A lot of time and energy goes into preparing and executing a successful trade show. In order to make sure you’re investing your valuable time and energy in such a way that provides a return on your investment in the form of business growth, it is important to remember to follow up with sales leads after a trade show. For many people, following up is an afterthought. They invest all of their trade show time and energy into the trade show itself, spending hours on prepping presentations and money on trade show equipment like displays and tradeshow scanners to track of the leads they accumulate. A failure to devote resources to following up after a trade show, however, can ruin the investment made in the trade show itself.
For example, what good is a tradeshow scanner if you don’t have a proper strategy to follow up with the leads it records and stores? It is necessary to make your trade show follow-up strategy a priority in order to maximize the show’s positive effects on your business. The crux of following up with leads after a trade show is an effective email. Everyone understands the importance of making a good first impression at a trade show; alternatively, here are a few tips that can get you thinking about how to craft those crucial emails to leads collected at a trade show.
Personalize The Follow-Up Email
Many people send out a form follow-up email to all the leads they generate at a trade show; this is a tempting mistake. With so many leads, perhaps more than a business has ever had before; the possibility of contacting them all with a single click has a certain appeal. Casting a wide net like this, while it may seem efficient at the time, is a common mistake businesses make when it comes to following up after trade shows. The general rule with these emails is that you get out of each email what you put into it. The minimal effort required of a mass form letter yields minimal results. Think about it: your leads most likely saw many businesses with similar products and services to your own, especially if you displayed at an industry trade show. Your follow-up email, just like your trade show presentation, needs to stand out from the crowd. One way to do this is through personalization. There are many ways to personalize follow-up emails. Of course, one way is to include personal contact information that you received at the show related to the company name, the name of the representative you met with, their title, etc. Another way to personalize the email is to qualify the leads you receive by certain factors like company size, interest in your product, ordering timeline and others. This allows you to tailor your email to their specific needs, and increases the likelihood of a response.
Give Reminders
Another way to separate yourself from the pack through a follow-up email is by reminding the prospect what you went over at the trade show. Solipsism is the enemy of an effective post-trade show mindset. While you might think your business’s presentation, products and services are unforgettable, the reality is that there were many other businesses at the trade show thinking the same thing. Remember this and include some of the information you went over at the trade show, and maybe even some pictures of your products and your trade show set-up, in your follow-up email.
Be Specific
Your follow-up email should probably include a call to action. This call to action need not be a hard sell, but it needs to be specific and goal-oriented. Specificity means avoiding language like, “for more information.” Instead, include in your email a specific, actionable step the lead can take, such as watching a video. An email could include several possible actionable steps based on their interest level; these requests may also be personalized based on how you qualified/interacted with the prospect at the trade show. A follow-up email may seem simple, but a closer look reveals a complex skill that can be mastered for maximum business growth.