Trade Show Tips

1. Set up a meeting with sales management. 
2. Ask them "What is the definition of a "sales ready" trade show lead?"
3. Create questions that you can record in the booth to qualify attendees.
4. Go back to sales and get their buy in.
5. Tell sales that they will only be receiving qualified leads from the trade shows.
6. Train your booth staff to ask these questions in the booth.
7. Train your booth staff to avoid SELLING in the booth.
8. Create a simple lead management system to collect this info and deliver it to sales.

Do you use an Internet connection at your trade shows?  If you are paying more than $299, then EventConnect can save you money.  Typically the internet connection that you can rent for a trade show costs between $1000 and $3000.  Event Technologies has put together a package that allows our customers to use the Verizon Broadband Wireless Network to provide internet access in your trade show booth.  This service was originally created to help our customers with their trade show lead retrieval and lead management programs, but is now available for use on it's own.  Most trade show strategies these days are focused around saving money, and here is a product that can save you thousands of dollars. 
The two most asked questions we have heard since releasing this product are:

(1) How is this different than plugging a Verizon or Sprint Modem into my computer?
The Answer: Our system allows you to network (wireless or wired) four (4) computers in your booth.  In addition, we include a Wilson Electronics antenna that improves your signal strength and the speed of the service.

(2) Are we allowed to use a service for internet access that is not provided by the trade show.

The Answer: Yes.  100%.  The show can't stop you from accessing the internet on your phone, or with a wireless modem on your computer, and this is no different.  Here is one of the many laws that guarantee that you can not be told how to access the internet at your trade shows: Telecommunications Act of 1996: 

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 explicitly prohibits telecommunications carriers from entering into exclusive contracts with commercial building owners or their agents for the provision of interstate telephony and internet services. The FCC ruling explains that exclusive contracts prove detrimental to the consumer, provide an unfair monopoly to the telecommunications carrier, and stifle innovation and choice with respect to communications technologies and providers. Additionally, the Act grants tenants in multiple tenant environments (including temporary leaseholders) the ability to place antennas one meter or less in diameter used to receive or transmit any fixed wireless service.

Additionally, nobody is allowed to block the cell signal at the exhibit hall because it is illegal and punishable by up to a year in prison and/or an $11,000 fine.  Additionally, can you imagine how angry attendees and exhibitors would be if their cell coverage was interfered with.  And lastly, it would be extremely irresponsible of the trade show management to interfere with potential 9-1-1 calls that may need to be placed during the show.
For more information, or to place an order click here.

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.  

2. 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.

3. 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.

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.

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.