Increase Leads with Pre-Trade Show Marketing

Last week I talked about target account profiling before a trade show to be best prepared for who you will be interacting with at the trade show. Once you have that list, you can begin to talk to those leads before the event.

Even if you have a great booth that draws in a ton of visitors, are they the visitors you want? Steve Miller, president of The Adventure of Trade Shows says “I don’t want everybody in my booth…I want the right people in my booth.”

Contact your target accounts before the show to ensure that the visits you get are the visits you want and that you are prepared for them.
Our market event management team has worked with many companies attending trade shows. They have helped put together a few tips for making the most out of them.

Get on the Attendee’s Radar

According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, the average trade show attendee arrives at the event with a list of 75% of the booths they would like to visit.

If you aren’t already on your lead’s radar you may be missing out on their visit. With trade shows having hundreds of exhibitors you can’t rely on your booth alone to capture their attention. Communicating before the event will get you on their radar. At the very least, when they scan the program they will recognize your company’s name.

Set Up a Meeting

Setting up a meeting over the phone is a great way to get a commitment from the lead to visit your booth. Since your tele-prospecting team was able to qualify them over the phone, the trade show meeting will be able to move forward in the sales process.

It costs 22% less to contact a buyer at a show than traditional field sales calls (CEIR).

When you pre-qualify the lead through tele-prospecting you can convey to the lead how your exhibit will interest them based on their specific needs. After that you can prepare to meet them at the trade show with a specific offer or demo of your product.

Getting as much information as possible and using it to enhance their trade show experience will greatly improve your chances of converting them into an opportunity.

Offer Something

In order to entice them to come to your booth, it’s important to always offer something. Aside from small trade show offerings, you should offer something exclusive to leads you speak to before the conference. Promising them something unique and possibly personalized is a surefire way to get them to your booth.

Since this offer is designed only for qualified leads you can make it something valuable. One of our clients showed their product demo on an iPad and then let the lead keep the iPad. This is a great example of providing something of value that the attendee will link back to your brand.

The CEIR has found you can boost your trade show lead counts by 33% with trade show promotions. Market event management through tele-prospecting is a great way to promote your trade show exhibit. Look forward to other information on how your team can use tele-prospecting in the rest of our tele-prospecting series.

Have any fun ideas for trade show offers or exhibits? Any questions on how you can make your next event spectacular? Let me know in the comments below!

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