How important is it to measure and communicate the results of your trade show program?  Here’s how essential measurement is to your success:

• “If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.”  - Robert Heinlein
• “What gets measured gets done, what gets measured and fed back gets done well, what gets rewarded gets repeated.”  - John E. Jones
• “In God we trust, all others bring data.”  - W. Edwards Deming

So yes, measurment is imporant.  That is why Skyline is honored to offer you an updated tool to help you measure your trade show program.

The 3rd version of the “Measurement Made Easy” Trade Show and Event Calculator CD program now gives you a place to record and calculate 20 different trade show metrics.  There are 5 measurements for before the show, to help you prepare, and 15 measurements for after the show, to help you measure how you did.

But like a bike with 20 gears, you may not need to use all of them.  So for this 3^rd edition, we highlighted the 7 metrics we feel are the most important:

Before The Show

1. Pre-Show Promotion

In today’s competitive trade show arena, you need to invest in promotions to get more attendees to cross from the aisle into your trade show booths.  This calculator helps you calculate your cost per contact from pre-show promotion, so you can see how much extra value promotions bring your program.

2. Attendance

Surprise: Your best shows may not be the biggest shows, but the shows that have the most people that fit your target market.  This calculator helps you delve deeper into each show’s audience to discover the shows that are the best value for you.

3. Estimated Budget

With this calculator you can quickly estimate for a show how much you might spend on key areas such as booth space, trade show displays, travel, show services, and more.  The estimates are based on industry average budget expenditures.

After The Show

4. Budget Versus Actual

So, how close to your estimated budget did you actually spend?  This calculator lets you compare what your actual costs to what your original estimates – and see where you had the biggest percent differences.

5. Cost Per Contact

This simple calculation lets you calculate how much each individual contact cost you after your entire show budget is added up.  Then you have a cost that you can compare against other ways to get face-to-face contacts.

6. Cost Per Lead

One of the most popular metrics, this calculator not only helps you calculate cost per lead, which is your total trade show exhibit program investment divided by your number of leads, but also track (and define) leads by quality, such as “A” leads, “B” leads, and “C” leads.

7.  Potential Return On Investment

While ROI is the ultimate measurement for most companies, it can take many months, if not years to close B2B leads with their longer selling cycle.  This gets you a viable number quicker, by considering lead counts, percent of sales-likely leads, average sales dollars, and exhibiting investment to get to a potential ROI.

There are also 13 more metrics you can measure, calculate, record, and report with this updated Measurement Made Easy CD.  And as with previous versions, the program allows you to record your show data, then print reports for management.

We are grateful for Marketech for creating this program and allowing us to share it with you.

Measure and justify your trade show program with the newly updated Measurement Made Easy CD.  Click here to ask for your free copy of this program.

You’ve been asked the same question time and time again:  “What’s the ROI from our trade show program?”  You grit your teeth, take a deep breath, force a smile on your face, and answer, “I don’t know.”

Why not?  It might be because you can’t get your sales team to share which leads turned into sales with you.  Or because you don’t have a unified database that tracks it automatically.  Or because you simply don’t have time to chase it all down.

But it’s not rocket science to figure out your trade show ROI, just a lot of busy work (that you don’t have to do all by yourself).

Here’s the foolproof steps on measuring your trade show ROI:

1. Get Your Leads:  Gather up your list of trade show leads from each show.  If that’s too much to take a bite on, do the shows you really want to track first, like your expensive or largest shows. Put the list in Excel.  You’ll need the spreadsheet for extra columns and calculations.

2.  Get Your Customer List:  Somewhere in your company is a list of all your customers and what they bought.  It may be in a nice neat database, it may be the invoices in your accounting software, it may be in your warranty files.  But it’s out there.  Don’t have access to it?  Ask for it.  Get turned down?  Ask your boss to get you access.  Your boss will be pleased you are being proactive about both revenues and costs, and will help you get by the gatekeepers, or at least get the gatekeepers to work with you.

3.  Compare Leads To Customers:  Look up every company listed as a lead that visited your trade show booth to see if they are also in your customer database.  Are they there?  If yes, add in your leads Excel file a column that says “Bought” and mark them as Yes.  Then add a column and type in how much they spent.  Match them by eye, not by exact match, so if Company XYZ was the lead, but Company XYZ Inc. is the sale, you can match (using geography as your guide).  Does this sound like a lot of work?  Yes.  So if you don’t have the time, ask your boss for a temp.  You’ll either get the temp, or your boss will help you find someone on your staff that does have the time.

