Exhibit of the Month:
Effective Lead Retrieval, Pt 1 – Qualifying Clients
You’ve invested time, money, and a fair amount of sweat to putting together a great exhibit program. You’ve plunked down the money for new brochures and maybe a promotional DVD. You’ve marketed and advertised your event-participation to within an inch of its life and now your booth is flooded with people who look like potential clients. But are they serious potential customers or just well dressed casual visitors? Are they the decision maker, or at least someone who can introduce you to the decision maker? Does this person need to be contacted immediately for help on an urgent project, or are they just looking ahead for possible options a year or two (or three) down the road?
The best method we know to answer questions like the above is to provide booth staff with a simple questionnaire. This form should help walk your booth staff through collecting pertinent information that can be used later to prioritize leads. Of course, your staff needs to be careful to insure that they collect accurate answers to all questions. Here are a few questions that we at MDS might have our booth staffers ask visitors:
What’s your involvement in the decision making process for your company’s exhibits program?
Does your company have an immediate need for its exhibits program?
What type of exhibit system, if any, does your company currently own – portable, modular, or custom?
Do you have a show budget in place?
Once these kinds of questions have been asked, the answers must be accurately recorded in a database that allows you to store and prioritize information on prospects. In a way, it really does not matter whether you use the most up-to-date database software or 3”x 5” cards. The important thing is to retain, assess, and distribute the lead information to your company’s sales team as quickly as possible.
Okay, so the good news is you’ve qualified and managed your leads properly; you know exactly who’s hot and who’s not. Now you must convince your sales team that your leads are as good as you say they are.
Next: Establishing Credibility….