The Secret to Trade Show Lead Collection and Follow Up

I was recently reminded that there is a "secret" to a successful trade show lead management program. Last week, one of our customers exhibited at a show in Las Vegas. At this show, they had a huge booth, and typically collect between 300 and 400 leads. They are a multinational corporation, and just like every other exhibitor, they expect to collect a certain number of hot trade show leads, and to have those leads turn into sales after the event.

Dealing with the large amount of data that was generated at this show reminded me how such a simple goal can be very difficult to execute. As you can read about in the other blog entries, we have strategies for trade show lead collection and trade show lead management, so I won't go into that here. What I will say, (here is the secret) is that without someone to push the leads through the process after the show, you are not going to get the results you expect.  My advice is either hire someone to guide you through this process, or assign someone in your organization to accomplish this task.

Most companies that we talk to have trouble with all facets of the trade show lead generation and management process, and this is mainly due to a lack of planning and follow through. Bottom line is that if nobody is put in charge of this process, then the leads are not going to turn into sales on their own.