4.  Calculate ROI:  When you total up the sales you can attribute to the show, compare that to the cost to exhibit at the show.  So if your sales were $100,000 and your costs were $10,000, then you’ve got an ROI of $100,000/$10,000 = 10 to 1.  Now you have a yardstick to compare which shows to exhibit at and which ones to drop.  And you have a metric to compare trade shows to other marketing media.

5. Bonus #1: Tracking New / Repeat Business:  Keep track of the date of all sales from leads from the trade show.  Were they already a client before the show?  So you helped influence a repeat client.  Did they buy repeatedly after the show?  Then total up all those sales, not just the first one.  Did they buy for the first time after the show?  Then your trade show lead became a new client.

6. Bonus #2: Tracking Product/Segments: If your client database has the info readily available, you can also check out and record on your handy-dandy spreadsheet what products and services they bought.  Did they buy the new product you introduced at the show, or your popular existing products?  Do the products and clients fall into more than one market segment for you?  If so, see if the biggest segments were the ones you targeted at the show.  You may be surprised, and you may want to change your exhibit messaging and promotions.

So don’t despair if your sales team doesn’t report back to you what happens to each lead, or you don’t have a unified sales and marketing database that automatically calculates ROI for you.  I have used this method to find out the ROI from our own shows, with a lot of help and some time.  It gave us the insights we needed to not only eliminate poor performing shows, but also justify expanding our remaining shows and even alter our overall strategy.

It takes some work, but it’s so satisfying to finally really know.  Especially the next time you get asked, “What’s our trade show ROI?”

To help prove and justify the value of your trade show program, request the Measurement Made Easy CD. With 19 calculators and planning templates, this CD will help you make sound exhibiting decisions and report them to your internal team. Click here to get your free copy. 

Congrats — you’re no longer the trade show rookie.

You’ve trained your booth staffers to work the aisles.  You’ve asked for (and received) a trade show display with bold images and clear messaging.  And you know how to put together a trade show promotion that gets more people to your booth.

Been there, done that.  Now, you’re ready for something more.

So here are 6 advanced trade show strategies and tactics you can use that will stretch – and grow – your trade show program:

1.  Select Vertical Market Shows

All too often exhibitors can get caught up with doing their best in front of their competitors.  So they invest substantial time and capital in a large trade show booth at their main industry show.   And while plenty of potential customers can attend your big industry show, some, more savvy exhibitors have left that crowded battlefield in pursuit of only their very best prospects.  You can, too.  Find the shows, which may be smaller, where your best vertical market clients gather.  Once there, re-examine your whole approach.  Can you focus your exhibit graphics message and promotions to appeal more directly to that vertical market audience?  Do you have employees with greater expertise in that vertical market you can bring as booth staffers?  And is there more than one vertical market worth this extra effort?

2.  Exhibit At International Shows

It’s most likely that if you are reading this, you are an American.  (If you are not, pay no attention to this – you already are much more likely to exhibit internationally).  Over the last few years, there has been a surge in U.S. companies testing the waters overseas – especially since the GDP growth rate worldwide has been double the growth of the United States.  Exhibiting internationally is a worthwhile way to grow your business – and it’s definitely an advanced strategy.  You have to deal with customs (both the laws and the culture), time zone, language and currency differences, and starting over from scratch, since your company and products are probably unknown there.  If you want some help getting started, Skyline offers a free white paper called International Exhibiting – click here to get a copy.

3.  Set Appointments For Meetings In Your Booth

Exhibitors’ objectives progress through a sequence:  First they exhibit to get awareness of their company, brand and products, second they exhibit to get leads, and finally, they move up to exhibiting to get lengthy face time with their clients and best prospects.  Focusing on meetings requires a new way of thinking.  You have to see your trade show program not as an isolated marketing touch point, but as a key component in your selling cycle.  You have to work with your sales team to identify and entice known attendees to set aside considerable time to meet with you while they are at the show.  You need promotional activities that will resonate with people who already know you, and you want them to really come to your booth.  You need to bring higher-level employees who can advance the sale, and the people who your clients want to take time to see.  Your exhibit design changes, too, because you are more likely to add an element of hospitality.  This strategy leverages the face-to-face nature of trade shows to their fullest.

