Focus Your Resources

by: Fred Tremblay

I have seen a number of discussion groups and blogs lately centered on the topics of lead retrieval and follow-up. When the subject includes lead retrieval I immediately assume the audience is trade show managers. Trade show managers execute the lead collection (by ordering the lead scanner), but this is where their responsibility typically stops. They are usually not missioned with lead follow-up. In most organizations marketing and sales have this responsibility and there are a number of reasons why it does not get done in a timely manner including the following:

• Trade shows don’t happen every day so the required systems and procedures are not always in place or get “rusty”
• Sales reps don’t want to leave their pipeline of qualified leads to cold call into a bunch of unqualified contacts
• The data from each show is different and not everyone is equipped to handle the various formats

One solution is to establish a separate response function to address the leads immediately after the show rather than dumping them on the marketing department. I have interviewed a number of successful marketing executives who agree that trade show leads seem to get lost when merged in with other leads.

To get the most out of your trade show investment you must get to the “hot” prospects before your competitors, who all emerge from the event with the same list of leads. Being first requires an exhibitor to collect consistent qualification data to use with a prioritization methodology or rating system that points their follow-up efforts to the high priority leads. Without a rating on every lead, they all look the same.

Trade show follow-up probably should include an email, a personal validation call, and a direct mail piece to the high priority leads before ever sending them to sales. Contacting your leads with more than one method can increase the effectiveness of your trade show follow up and help insure that when the sales force is engaged they are focused on converting prospects to customers rather than cold calling into another list of names.

The Sales Reps Don't Follow Up on the Trade Show Leads

Marketing says that the sales reps don't follow-up on the trade show leads. The sales reps say that the leads from the trade shows are unqualified, and their time is better spent on the leads they get from other sources. Probably, both marketing and sales are right.

I think we can all agree that trade show leads are valuable. At any trade show, a certain percentage of the leads collected are "Sales Ready". Unfortunately, most exhibitors never take the time to figure what their sales people think is a "hot" lead. Most exhibitors assume that since the sales people are in the booth, they will qualify the leads. In the booth, this does not usually happen. Sales people do what they do best, SELL. When the badge is swiped, there is often little or no qualifying information collected.

After the show is over, these unqualified leads are handed off to the sales reps who see them as a waste of time. Some companies actually dump all these leads into the "Sales Database" and then complain when these leads don't turn into sales.

A growing trend for corporate marketing is to employ advanced lead management systems to implement a nurturing program for the leads that are not sales ready. Trade show leads that are "hot" can be sent directly to sales, but the other 70% to 90% of the leads should be emailed the monthly newsletter, invited to webinars, and informed of your new capabilities until they declare themselves to be ready to buy. If you take the time to develop this nurturing program, you will find that the leads you hand to sales will be much more appreciated than the list of names that is exported out of the show scanner.