Generate High Quality Trade Show Leads with These 10 Tips
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At the end of the day, when you shut down your trade show exhibit, the main thing you want to know is how many quality trade show leads you acquired.
There are many tips that can help you generate leads that have a higher quality at any trade show. Lead quality is an important indicator of how likely a prospect is to become a customer, and also to give the potential customer a rating according to the value of the lead as well.
Top 10 Tips for Trade Show Leads
1. Generating trade show leads requires marketing, and this needs to be viewed as an investment and analyzed periodically. If you are spending lots of money but getting few results then you need to change your strategies and techniques. Look at the return you are getting for this investment and then decide whether to change things up or not.
Renting trade show booths easily allows changes to be made to your exhibit booth.
Custom Trade Show Exhibit for GCA by the Design Factory
2. Make sure that all of your marketing methods and efforts provide helpful information to consumers. You could use a lot of gimmicks or typical trade show hype, but that is not what visitors are looking for. A freebie may make them stop by your area, but valuable information is more likely to turn them into a customer.
3. If you are using scantily clad women or free promotional items to generate trade show leads you may get many visitors but how many are actually interested in your products or services? You want to attract the right visitors, those who are actually interested in what you are offering and not those who only want something for free or who want to chat with a model.
4. An emphasis on quality over quantity is important with trade show leads. You can have 10,000 leads but if they are all low quality, you will probably end up with nothing. Be prepared to attract fewer people in order to attract visitors who are genuinely interested in your company and products, because the leads you generate will be a better quality.
5. Include sessions that provide information in your marketing strategy. During these sessions, provide visitors with information that they can use, not just information about what you can do for them. Allow questions during these sessions so you know what consumers want or need. This provides better leads and boosts your business reputation at the same time.
Speaking at an event immediately gives you name — and face — recognition, literally separating (and hopefully elevating) you from the hundreds of other vendors or service providers trying to get noticed.
Source: Jennifer Lonoff Schiff
6. Staying current on industry information and technology will help you generate better trade show leads because you can offer timely info and advice that visitors will appreciate. If you do not know about the latest happenings in your industry then visitors will be less likely to take you seriously and this could hurt your prospects.
7. Do some research before you try to generate trade show leads or even develop a marketing strategy. Find out what consumers want or need from you, and what is missing in your industry that people may be looking for. This will identify any gaps that you can fill, and help you draw more interest to your business and products.
8. Conduct a survey to gather data, and then use this data to draw in and engage people so you get quality trade show leads. Some may not be interested in the data you have compiled in your industry but these are probably low-level leads to begin with. People who would use your product will be more interested n the data that you can share.
9. It is easier to generate better trade show leads when consumers feel like your marketing and visuals provide help that they need or want. When they find you helpful they are likely to remember you, and this memory will be a positive one. If the individual finds that they need something your company has a higher chance of gaining their business.
10. Gimmicks may provide short-term traffic results but they may not always provide great trade show leads that end up as sales for your company. Make sure your booth has plenty to offer in addition to promotional items and gimmicks.
Always remember to follow up on any leads that are generated, otherwise you have wasted time, money, and your hard work for nothing.
Research has proven that the speed with which you follow up on leads can make a significant impact on sales.
Source: WomenInHospitality.com
What tips can you give others to help them generate better trade show leads?
