Sixteen days ago, I was in Florida at Microsoft’s Convergence, watching with friends, clients and colleagues as the space shuttle began its fiery launch into orbit. Even with cloud cover, the shuttle launch was an amazing sight! Today the space shuttle landed, and that started me thinking about our marketing mission-critical items.
Kirsten and I flew back from Convergence to help the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce promote the upcoming Small Business Expo. Both of these events – the OC Mixer and Convergence – were a significant investment for the people exhibiting at the shows. If you were at these events, have you done your follow up?
Did you know 80% of tradeshow leads are never followed up on? That’s crazy! It’s like throwing away 80% of your marketing budget! I’ve had experiences where I’ve talked to people for 10 minutes because I’m EXTREMELY INTERESTED in what they’re selling – and the company STILL didn’t follow up. What’s up with that?
The problem is two-fold: First, there has to be an organized plan, set up in advance, that determines who will follow up and how. Email? Phone calls? Second, companies need to take notes and separate their prospects into stack-ranked leads – a simple A, B, or C scribbled on the back of a business card will do. To be effective at tradeshow and network marketing, you absolutely, positively MUST separate the hot prospects from the goodie grabbers. Your goodie grabbers might easily take up your offer to buy them a cup of coffee or a free lunch – further wasting your time and money while your hot prospects are wondering why you never called.
Take a cue from NASA and the space program. Prepare. Plan. Know what’s next. The phrase “Mission Critical” has become part of our business jargon, but it needs to part of our business reality. If marketing is mission-critical to your business, make sure you think through - and follow through on - your entire marketing strategy.
What are your tips for successful, timely tradeshow and networking event follow up? Do you have a business card scanner? How do you separate your message from the other 100 exhibitors? One of my personal favorite strategies is to send hand-written, snail-mail delivered cards to the A prospects.
Post your suggestions here!
Well said!!! And a good balance of high-touch (hand-written note) and high tech (business card scanner). I’ve used both, and would never leave home for a trade show without them. In fact, I’ll often take a supply of note cards on the road, just to stay ahead of the curve. Those hand-written notes are more powerful today than ten years ago - everyone resorts to email now, so the handwritten notes can really make you stand out from the crowd.
James Watson
March 27th, 2008