Make the Most of Tradeshows with Pre- and Post-Show Calls

Tradeshows continue to be one of the most effective lead generation techniques for B2B. These events offer the type of face-to-face interactions that work so well in the B2B marketplace.

Purchasing a booth at a tradeshow is not cheap. That is why it is so important that you make sure that in addition to the investment in the actual tradeshow, you focus on what happens before and after the tradeshow to make it as successful as possible.

One of the best ways to ensure that your tradeshow is successful is to pinpoint the individuals you are most interested in speaking with and making sure to call them in advance. Connecting by phone increases the chances that you will have a meaningful interaction with these prospects at the tradeshow.

Likewise, calling those individuals you are most interested in connecting with following a tradeshow is imperative if you hope to build a relationship with these prospects. While you will obtain contact information from literally hundreds of individuals, there will likely only be a certain number of these contacts that you will consider to be promising leads.

While these people should be followed-up with right away, it is important not to discount the many others who stopped by your booth. While you can’t be sure that they will turn into legitimate leads, you will never know until you follow-up with them.

Calling leads before and after a tradeshow is essential to getting the best return on your tradeshow investment. The time, money and effort you put into making sure your tradeshow booth is well-attended won’t mean anything if you fail to connect with the prospects you hope to turn into customers.

Of course, trying to make pre- and post-show calls can be a daunting task. If you are attending a popular tradeshow or one where many of your targeted prospects are attending, that means a lot of calls.

The number of potential phone calls you want to make can grow substantially if your tradeshow booth was exceptionally successful. Most B2B marketers will tell you that if you want to meet with prospects, it will require about 100 phone calls to secure five meetings. If you were at an especially large tradeshow and received a great deal of traffic you can see how the number of appointment setting calls can be overwhelming.

Depending on the size of your sales team, it may make sense to consider outsourcing these calls. After all, if these leads are left too long they will go cold-making the attention you received at the tradeshow a waste of time and money.