooses who the trade show scanner vendor is. It is the show organizer’s responsibility to ensure that you, their client, are happy. Much of the time show management isn’t aware that their badge is encrypted, so I recommend starting at the top. Call the manager of the show and express your displeasure with the decision to encrypt the badge. Ultimately, you have a system in place that works for you and the lead retrieval system vendor is making it impossible for you to accomplish your goals at the show. You are outraged that the organization is putting one of their vendor’s needs in front of yours.

Depending on your presence at the show, you may want to involve other exhibitors. If you don’t know who else uses trade show lead capture software, contact your trade show software vendor and they will be happy to help you (this is something they deal with constantly and are willing to fight for). This is a winnable battle if you start early enough. I’ve actually taken part in a number of successful campaigns where show management removed the badge encryption.       

The trade show lead management process does not end with the trade show scanner. Delivering hot trade show leads to your sales team immediately after the show will help boost your trade show ROI. Rapid trade show lead follow up is integral to a successful trade show strategy. Not only do the leads get colder with each day that passes, but every day you don’t call the lead is an opportunity for your competition to call. 

The first and easiest step is to send an email out to each lead. That will show the leads that you care about their needs and also keep your company name fresh in their minds. The content of the email can be a basic “thank you” message, or as complex as providing links to brochures the attendees requested onsite. 

The next step is to follow up on the good leads with a phone call. Your sales staff needs to contact the “hot” trade show leads within a week or so of the show. This means the sales lead distribution of the “hot” leads needs to happen within 1-3 business days of the last day of the exhibit. 

By sending an email and distributing the leads to sales immediately after the show, you will put your company in a better position to succeed. For additional useful trade show tips, click HERE.

 

In today’s economic climate, increasing trade show sales is as important as ever. While we can get very in depth on how to do this, I’d like to throw out a few quick trade show strategies that can help you close more deals from your trade show leads.

Trade Show Lead Qualification – Being face to face with prospects is the main benefit of exhibiting at a trade show. The conversations that take place on the show floor weed out the good leads from the bad. The challenge is recording that conversation. Just scanning their badge with an exhibitor lead retrieval system doesn’t cut it. You need to either have a paper lead form, use a trade show scanner with custom qualifiers, or use lead retrieval software.

Lead Rating – Once you have the trade show leads qualified you can use a lead scoring system to rate the leads (hot, warm or cold – A, B, or C, etc.). There is no need to waste the sales reps’ time with the cold leads, so only send out the good leads. This will keep the reps engaged in your program, save them time, allow them to put more energy into the quality leads and increase trade show ROI.

Sales Lead Distribution – With each day that passes, the trade show leads get colder and colder. You ideally want to get the leads to the reps within 2 or 3 days after the show. This gives the reps a week or so to contact all of their leads before they turn cold. Rapid sales lead distribution will increase your sales reps’ success rates.

Trade Show Lead Follow Up – As I just mentioned, the leads get cold quickly after a show. Trade show lead follow up needs to happen while the show (your company) is fresh in the prospect’s mind. Industry studies show that the leads are cold about 2 weeks after the show ends. A good idea is to send out an email immediately after the show to every lead saying “thank you.” This will keep your message fresh in their mind while you go through your lead rating and distribution processes.
 

I hope this trade show advice will help you rethink your trade show strategy. While these trade show tips will take a little of your time to implement, they will reap rewards in the form of trade show ROI. For additional useful trade show tips, click HERE. 

 
Lead rating is a key component to trade show lead management.   We’ve found that when companies just scan leads and send them out, the sales department loses faith in the leads and they stop following up on them. One way to combat this is lead rating. Rating the leads effectively separates the good leads from the bad. When done properly, rating leads can increase the efficiency of your post show sales efforts by 70%. 

In order to implement a successful lead rating program, you first need a good trade show lead qualification process.  A good place to start with trade show lead qualification is using BANT criteria (Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe). When writing your qualifiers, it is important to involve both sales and marketing. Getting a clear definition of a hot vs. cold lead from sales is ultimately how you will rate the leads. 

Once you have the qualifiers set, you can use a trade show strategy called lead scoring. Lead scoring involves assigning a numerical value to each qualification response.   For example a “Contact Immediately” response might be worth 100 points while a “Contact in 6 Months” response could be worth 25 points. Once you have assigned a value to every response, it is time to create some mock leads to see if your lead rating system generates an accurate lead rating. To do this, you add up the total numerical value of all responses for each lead. Wherever the point total falls within a certain predefined range will determine the rating of the lead (for example Cold < 149 points, Warm 150-299 points, and Sales Ready > 300 points).

This can be a confusing process, but there is help out there. You can use lead scoring software, a home grown lead management process or a full service lead management solution. Lead management system companies can help you implement anything from a simple lead management solution to the most complex trade show lead generation and management system. The good news is that whatever steps you take to improve your trade show lead management program will help increase your trade show ROI. For additional useful trade show tips, click HERE.

At trade shows there are many different exhibitor lead retrieval options. While trade show lead capture is one of the most important aspects of exhibiting, there is no single right answer as to how your company should collect trade show leads. Exhibiting frequency, quantity of leads, type of show badge and trade show lead qualification requirements are a few things to think about when evaluating your trade show lead retrieval system options.

Below are a few trade show lead retrieval options with an explanation of what type of exhibitor will benefit from each.
 

I hope this trade show advice will help you rethink your trade show strategies. No matter which system you choose, remember that you are spending a lot of money to exhibit, and trade show lead generation is one of your main goals. Put some thought into how you are going to qualify each lead, and then deliver them to sales immediately after the show. For additional useful trade show tips, click HERE.