4.  Add Video and Interactive Technologies

Whether it’s a video on a monitor, flat screen, or an iPad, you can create more visual stopping power and give your staffers presentation and demo tools with video and interactive technologies.  Videos that are short, punchy, and have high production values get attention.  Exhibitors with highly technical products can grow into interactive technologies to help their staffers tell a detailed, consistent story, while keeping attendees more engaged.  The advent of touch screens and iPads make them even more appealing and user-friendly.  Creating content and sourcing these tools require a new skill set that many exhibit managers simply don’t have.  That doesn’t mean it can’t be done, just that they have to work with either their company’s ad agency, or go looking for vendor that has experience making videos especially for trade shows, and interactive technology that helps booth staffers be more convincing.  One tip: design your trade show exhibit with the technology in mind from the beginning, rather than trying to bolt on the tech after the fact.

5.  Tie Your Lead Gathering Closer To Your Company Database

You’ve gone beyond just gathering business cards from your trade show visitors – you get a scan from their show badge that adds some vital qualifying data, or even use your own lead cards to write down more information you gleaned while talking to them.  Now go even further, and tie your lead gathering tighter to your company’s sales and marketing CRM database.  Perhaps it’s getting the data file from the lead retrieval machine you rented from the show, and importing that right into your database.  Or it’s buying (rather than renting) your own lead retrieval machines that you ship to every show, which has a consistent lead format you define for easier importing into your CRM.  Or maybe even using laptops or iPads that, with Internet access in your booth, let staffers enter leads directly into your company database in real time.  That way you can prevent mistakes from bad handwriting, get a head start on reporting results, have a better chance at tying leads to sales, start fulfilling the leads before the show ends, and most importantly, forward your A-quality leads to the appropriate sales rep for immediate follow up.

6.  Measure More Of Your Trade Show Activities

Go beyond just counting leads, and even measuring the ROI of your overall trade show program, and use measurement on a more granular level to help decide how to actually improve your trade show program.  Count the qualified leads each booth staffer brings per hour, so you can decide who staffs the next show, and who stays home.  Measure the impact that major parts of your program give (such as promotions, presentations, interactive technology, and sponsorships) versus their costs, to better allocate your budget at future shows.  And if ROI is not your objective, find a way to measure your objective anyhow, like using surveys before and after a show to measure the brand impact your show program created.  Also, rather than looking at each measurement in isolation show by show, start comparing each show to one another, and at each show over the years.

Which strategy of these strategies is best for you?  Meet with your team and brainstorm which ones will garner the greatest boost for your efforts.   Then dive into these advanced strategies and tactics. You’ll increase your results, grow your skills, make yourself more valuable – and make your job more interesting!

If you’ve used these advanced strategies and tactics yourself, how did they work for you?  Are there other trade show strategies you graduated to once you’d mastered the basics?  Share your experiences with us in the comment box below.

Get more great ideas on advancing your trade show program with the What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper, in which over 170 exhibitors told what they were doing to improve their trade show results.  Click here to get your free copy.

Skyline hosted webinars called “What’s Working In Exhibiting” on July 13th and 14th, 2011.   Thank you so much for your participation and your questions about how to get the most of of trade shows, be it promotions, show selection, booth staffing, lead management, and more.

As promised, here is the pdf of the actual presentation content.  (If the pdf viewer is not loading on your browser, you can go to the actual pdf file by copying and pasting this URL into your browser window: skyline.com/images/webinars/WhatsWorking_July-13-2011_Webinar.pdf

During the seminar we offered several items.  If you did not attend or did not ask during the webinar, just click to request your copies:

• Measurement Made Easy CD computer program
• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits

Thanks again for attending!

Your boss, and especially your boss’s boss, want you to measure your trade show ROI.  But with your longer B2B sales cycle, you won’t know the sales generated from each show for months, maybe years.  And that’s assuming you can get access to the sales data in the first place.

So here are 5 things you can measure during and right after your show.  Things that matter.  Things that will help you not only justify your program, but drastically improve it.  So if and when you finally do get actual sales numbers, they’ll be worth measuring.

1. Qualified Leads Per Show

Chances are you are already counting the number of leads you get at each show.  For example, at the XYZ show you got 100 leads, at the ZYX show you got 200 leads, and so on.  Raw lead counts are a starting point, but you can go one step beyond.  Train your trade show booth staff to consistently rate each lead for quality.

