Following up leads after a Trade Show

It’s been a busy few weeks since the Bett Trade Show – did you manage to catch us there? As always, trade shows are hard work but rewarding as they give us the opportunity to meet potential new clients and to advertise our company to a new audience.  We’re hoping you saw the same levels of success that we did whilst you were there.

So what now?

If you are of the opinion that your new prospects are going to be so ‘wowed’ by your business that they will be banging your door down with orders, then I will let you down as lightly as possible, but you do need to know that the hard work has only just started! Following up the leads and contacts that were made at the Show is absolutely vital.  It takes time, commitment and a level of tenacity, but good follow up will eventually begin to show dividends.  The contacts you made at the show are a good starting point but you have to recognise that they will have gone back to their busy jobs and, even though they were seemed really keen to purchase, the idea will potentially be put on a back burner as more pressing matters take over their day to day workload.  It could also be the case that they are desperate to buy your goods or services but they are not in the position to make the ultimate decision.  Making contact with your new leads has to happen quickly so you need to be ready to invest further time and resources in order to make tat all-important conversion from prospect to customer.

The need to plan your follow up

First and foremost, you have to decide who is actually going to do the following up. Follow ups can be time consuming and not always easy so you need to make sure you have the right personnel in place to give the leads collected your full attention – will you task your sales department, marketing team or admin staff with this all-important job?

There also has to be a formalised plan in place rather than leads being followed on an ad hoc basis, and your success must be measured. Whilst the “80% of trade show leads are not followed up” rumour appears to be a myth, a study by Exhibitor Media revealed that a staggering 72% of businesses didn’t measure their conversion rate from trade shows, and if you don’t measure your success, how are you going to move your business forward?

Every business wants a good return on their original investment into any trade show, so it may well be worth considering outsourcing this follow up to a company that specialises in the education sector, a company that is a well-established business and training specialist, like Zuna. After all, it would be a shame to let those great leads go to waste, when they offer so much potential to help your business grow.