how to make your next trade show a success -  Part III

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Part III - after the show {follow-up, follow-up, follow-up]

    You just got back from your trade show. You're tired, your feet ache, and you have a pile of mail and a folder full of emails to go through.  You've got three back-to-back meetings to attend. Your boss wants to go over a new project. You've just worked Saturday AND Sunday, and you think you deserve some comp time. Your buddies are hanging around the coffee maker talking about the big game. You've got too much to do. You gave the prospects that you talked to at the show your business card and brochure, so you figure they'll call you when they're ready to order. You've done your job. Mission accomplished...
    Stop. Assume that your business card and the brochure are in a plastic bag along with business cards form 50 other companies. The plastic bag is lying on the floor in the corner of your prospect's office. He's in the same boat as you. He figures that he'll get to the plastic bag when he gets time, which turns out to be never. Six months later the entire contents of the bag go into the office recycling bin.
    I discovered early on in my trade show marketing career that I could double or triple my new customers from a trade show by doing just one thing... follow-up. Call your prospects, each and every one,  within three days of getting back to work. If you wrote a personal note on the back of each prospect's business card (you did, right?), you mention it and show that you remember him. Don't stop with just one call for each prospect. Call back again in two weeks, and then in a month. You aren't cold-calling because you already know your prospect. Follow-up is more work. But with all the work you've already invested in preparing for and going to your show, it is a complete waste to not finish the job.
So remember... follow-up, follow-up, follow-up!

back to Part II - at the show [qualify, qualify, qualify]

back to Part I - before the show [plan, plan, plan]

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