Word on the Street by Kevin Carty
Following Up on Trade Show Leads
To be honest, I could almost just say “I was following up on leads” and you would get the gist of my week. But I will expand, while keeping it short, because I am still in full follow-up mode even this weekend.
First, I am going to gripe a bit. Like many of you, I attend a fair number of shows. Sorta comes with the job description. Although many are industry related, there are others I attend if I’m in the area or if I know we have built a display at that show. But I am going to pick on one show in particular . . . without naming it.
This show starts every year around the same time as EXHIBITOR. Sometimes even the same week. That was your only hint! And I love this show. Lots of cool new products, ideas, etc. For the past several years, I have walked the show for one or two days. And let me clarify, I’m not picking on the show, but the exhibitors at the show.
Now, whenever you exhibit, there are a lot of related expenses. Even with a 10 x 10 display, you have the cost of the booth space, the flooring, the exhibit, the staff expense, and transportation to name a few. The bottom line is this — it is a significant investment, and one that goes up exponentially as you increase the size of your booth space.
So here is my gripe . . . How is it that I received a brochure and letter from a company that scanned my badge at the 2009 show in October (nearly 7 months AFTER the SHOW)? Now that is an extreme, but I just can not fathom why anyone would not address all leads within at least two weeks of returning from a trade show. With each passing day, your ROI just shrinks and shrinks. BTW– I’ve yet to hear from anyone at this year’s show.
So, the front end of last week was two-fold: getting to all the emails and voice mails while I was in Las Vegas and addressing all the end-user leads. Meaning . . . getting them into the hot hands of our distributors. And I am proud to say that with the exception of one lead, every one of those end-users has been contacted by a Classic Distributor in their respective areas. To that, I say a BIG THANK YOU!
The latter part of the week was the beginning of a much longer lead follow-up process — new distributor leads. Those take longer because we do a little research before contacting them. If there’s a fit, we set-up web training and start the basic paperwork. We are well on our way and are excited about filling some gaps in the distributor network with several very professional companies that share our customer service and business philosophies.
That was my week. On Thursday I was questioned by a fellow Classic employee who asked, “Are you slammed this week because we haven’t even seen you”? Happily I said, “YEP…Slammed” 🙂
Hope the weekend is restful and good for you. Please feel free to share any comments.
Be well
–Kevin Carty
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