While there are varying methods to qualified leads, here’s one you can use, or adapt to your own needs:

• “A” Quality Leads:  Have budget, authority, need, and a short time frame to purchase.
• “B” Quality Leads: Have authority and a future need, but no approved budget.  Or, have a need, but no authority or budget.
• “C” Quality Leads: Have authority, but no need or budget.

You can choose to compare only “A” quality lead counts from show to show, or “A” and “B” quality lead counts from show to show.  This one step alone will enable you to better judge the value of each show on your schedule.  And you’ll have a better metric to judge a show right immediately after it’s over.  You can even go the next step and compare the number of qualified leads per dollar spent per show.

With this metric in hand, you can decide which shows to expand in and which to cut back on.  And of course, this only matters if your main goal is lead generation.

2. Number of Leads Per Staffer

You may think you know who your best booth staffers are just by looking at them.  They’re your friendliest people, who can chat with anybody, right?  But during the show you’ll be too busy running around your trade show display to notice they’re actually just chatting up their fellow booth staffers, or ingratiating themselves to the top company brass.  Or worse, they are not able to convert visitors into leads, because they simply don’t know enough about your clients’ needs or your products.  So what do you do?

To determine which staffers are your real stars, count how many leads they took each day.  That means you have to include a spot on your lead cards for staffers to put their name or initials.  (And be careful about two staffers with the same initials!)  If you don’t use a lead card, you still need to find a method to identify who took each lead.  Want to measure even closer?  Calculate how many leads each staffer takes per hour they staffed.

I’ve seen staffers who looked like wallflowers, yet took 400% more leads than other, more sociable staffers.  If you count every staffer’s total leads, you will then know which highly productive staffers to bring back for future shows.  And make a huge difference in your results.

It’s good to check written leads very early in the show to ensure each staffer is at least writing their name or initials on them.  Otherwise, after the show you have to become a handwriting expert!

3. Completeness of Leads

You want more than just quantity, you want quality.  So check your leads during the show to see if each booth staffer is writing complete leads.  Find a booth staffer who is just writing their name on the lead card?  Take them aside and show them what’s missing: Lead quality level, comments about what the visitor’s main problems are and how your products solve them, and what the staffer promised the booth visitor they’d do next.

Help your staffer see that if they invest an extra couple of minutes recording what the client said and what they promised the attendee, your field sales person will know which leads are truly worth following up right away, and which to nurture over time.

You can measure the completeness of your leads starting an hour or two into the show.  And it will boost your results so they are worth measuring.

4. Qualified Leads Per Booth Staffer Per Hour Worked

If you have done #1, #2 and #3, now you can also readily calculate this.  It’s the number of “A” or “A” and “B” leads a staffer takes on average per hour they staff your booth. This is like the slugging percentage in baseball that combines batting average and number of extra base hits into one statistic.  When you find staffers that take an above-average number of qualified leads per hour, show after show, make sure they’re on your varsity traveling booth staff team!

5. Ratio of Leads Generated By A Promotion Compared To That Promotion’s Percent of Your Show Budget

Trade show attendees only visit about 5% of the exhibits at a show.  Promotions are your secret weapon in the battle against limited time and other exhibitors.  You need promotions that incent attendees to leave the aisle, enter your booth, and engage with you.  But there are nearly infinite choices, some good and some bad.

At one show we gave away a free trip to Hawaii – quite an investment – but while the mailer and trip cost 10% of our show budget, 60% of our leads either brought the pre-show mailer about the trip into the booth, or were stopped by the offer in the aisle.  Spend 10% more to get 60% more leads?  Any day.  Calculate this ratio with all your promotions, and you’ll figure out which promos to repeat, and which to leave in your desk drawer.  All you need to do is identify which leads were initiated by the promotion.

Your efforts to measure your trade show results don’t have to be held hostage to your long sales cycle or an inaccessible sales database.   These 5 measurements will help you make immediate improvements in your trade show performance.

This article originally appeared on www.tsnn.com within the Thought Leader Blogs section.

Get serious about measuring your results.  Get the Measurement Made Easy CD, which contains 19 calculators, including #1 above.  You put in the data, and it calculates, stores, and even prints reports of the results.  Yours free by clicking here.

Skyline hosted webinars called “What’s Working In Exhibiting” on January 12th and 13th, 2011.

A big thank you to all the attendees for their interaction during the events.  Both Bill Lauf, my co-presenter, and I were grateful for the number and quality of the attendee questions.  We may answer a few of those questions again as future posts in this blog.

