By: Richard Erschik
Wow. That’s a pretty harsh and broad brush statement.
Let me tone it down a bit by re-stating that tradeshow booth visitors often misrepresent themselves when they visit your booth. That better?
Yes, when you are capturing their information in the booth, booth visitors often misrepresent their buying authority, purchase intentions, and their budget availability. And they do so because a) they are protecting their ego and credibility; b) to get the freebie you let visitors (including non-prospects) walk away with from your booth. You know the ones. The pens, literature, tape measures, candy, mouse pads. Are you getting it?
I could go on and on about types of give always and how to use them. But that’s another story.
Case in point about booth visitors misrepresenting themselves illustrated below.
474 total leads were generated at a metalworking industry tradeshow.
281 of the leads were identified (in-booth) during the show as being follow-up worthy determined by booth staff and capture technology devices.
193 of the leads were later identified, after the show, in a telephone follow-up and qualification call to be follow-up worthy, based on 5 qualification questions.
When the 2-groups were compared, only 11% were the same people. In other words, only 11% of the leads that were determined in-booth to be qualified remained qualified when telephoned. In fact, some of those NOT determined to be qualified, in the booth, BECAME qualified when telephoned.
I’m sure you’ll agree that’s an interesting phenomenon. But the problem this is all creating is downstream. Downstream in the sales department where, if these non-prospects are not identified and removed from the leads you are sending to your sellers after the show for follow-up, they create 3 of the biggest problems related to tradeshow exhibiting today.
- When attempted sales follow up identifies these non-prospects, sales people develop a negative perception as to the value of all tradeshow leads. (Source: Human nature)
- 76% of Sales people view the value of tradeshow leads no better than a cold call (Source: www.ceir.org.)
- Less than 20% of tradeshow leads ever receive the follow up attention they deserve. Therefore, exhibitors miss valuable sales opportunities and tradeshow ROI and budget protection is difficult at best.
Continuing education is critical for exhibit managers today. Learning how to integrate lead capture, CRM’s and contact management software programs with what works in sales lead response management, to address and solve problems like those mentioned here, sets them apart in their career path. For more info, visit www.TradeshowLeadsToSales.com or E-mail RErschik@RichardErschik.com.
