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Best Practices for Trade Show Lead Management

Best Practices for Tradeshow Lead Management | ExhibitusA custom designed trade show exhibit is sure to generate a flood of prospects to your brand. The question quickly becomes what to do with all those leads. Many think lead management begins after the trade show, but it actually begins before the doors to the show floor open.

Having a robust lead management system is a key part of trade show ROI – communicating the total value of your company’s trade show investment to stakeholders.

Here are some best practices for managing trade show leads.

Before the Trade Show: Build Lead Management into the Exhibit Design

Factoring lead management into the design of your trade show exhibit is a critical part of preparing for a successful event. Consider how qualifying information and leads will be captured at the event during your initial discussions with your exhibit design team. For example, you can incorporate technology into your exhibit to make lead capture easier. You can do this by setting up a touch screen sign-in station, electronic guest book or contact form that can be filled out on a tablet. Your design team can make sure the technology flows with your exhibit so data entry  has little impact on the attendees’ experience.

During the Trade Show: Make Sure the Team is Ready

Successful lead management depends heavily on what your team does at your exhibit booth. Your team will most likely be a combination of event marketing and sales staff. Make sure each of them know how to steer qualified leads to salespeople by asking prospects the right questions when they arrive at your exhibit. After greeting them warmly, they should ask prospects about their company, budget, purchase time frame and position. They can then use the answers to separate general interest attendees from qualified leads. This ensures salespeople are following up with the most valuable prospects, as defined by the team.

After the Trade Show: Following Up on the Details

What happens after the show is just as important as what happens during the event. Encourage your salespeople to record details about each lead right away while the information is still fresh. What did they learn about the prospects’ wants and needs from interacting with them at your exhibit? Be sure to gather key details that prospects may have shared with team members who are not sales reps so opportunities don’t get lost in transition. Then make sure these details are added to your lead capture or CRM platform.

And remember to communicate the total value of your trade show investment to company leaders by reviewing ROI data. This includes sales produced by leads generated at the show, the cost savings achieved by salespeople interacting with numerous prospects at one location, and the value of strengthening relationships with existing clients.

Exhibitus is a custom design house with a dedicated Results Division that measures trade show ROI. Contact us today for innovative exhibit design and tools to measure what matters to your company.

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