The Importance of the Tradeshow Follow Up
The follow up from a trade show can be the difference between the life and death of an emerging company. Many times a business focuses on the low-hanging fruit of immediate hot sales instead of approaching sales and marketing with an integrated plan.
Three Tradeshow Sales Tips:
Speed Sells
Those who follow up timely sell timely
Educate Everyone
Influencers of the target market can be as valuable as immediate sales because they represent the business of the futur
Respect the Process
The trade show is just the beginning of a relationship. Maintain proper communication and respect the relationship by showing the contact he or she is valuable.
Tradeshow Follow Up Strategies
Thank Everyone
Immediately after the trade show thank everyone for attending your booth. Then, develop a contact strategy for how your office communicates with each new contact. The first three messages need to go out the week after the tradeshow ends. Set the expectation that you will follow up with a phone call the next week.
Phase 1 (Week 1)
Determine Medium
- White Paper
- Video Explanation
This will give our audience two dynamically different kinds of communication so they can acknowledge and embrace the medium they truly like rather than one we prefer. We also need to keep our first promise of timely follow up – followed up by our first follow through. Communicate, we deliver what we say. This is a very simple contract with our new found friends that we must keep.
Phase 2 (week 2)
Personal Touch
- Calls to Prospects and Suspects
- Handwritten Cards to Hot Prospects
People who attended the trade show have been out all last week just like you. Now that they have accepted your initial contact, you can assume permission to follow up with them the next week as well. You have made the commitment to follow up with them regularly, you must honor that commitment.
The fine art of the handwritten card will be a great compliment and attention getter to the prospect and suspects we are trying to convert into pipeline.
Key Performance Indicator
- Data Base Growth
- Meetings Booked
- Contracts to Prospects: “to book a meeting, to make a referral, to recommend to a client, to commit to telcon, to send information to a database, to introduce to a press connection
- Press Acquired “contracts committed to write, shoot video or send out on Ezine or blog.