As promised, here is the pdf of the actual presentation content.  Click on the blue “Fullscreen” link below to see it full size.

During the seminar we offered several items.  Click to request your copies:

• Measurement Made Easy CD, Trade Show and Event Calculator
• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits

Thanks again for attending!

Skyline provides a lot of free training to exhibitors.  The question is, is it worth it for you to follow our advice?

We wanted to know, so we asked hundreds of exhibitors.  They told us, yes, yes, overwhelmingly yes!

Here are just 18 of the more than a hundred responses from exhibitors relating how they’ve boosted their trade show marketing effectiveness with the free trade show training we provide.  We hope this has been your experience, too, or will be in the months and years ahead as you continue to sharpen your trade show marketing with us.

Skyline Trade Show Marketing Seminars:

Started in 1988, several thousand exhibitors annually attend Skyline trade show marketing seminars in dozens of cities all through the year, covering topics like overall exhibiting skills, booth staffing, exhibit design, and more.

1. “We doubled our response and at the same time cut our expenses at a national gathering. This followed a Skyline seminar.  I know this is what helped us increase our return.” – Tim Deveney, Christian Foundation for Children and Aging

2. “I went to a Skyline seminar when I first started as a Trade Show Coordinator. It gave me all the basic information I needed to understand how the whole game works and filled me up with enthusiasm for the job.” – Lisa A. Schwind, Eden Foods, Inc.

3. “I learned most of what I know about trade show marketing from Skyline seminars. They are great, thank you.” – M. Turner. Peoria County

4. “Your seminar on Trade Show marketing was excellent.  It had real world actionable advice, strategies and useful facts.  I incorporated everything I could that would apply to my firm’s situation.  End result is that we were able to shift resources and increase return on the events we attended.” – Richard Littledale

5. “You have proved to be a valuable asset to our company for many years and I’m very much looking forward to your next seminar.” – Blake Adams, Graphic Artist / Webmaster at MaxLite

Skyline Exhibiting Trends White Papers:

Skyline has commissioned or sponsored 10 trade show white papers over the last 5 years, providing detailed research on exhibiting trends and best practices in a variety of areas.

6. “I’ve used many of your white papers. This year, the number of leads we got was 35% higher than last year. The quality of leads was also much improved!” – Renee Staul, West Penn Wire

7. “White papers on why to exhibit and value of exhibiting have been incredibly helpful over the past few years to draw a bigger audience and generate traffic.   We appreciate this service and find there is great value in the materials.” – Mindy, US Digital

8. “I love the white papers and I went to a training seminar which was great too!  The expert advice is always wonderful to read.” – Jocelyn Sacco, UGL Unicco

Skyline Trade Show Tips Newsletter and Blog:

Skyline has published Skyline Trade Show Tips, a monthly e-newsletter, since 2004, and has accelerated the pace of ideas, insight, and inspiration in a companion blog since 2009.

9. “I am the show manager our annual buying show and I use your trade show tips in my magazine continually to enlighten our readers and exhibitors. Thank you and please keep up the good work.” – Caren Kelly, WRLA

10. “Your tips are great!!!  Keep it up the industry needs more vendors like Skyline!!!” – Chris, Contemporary Design

11. “Love the articles that make me think.” – Doug VanderWoude,  DCV Advisors

12. “Yes, all correspondence from you has been helpful.  I copy and paste some articles in our company newsletter for our Reps working the conferences.  Great information.” – Cindi Guillot, Pamlab, LLC

Combo Plate:  Skyline Seminars, Blog, Newsletters, White Papers and Books:

Many exhibitors have used multiple training resources Skyline provides to put together a better trade show marketing program.

13. “Thank you for putting on the seminars and giving out the workbooks. Sure makes my job much easier!  I have dog-eared copies of the Trade Show Marketing Idea Kit and the Maximize your Trade Show ROI binder.  I use these resources for every show.  Maybe this is why our trade show budget was increased this year!” – Lisa Peterson, Federal Heath

14. “I love the fact that you offer so much more than just your display and that you provide the confidence to venture into this unknown area for us.  We are still deciding how to get started to include sourcing out shows but I feel much better about the idea now that I have had some insight on the dos and don’ts.” – Bev Weber, Logistics International

15. “When I first started coordinating trade shows for our company I knew next to nothing about trade show planning. Thanks to Skyline training I now have nearly 50 successful trade shows under my belt.” – Harold White, Sy-Klone International

