Lead Retrieval for Exhibitors: Strategies for Trade Show Success

One of the best tips we can give would be to make lead retrieval for exhibitors a priority in the first place.

When you think of lead retrieval as a cog in a well-oiled marketing machine, you’ll begin to see that your other preferences (visibility, product launch, etc.) do not compete with lead retrieval, but complement it.

Understand Your Audience

Qualifying your leads is incredibly important.

This means going beyond the basic demographic questions you may ask of your booth visitors and digging deeper.

The idea here is to rank your leads in order of how likely they are to become customers. Maritz Global Events' lead retrieval programs let you edit this questionnaire at any time, free of charge.

You can also encourage the show organizer to add your question to their list of event registration questions, which will assist with your pre-show research.

Be sure to study the event prospectus beforehand to understand who will be in attendance.

Some show organizers even allow you to rent the delegate list, which will help exhibitors with pre-event contacting.

I strongly advise exhibitors to take advantage of all pre-show promotions that are on offer to facilitate lead retrieval for exhibitors.

While they usually have a cost associated with them, they usually promise a high ROI.

Beacons to Capture and Qualify Leads Wirelessly

Behavioral technology is another way you can capture and qualify leads that practically runs in the background.

When Bluetooth beacons are enabled, such as eventBit® by Maritz Global Events, exhibitors can track the traffic visiting their booth and determine the length of people's visits.

Those that stayed longer, naturally, are probably very interested and are highly-qualified leads!

This technology also allows sending alerts to your priority participants’ phones when they come near your booth.

Lead Retrieval App for Trade Shows

Another secret weapon for lead retrieval involves not necessarily “quicker” lead capture, but having more collection points.

Not all business happens at the booth.

Are you prepared to collect lead info in the hallways, at the networking cocktail, or elsewhere?

With a lead retrieval app for trade shows like Experient’s SWAP app, you can gain leads anywhere and immediately add them to your main list.

That’s versatility!

Immediate Automated Trade Show Follow-up

Exhibiting is hard.

You’re on your feet all day, talking to folks at different functions, and networking non-stop.

One misstep we see all too often is the inability to send a quick lead follow-up due to a lack of time.

Automation is so important in this case — some solutions allow you to submit product brochures, reminders and other helpful information to your new contacts even before they have left your booth!

Being a quick responder can separate you from your competition at a busy event.

Staying Top of Mind: A Crucial Part of Trade Show Lead Retrieval

There are lots of ways exhibitors can impress their booth visitors. It comes down to capturing their interest at critical points before, during and after the event. Automation is your friend during this busy time!

We can help you strategize and recommend solutions to make the most of your lead retrieval campaign. Talk to our team.

Editor’s Note: Rachel Stephan, Event Marketing Strategist, sensov/ event marketing contributed to this article.