Why are sales leads collected at tradeshow exhibits viewed as having very little real value by management and the sales staff? Why are 75% of tradeshow leads never followed up? Since most sales organizations are composed of aggressive, proactive, money motivated, commissioned sales people, it just doesn’t seem to make sense.

Gathering Sales Leads With Value at your Tradeshow

So, what is the biggest problem with tradeshow leads? In my experience: Tradeshow leads are difficult to follow up effectively.

If you consider the impersonal nature of taking leads at a show, it only makes sense. Attendees are given a magnetic striped card that is scanned when they come to the tradeshow display. This automatically provides an exhibitor with basic information about the prospect – name, title, company, address, email, phone etc. Most lead retrieval units also provide an opportunity to categorize the lead – “hot lead, contact immediately” or “send information only.” While this is an efficient means of collecting information at a tradeshow booth, it provides very little information to the salesperson who contacts the prospect after the show.

Your Leads are Human, not Barcodes – Custom Design your Tradeshow Lead Card

A much better way to assure effective follow-up is to design a lead card that asks a few targeted questions that will be important in post-tradeshow follow-up. When defining lead card questions, the best source of information is the people who will responsible for following up. Some ideas to consider:

• What products are you most interested in?
• Who are you currently purchasing this product from?
• What problems do you have with your current supplier?
• What could we do to earn your business?

Other helpful tips to keep in mind:

• Keep the tradeshow lead card as short as possible and consider providing the prospects with a premium item as a reward for taking time to answer your questions.
• Always swipe the attendee’s badge so that you have their basic information for follow-up.
• Energize your booth staff by offering a prize to the person who collects the most completed lead cards each day.

Try this at your next tradeshow booth and you will notice an immediate increase in results.

Need help with your trade show strategy? Let’s talk.