16. “We’ve certainly used a lot of Skyline resources (seminars, newsletters, etc.) to refine our approach. We’ve seen more success and have a professional exhibit because of Skyline.” – Sara A. Richards, EMC Insurance Companies

17. “We use the Skyline book in all new-employee training.” – Kathleen Arnold

18. “You have really helped us in our prep for the show, who to bring what to train and how to measure.  It gave us a real chance by having the right people in place to make the connection.” – Stephen Vannelli, The Lakeland Companies

To all the exhibitors that answered our survey, thank you so much for letting us know it’s working for you.  It’s truly gratifying to hear how our efforts have helped you become more successful at driving real business results at trade shows.  We realize that when you succeed we succeed together.

There were several other questions on the survey.  Most of the over 750 survey respondents also shared a trade show tips of their own, so look for more insights from your fellow exhibitors over the following months to continue getting ideas that help you improve your results.  Five survey takers won a new iPod Shuffle:

• Erin Eller of Gusmer Enterprises
• Jill Stevens of Little Caesars Pizza Kit Fundraising Program
• Tricia Smith of PCS Mobile
• Jenny Leichtfuss of Hoffmaster
• Lisa Jordan of Higher Ed Jobs

Congrats to the winners, and again, thank you for sharing your experiences and insights with our exhibiting community.

Our most popular white paper during the past year is What’s Working In Exhibiting, a 32-page guide to the best overall practices in exhibiting today.  Click here to get your free copy.

Here are 16 tips based on what I’ve learned as a veteran trade show manager who knows (and loves) working on both the client and vendor sides of the fence.

Before the Trade Show: Plan, Plan, Plan

1. Budget methodically:  Create a budget allocation worksheet for every show. Use it as a task-management checklist. If you don’t have a template, get one from your exhibit house.
2. Set objectives: One sure-fire approach is to align trade show goals with existing corporate goals. Make sure your objectives are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely).  Limit the number of goals to narrow your focus and improve chances for success.
3. Streamline logistics: Add hours to your day with logistics and inventory management software (check out www.ExhibitForce.com). Some exhibit companies provide this tool to customers for free.
4. Facilitate selling: Work closely with the sales team to find out what’s needed for in-booth appointments.  A private meeting area?  A photocopier?  A laptop with appointment-scheduling software?  Ship any necessary documents (e.g. contracts) and carry a thumb drive as backup.
5. Design simply: Your exhibit should boldly and clearly communicate who you are, what you sell and why prospects should buy from you.  The keys to attracting traffic and creating a lasting impression are to use eye-catching images and short, compelling messages.
6. Use lightweight materials: Everyone knows large, heavy items are costly to ship.  This is also true for your trade show exhibit.       If you’re still shipping a heavy dinosaur of an exhibit, calculate annual drayage, shipping and storage costs.  These costs are slashed by switching to lighter, modular materials and fabrics that pack into fewer, lighter crates.  Apply savings to additional shows or directly to the bottom line.
7. Go modular: Custom modular booths create a multifunctional pool of inventory that can be reconfigured into multiple shapes and sizes.  One booth can service many industries, divisions, product lines and footprints.
8. Leverage social media: Social media websites like Twitter, WordPress, Facebook and LinkedIn offer unbelievable potential to drive qualified booth attendance.  Start small – but start.
9. Design a standard lead form: A short, simple survey is all you need to prequalify leads.  The trick is to apply the same survey across the board.  Standard questions enable the ability to merge and sort data, analyze statistics and draw conclusions.
10. Manage lead distribution: Determine where the “leads list” will be stored, how and to whom leads will be distributed, and how they will be actioned.  With only 21 percent of trade show inquiries actually pursued (www.ceir.org), chances are your competitors are NOT following up – which is your golden opportunity.

At the Trade Show: Execute Well

11. Self-reflect: What are you doing right and wrong at trade shows?  Write down the top five things you do well and the five things you most need to improve.  Think back to the moments of frustration and insight you had during the course of the year and turn those insights into a plan.
12. Huddle every morning: An hour before the show, quarterback the pre-show staff meeting.  Be highly detailed; set realistic goals for the day.  Review key messages and talking points.  Institute a competition to reward staffers for the most leads collected (qualified leads, that is).  Collect cell phones and store them safely.
13. Huddle every afternoon: After the show, spend 10 minutes debriefing.  Distribute hot leads.  See what worked well (or poorly) during the day.  Announce the lead collection winner.  Identify necessary adjustments for the next day.
14. Ensure timely follow-up: If you collect e-mail addresses, use Web-based tools like Constant Contact or Exact Target to send thank you notes right from the show floor.  While personal contact by a salesperson is mandatory, be a brand ambassador and close the loop quickly.

