5 Ps of Trade Shows for The Highest ROI
If you have been involved with digital marketing and seen the indisputable success of platforms like Google, MailChimp, SEMRush, Leadfeeder, you might raise your eyebrows when you hear trade shows are highly effective for lead generation. But before you dismiss this not-so-sexy channel and move on to your next post, hear me out: Trade shows are outstanding opportunities for lead generation if executed well. Today I’ll go over the top five points you should focus on to get the highest ROI from your next trade show:
People Selection
Pre-show Outreach
Prospecting Everywhere
Presentation on The Stage
Pursuing Leads with Differentiation
People Selection: No matter which industry you’re in, you can find a hundred of trade shows relevant to you and another thousand that are just a waste of time. Before you decide on investing in any of the shows, make sure the attendee profile overlaps with your target persona. That should be the primary criteria when selecting/eliminating such events.
Secondly, choose the right people in the booth. Selecting technical staff that has the under-the-hood knowledge and answers tough questions is relatively straightforward. How about non-technical staff? Working the booth requires different skills as you might lose the prospect even after 30 seconds if she is not engaged. So while you need to bring folks who have perfect pitch and know the product/service inside-and-out, there are other essential criteria. Bring the person who has passion, is fully motivated and is hungry for leads. Don’t fly that guy who lacks the stamina to stay on full power throughout the days and nights of the show. Also, don’t go for your senior rep who does not believe in the value of trade shows or do not smile and welcome conversations with the “small fish.” Bring that hungry, energetic rep who understands that every lead counts.
People matter! For both attendees and booth staff: Choose Wisely!
Pre-show Outreach: Even if you have only three weeks before the trade show, it’s enough time to have outreach. The most important activity you should do before the show, outreach will complement your activities both in and outside the booth. Marketing and sales should work together to shortlist the targeted attendees once you obtain the list of participants or once you estimate the possible attendees. The moment you have the targeted attendees, you should start the outreach asap and keep hitting them until day 1 of the trade show. Some of these outbound efforts will result in an onsite meeting with your ideal prospect that is excellent. But here’s the good part, even if you don’t receive a positive answer from your efforts, at the least, you have created some awareness. The prospect will remember your brand in that crowded show floor and with a small welcoming gesture from your booth staff, there’s no need to sweat for small talk.
In one instance, my rep had been reaching out to a very high profile prospect, beginning four weeks before the show — but with no success. At the show, I happened to bump into that prospect in the after party and conversation started smoothly because he remembered the outreach before I even said a word. Just a week after that bar bump, we created a substantial sales opportunity.
Presentation on The Stage: If you’re like most of the readers of this series, you work in an early-stage startup where awareness is a challenge. You have a fancy booth with flashy swags, yet nobody stops by. Sound familiar? If those prospects don’t come to you, you should go to them. Go on stage and present, possibly multiple times. Oh, also bring a customer with you and convince her to tell how your product/service helped her team. Make her a star. During a two-day retail show we attended last year, we had an on-stage presentation with a very well known customer at the end of day one. Guess what, day two booth traffic increased approximately 35%. Moreover, the majority of day two leads mentioned to our customer’s presentation the day before.
It might be not easy to convince a customer to co-present with you. And it might also be expensive to book a speaking slot. Hey, at the end it pays off. Pays off very well!
Prospecting Everywhere: If you expect to meet all the prospects in your fancy booth, you’re missing the big chunk of the opportunities. Actually, booths are challenging for acquisition: prospects know you’re there to sell them something and tend to approach you with caution. However, you have more chance to naturally engage with the same individuals anywhere else during the show. I mean everywhere: during breakfast, in the aisle, hotel lobby, parking lot, parties. Don’t limit yourself to what you paid for on paper. Trade shows are much more than a 10’ x 10’ space with a backdrop.
I liken trade shows to battlefields. In a war, you cannot fight in just one front and expect to win. You have to go to that battlefield and fight in each and every zone. In one of the major travel shows last year, I was walking the floor and exploring exhibitors in their booths. One of the booths was manned by a product executive and following my quick pitch, he introduced me to his CEO. After a detailed discussion with the CEO, it turned out that they could have used our solution and — just like that — we had created a solid sales opportunity.
Pursuing Leads with Differentiation: Do you meet prospects and close them on the floor? Then you are a superstar! If not, you have to follow up with the prospects (as early as possible) after the show to re-engage. Here’s one tip, try to commit them while on the show floor: “You fly back to Atlanta this Friday? How about we continue our discussion 11 am, next Tuesday? Do you have your calendar on your phone?” If you couldn’t book the prospect there, you have to pursue her after the show. The challenge is that all of the other vendors are chasing the same person. The solution is to differentiate yourself. If you don’t want your message to be ignored, please refer to at least one personal discussion that you had with her in the show floor, preferably something funny: “Jess, I hope you returned on time to catch your daughter’s soccer game. Hopefully, the weather was fine — unlike the lunch we had in the conference” or “Jane, great chatting with you at the happy hour last week. Yes, I’m that guy with a weird accent from Patagonia!” You should also be succinct, educational, conversational and not pitchy. Instead of selling your cool HR management software, say something showing your research: ”Joe, congrats on your company’s acquisition of SmallCo. Certainly, you have more talents to manage now.”
Finally, you have to repeat this structural follow-up from multiple channels, i.e., email, InMail, calling her office, calling her mobile, calling her EA, and whatever novel approaches work for you.
People Selection
Pre-show Outreach
Prospecting Everywhere
Presentation on The Stage
Pursuing Leads with Differentiation
Follow these 5 Ps before your next trade show and you’ll be one of the most popular employees in the company.
