1 reply to this topic

[DavidBlaise]

QUESTION: I'm attending an Expo that connects corporations with potential business and buyers and I'm a bit nervous.

Any suggestions or ideas on how to say the right thing, make good use of my time there and come out with some potential business?

ANSWER: Your main focus when attending an Expo or Trade Show should be coming out of there with as many qualified leads as possible, as the bulk of the money that you will make is in the follow up:

1. Qualify the people you meet, as you meet them. Try to determine which are the best prospects for you and gather their contact data including names, titles, company names, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, etc. Much of this information should be on their business cards, but if it's not, don't hesitate to ask for it. The more information you have, the more money the prospect is likely to be worth to you. If you don't have the info to follow up, the lead is worthless.

2. Make notes at the show that will allow you to remember any conversations you had with them. This will allow you to refresh your memory (and theirs), and pick up the dialog right where you left off when you each get back to your respective offices after the show.

3. Follow up immediately after the event (or maybe even from the event!) Send an email letting them know that you enjoyed meeting them. If you can reference something specific from a conversation you had with them, so much the better. They'll meet a lot of people at the show, and they'll forget most of them if they don't have any follow up contact. Your objective is to stand out in their minds and get them to remember you. Follow up your email with a phone call a day or two after the show to continue building rapport, diagnosing needs and advancing the dialogue.

Most people are TERRIBLE at follow-up after an Expo or trade show. In many cases, they are totally reactive, only responding to those who contact them. In other cases, they'll collect business cards, but forget who was who, who they talked to and what they talked to them about. They let hot leads go cold and sometimes attempt to follow up months later, long after the contact has completely forgotten about them.

All this add up to enormous opportunity for the people who do it right.

If you take the opposite approach and reach out to your prospects immediately and often, your new prospects will remember you and pretty much forget everyone else they met at the same show who failed to follow up.

[wagstwo]

David -

Thank you so much for posting this information. I recently gave a presentation through our local chamber that contained much of the same info.

I will be exhibiting in our local tradeshow in October, and admittedly, I have not been good with the after-show followup. :o My goal this year is to take better notes and put them in a place I can find after the show and followup. (I've been known to pack the notes with my exhibit items and not get back to it for a month or more!)

You may have just given me the validation I needed to achieve my goal!

Cathy :D