After the Trade Show: Measure and React

15. Post-show report: Create a standard format.  Be diligent about completing a report for every show.  One client told us, “We write a show report after every event including photos, costs, attending staff, lead quantity, competitors, etc.  The report serves as next year’s plan and provides metrics for comparison.”
16. Measure performance: Many metrics can be measured: Media coverage, brand awareness, competitive activity.  What’s paramount, however, is filling the sales pipeline with qualified leads, of which a percentage will convert into revenue.  Obsess over results.  Adjust where you can.  If you don’t have a written trade show plan, develop one now (get help if necessary).  Lead management doesn’t have to be complicated or costly, and the rewards can be monumental.

While I certainly hope these tips enhance your company’s success, I also hope they improve your own quality of life at work, at home and on the road.

You can get almost 100 more exhibiting tips from fellow trade show marketers like you in the 32-page What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper. Click here to get your copy and learn more ways to improve your results and stretch your budget.

Do not underestimate the power of face-to-face marketing; it is not dead!  It is the key to new customer acquisition and increased customer loyalty.  

Recently, one of my clients more than doubled their leads from their previous year’s show!   How did they achieve this turnaround?  By spending the time planning and creating roadmap on the front end! 

And what does this roadmap look like? 

1.  Set measurable goals prior to the event.   Ask important questions such as:
   - What is the average revenue generated from one sale?
   - How many qualified leads need to be obtained for the event to be considered a success?
   - What does a successful show look like?
   - What are the key messages that need to be disseminated?

 

2. Integrate a direct marketing campaign tied to your event to create buzz and awareness.  Most attendees decide who they are going to visit prior to the event, not as they are walking the show.
   - Spend the time reaching out prior to the event via multiple mediums. 
        – Utilize social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
        – Create multiple touch points prior to the event with direct marketing (standard postcards and
        e-mails).
   - Provide a teaser or incentive. 
   - Create a compelling reason for attendees to come by your booth.

 

3. Design a trade show booth that matches those goals.  Cut out the clutter and create an environment that facilitates conversation and compels attendees to stick around for the full story. 
   Incorporate multiple tiers of messaging:
   - the beacon that can be seen across the hall.
   - the eye-level message drawing the attendee in as they walk down the aisle.
   - the in-your-face messaging that continues the story as the attendee enters the booth.
   - Decide what activities need to be held within the space to insure that your exhibit advances the experience and moves prospects through the space logically and effectively.

 

4. Utilize Edutainment (Google it – it’s a word!) within the exhibit space.  Incorporate entertainment that also educates attendees on your brand and offerings.  At-show entertainment should not only excite the audience into participation but tie in your overall show goals and objectives. 

 

5. Hire a trade show certified team to handle installation and logistics for your exhibit.  Overseeing freight, installation and dismantle, electrical, show orders, etc… takes up a lot of valuable time.  Let the people that work in this environment all day, every day handle Murphy’s Law on the trade show floor.  An installation alone can drain you and your team of the energy required to execute at the best of your ability on show opening day!

 

6. Do not forget the importance of human interaction.  Organize your team accordingly. 
   - Schedule certain team members to be crowd gatherers.  You know…those crazy members of your team that have never met a stranger, that are parties waiting to happen!  Send them out to chat people up and direct them to scheduled staff within the space. 
   - Take your team’s cell phones away!  OK that might be a little extreme but seriously, make sure your team is alert, not compromised with outside conversation so that they do not miss the opportunity all around them.

 

7. Be personable!  People are just that…people!  Talk to them, make a joke, start the conversation.  I was at a recent show with a broken foot and I had more people crack jokes about my dedication and share their absurd speculations as to how the injury occurred.  When the laughter subsided, their next question was …. “So what do you do?”  Now I am not recommending breaking members of your team’s leg to increase leads; however, it reminded me that laughter and personality break walls down quickly and open the floor up for more directed conversation.  People buy from people they like; invest in the conversation and strive to help increase attendees’ comfort levels.

 

8. Create a strategic method for follow up and tracking. 
   - Respond to your contacts with a thank you within a week of the closing of the event. 
   - People like to be recognized.  Send personal thank you notes, a complimentary gift, or a video email. 
   - Build your database; keep track of the attendee lists and information provided from the show!

