Today’s #expochat is on the topic of trade show lead follow-up. This is a subject which I have extensive knowledge of, due to owning a boutique call center, where one of our activities was scrubbing leads. I could write a book on this topic, but for today let me present some ideas as food for thought in preparation for #expochat.
Trade show lead follow-up has been a pesky problem for decades. I have pondered why a company would go through the effort and expense of exhibiting at a show with no follow-up plans in place. It has always seem such a waste of precious marketing dollars. However, it is done every week by companies who decide that this activity is just not that important.
The Lead Follow-up Problem Overall
Let’s look at companies overall approach to leads, before we narrow the scope to trade show leads. How are companies following-up all of their leads? The Sales Lead Management Association has conducted some research on this topic. One statistic I have used from their research shows that the majority of leads are never follow-up.
The Question: Does Your Company Qualify Leads for Sales?
- 58% No
- 42% Yes
Remember, these are ALL leads. So it is now wonder when we look at trade shows leads, they too can fall into the bucket of no follow-up.
BTW – I have seen many times the use of a statistic (80% of trade show leads are not followed-up) attributed to CEIR. That is not the case. CEIR is my client, and I have reviewed their research and that statistic is not in it. Now it could be entirely possible, in view of the Sales Lead Management Association statistic for some companies.
How to “fix” this problem?
We need to recognize that there are many companies who do follow-up on everyone! We just do not hear about these success stories.
In my opinion, the root of them problem is “accountability.” Senior management is just not requiring this information from their staff, for whatever reason. If there is a mandate from senior management, performance measures are normally in place to gauge progress.
Grassroots Efforts
Over the years, I have seen forward thinking exhibition managers tackled this issue with excellent results. Sometimes they have tied it into calculating a return of a show performance or they just want to streamlining their internal marketing/sales processes. It is this one individual who has changed senior management view point and now has them requesting performance measurements, including lead follow-up numbers. We should know them all and have their success documented. We can learn how they tuned the tide of indifference to a priority within their company. Those would be fascinating stories.
Getting Sales Involved before the Show
I have recommended to my clients who might have a sales issue, meaning their sales team is uninterested in trade show leads, is to have a key sales person in the planning process of the lead qualification form. Having their fingerprints all over the thinking process and the lead scoring parameters ensures they are more willing to follow-up. This star sales person can communicate to his/her peers the measures which are in place, so the teams knows their time is not being wasted with all of the non-leads.
Unqualified Leads – Sales Hates Them
What you don’t want is this cartoon!
Sales people HATE unqualified leads. So if there is a way that those leads could be scrubbed before they are handed off to sales it would increase the odds of quality follow-up.
Gathering Great Stories of Lead Follow-up Success
What we need are great examples of companies who do it right. We could share these stories with the exhibit managers and give them a road map for lead follow-up success. I bet there are thousands of untold stories out there. Could we use social media to uncover them? That is a point of discussion for this afternoon’s #expochat. Until then…
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Thank you for touching on this subject. The constant follow up to leads generated at a trade show can lead to great success. Having that list scrubbed amplifies those results! #great