Tip #8 – Capture Leads.

A business card exchanged or scanned… A hand shaken... A person looked square in the eye… This is the goal every time, and achieving this goal is crucial. Making sure you have the resources to capture every lead will determine your success during and after AMTS 2011. Tip #10 will address following up on these leads, but first, you have to CATCH the leads. Do you have a system in place?

Lyris, a company specializing in email and online marketing, recently blogged some pros and cons of the most common lead capturing methods¹ which  are shared and expanded on in this marketing tip. As the blog reinforces, “What works for one company may not work for another. Analyze your business requirements, and select a trade show lead capture method that best meets your needs. Keep in mind that utilizing standard qualification questions will allow you to segment your leads by specific needs and interest levels.” Don’t just capture their contact information—capture it in a format that makes it easy to use and that holds any necessary information and insight that will help your sales force during post-show follow-up.

Collecting business cards when attendees stop to ask questions or enter a contest is the most common method. But while it’s fast and easy, it does not provide a way to ask qualifying questions, so you may find the quantity of captured leads is high, but the quality is low. You won’t know for sure if they are truly in the market for your product or just wanted to enter the contest. This method is best for those only interested in head count.

Asking prospects to complete a paper form is another way to gather leads. This gives you a way to jot down notes about your conversations with them as you talk or after they leave your booth, to help you when following up with them after the show. Staple their business card to the lead form to save time. The longer format also lets you add and tailor lead qualification questions in a way that meets your business needs. It’s recommended you use short questions and check boxes, and make sure you include and “opt-in” option for email communication.

Lead retrieval scanning devices are becoming more popular as costs come down. AMTS 2011 utilizes bar codes on badges, so renting a badge scanner and scanning the individual badges of each booth guest is a fast and efficient way to capture contact information, and then load directly into your CRM system.  Some levels of service offer pre-qualification questions, so you’re able to rate your leads more effectively. Check out your options and even reserve your unit online now at www.rcsreg.com/leads/amts2010es.

For those that attend multiple trade shows per year and have the resources, consider developing a trade-show -specific landing page to capture names and qualification information, pull it up on a laptop or kiosk at your booth, and have prospects enter their information directly. You can include an “opt-in” option for receiving email communications, and leads can be automatically loaded into your CRM system.  You’ll end up with more legible, efficient data entry, and mandatory qualifying question and answer sets can be enforced.

No matter what method you use, effectively capturing leads gives you the ability to provide accurate marketing metrics, rationalize future participation level in trade shows, and give your sales team a running start by providing them with qualified leads.

Want to learn more about how to work your booth the day of the show? Read Tip #9 - Position Yourself.

 SOURCES:

 1. http://lyrishq.lyris.com/index.php/Blog/The-Pros-Cons-of-Trade-Show-Lead-Capture.html