 

Is all this effort worth it?  Just remember the very important questions you answered at the beginning of the process: How much is your average sale?  If you increase leads by 10%, 20%, or even 100%, that translates into how much additional revenue? 

It never ceases to amaze me how many opportunities are missed on the show floor but just as importantly how unprepared we often are at the opening of an event.  Unfortunately, lead scanners that telescope across the show floor scanning contact information from unsuspecting attendees without the requirement of social interaction have yet to be created.  Therefore, we must evaluate our current approaches and plan for our 3-5 day event opportunities accordingly!

You are investing many resources:  monetary, staff, and energy.  Don’t take chances with your marketing budget!  Create an experience that expands your brand footprint and provides memory markers for your attendees.  A well executed trade show roadmap will revolutionize your face-to-face marketing results!

 Find more ways to increase your trade show results! Click here to get your free 32-page What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper to give you insights into proven methods for boosting your results and stretching your budget.

If you are reading this article, chances are you actually don’t think trade shows don’t work. 

Why?  Because, as two show producers recently told me, it’s exhibitors who most need trade show training that avoid it, while good exhibitors seek training to keep sharpening their skills. 

Don’t get me wrong – I know trade shows take a lot of work, and the costs are high.  But trade shows get you face-to-face with qualified buyers for much less than the cost of direct selling — value you can’t get anywhere else. 

Those same two trade show producers also know trade shows work, because they witness the difference between unmotivated and successful exhibitors at their shows.  Traci Browne even took pictures.

But if you really do think trade shows don’t work, let me ask you six brutally tough questions.  And please listen to the questions, with the thought, “Those who truly listen are open to change.”  

1. How do you select the trade shows you exhibit at?

• A)  Even though you grumble that they aren’t as good as they used to be, you still have the same trade shows on your schedule, because that’s where your competitors are, and your absence would make you look bad.
• B)  You choose shows based on where your target market will be, and willingly readjust your show schedule and booth size based on the ROI from each show’s leads.

2. How do you choose your trade show booth staffers?

• A)  You bring your drinking buddies with you, so after standing around all day waiting for the show to end, you at least can go bar-hopping together.
• B)  You pick staffers that actually want to staff the booth, who are approachable, client-focused, with good product knowledge and a great attitude.

3.  How proactive are you at getting traffic into your booth?

• A)  You shouldn’t have to do anything special to get attendees to cross over from the aisle into your booth, because you already paid the show to deliver those interested buyers to you.
• B)  To transform trade show attendees into booth visitors, you sent intriguing pre-show promotions with valuable offers, designed your trade show display with bold, compelling graphics, and trained your booth staffers to engage visitors in the aisle.

4. How do you spend your time in the booth?

• A)  Because you already are so sure that trade shows are a waste of time, you spend your booth staffing shift on your laptop, smart phone, talking with your fellow booth staffers, or wandering away from your booth space.
• B)  You know trade shows deliver a quality audience, so to welcome them you stand smiling attentively on the edge of the aisle, ready to engage attendees who show some interest.

5. When you return from the show, where do your trade show leads go?

• A)  On a corner of your desk, because you’ve got to catch up on all that real work that was left waiting while you were at the show. 
• B)  Into the hands of an eager, pre-assigned team member, who already has the follow-up letter and fulfillment packets ready, and who will quickly enter the leads into your database and forward them to the appropriate sales people, who know they are accountable for following up and reporting the results.

6. What are the most valuable things you get out of trade shows?

• A)  The few leads that were in your territory, the time spent with your best customer, and dinners on the expense account.
• B)  Besides the big pile of sales leads for the team, you get to take the pulse of the industry, learn about new competitive products, and gain a better understanding of your customers.

If you selected mostly the B answers that describe proactive trade show marketing practices, and still think trade shows don’t work, then trade shows may actually be a poor marketing medium for your company. 

But if you answered mostly A’s, then perhaps you’ve realized that trade shows aren’t the problem. Maybe you will begin to consider that there are proven trade show methods that you’ve overlooked, and that it’s finally time to re-tool your trade show program.  And make trade shows work for you.

If you’d like to make trade shows work better for your company, then ask for your free copy of our 32-page white paper report, What’s Working In Trade Show Exhibiting.  It is filled with insights and proven methods of over 170 exhibitors.  Click here to get your copy.