By now you know that I am a research junkie – I love research!! That is one of the reason I hang around the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). This week they published a new report,The Cost Effectiveness of Exhibition Participation: Part 1. It is Report SM 37 and you can find it at www.ceir.org
Let me quote a portion of the findings:
Among other findings of the survey, it was determined that in order to make an initial face-to-face visit with a potential customer, companies can expect to incur the following costs:
An Exhibition Lead - $215
Without an Exhibition Lead – $1,039
Meeting a prospective customer at an exhibition versus the field saves an organization $824!
These are impressive numbers. I would challenge you to look at them closely and see how effective it can be to participate in an upcoming trade show.
A few blog posts ago, I had related that another finding from a recession report CEIR produced stated that key buyers are attending trade shows in this recession.
If you are prepared, trade shows can be a valuable, cost effective marketing function to fill your sales pipeline full of leads.
ROI Tool Kit webinars with Skip Cox,
Exhibit Surveys.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Trade shows are a very effective way of having face-to-face contact with customers. I do also think, however, that they can be a very expensive venture and it is crucial that they are worth while. I came across this site – http://www.audience-response.ca/about/ – that I’m definitely going to be looking into. They provide a system to engage your customers right at your booth, using polling and games. It seems to me like this has great potential to make sure the show is worth all the effort and finances that it takes.
Nowadays, there are many business owners who have discovered
the beauty of trade shows and how these events can help their
businesses. Information like this helps these business owners
know their options when attempting to improve their booths.
Dear, kind people! Please tell me what it means with/without exhibition lead?
I have read both parts of CEIR research. I think it’s interesting. I’m working in Moscow. And i can’t understand what it means exhibition lead and how they get this 1039 $. How this value is forming? What is the marketing meaning of this expression?
Best regards
Being in the trade show business, I can honestly say I know how effective they can be at getting exposure for your business and generating new customers and business partners.