When was the last time you had a booth at an event? Did you work it to its fullest potential? Did you market your booth properly, and did you get all of the sales possible? Chances are you left some resources on the table.
Creating and implementing a successful strategy requires more than attending the show. It takes full involvement by everyone within your company to make it work. You need to:
Promote your company’s attendance at the show to motivate attendees to visit you at your booth, Have the right personnel on location to fully capture every potential lead, Train every exhibit worker to know exactly what they’re mission is, why they are there, and what they do with every contact they meet, Establish a lead generating system that captures the right information, and puts it into the proper pipeline, Support the show to its fullest extent, and require all exhibit personnel to be on the floor at all times, network at all possible functions, and be fully engaged with the entire event.
Without each of these key characteristics in place, companies would be better off not exhibiting at all. According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (ceir.org):
80% of the leads generated at a show or event are not followed-up; and Of the 20% of the leads that are followed-up, more than 50% have already made a purchase decision by the time they receive the follow-up.
Having a good solid plan is what separates most exhibiting companies from their competition. Make your people aware of why you are there, and what you want to accomplish. If you establish realistic goals upfront, there will be less chance of failure in the overall marketing strategy of attendance at major events.
