Last updated on September 18, 2024
I walked the floor of the show repeatedly. I was there to speak to three people, and with my mission accomplished, I was killing time. I couldn’t help but notice that some vendors were there to sell services outside of the show. All of them were breaking the first rule of tradeshows, collect contact information.
All of the vendors had a booth set up with their cards and nicely printed brochures, and even samples of their products. But none had a way to collect information from the people visiting their booths. They were relying on the visitor to call them after the show. Essentially, they became earned traffic instead of owned traffic. In the marketing world, this is trading gold for copper.
A visitor to a tradeshow booth may be interested in the product, but they are probably not in the buying window. Without an immediate need, the buyer may not remember to call the vendor when the time comes to buy. After all, any competitive advantage or unique selling proposition will most likely have been long forgotten by the time the buyer reaches their car. The buyer might pull out the vendor’s card when it is time to buy, but this is not a highly probable sale.
Since the vendor already has a significant investment of time and money in doing the show, every visitor is a valuable lead. Collecting contact information allows the vendor to maintain a relationship with the potential buyer long after the show has ended.
But how can the vendors capture contact information? Just having contact cards in the booth is a start. Most people don’t fill them out, so it is common to have a giveaway or a discount available. A giveaway item does not have to be related to the business, and tech gadgets are always popular. If the vendor can give away one of its products or services, that is preferred. The cost of the giveaway is a fraction of the value of the contact information collected.
After collecting contact information from booth visitors is just the first step. Getting the most from these new leads requires an appropriate welcome sequence after adding these new leads to the CRM. That is a subject for another time.
If you want to discuss making the most of your leads, set up an appointment to see how WSI can help.
