Take their answers and seek insight into sales trends, as they relate to shows.  Is there a bump in sales that can be attributed to show participation?  Are show-supported sales larger or more profitable?  Do specific trade shows support key stages or components of your selling cycle (e.g., obtaining new or highly-qualified leads, triggering more product demos, introducing new or upgraded products, extending a salesperson’s connectivity into prospect decision-makers and –influencers, etc.).

If you want – or need --  to trim the trade show list, this will help decide which ones should go.  And it will help launch your “maximize” effort.  But don’t stop there:  define the ROI data you want to generate from future trade shows, and enforce a process for identifying and collecting that data.  Make sure that – from now on – trade show decisions are based on an investment model with expected returns.

Once a Show is Chosen

Now, take action to maximize the ROI on the trade shows that made your list.  Too many companies focus their show planning on logistics coordination (getting the booth, materials and people to/from the show, making travel arrangements, etc.) and give short shrift to sales coordination.   There are an almost unlimited number of opportunities to maximize trade show results, before, during and after the show (for more, view our Featured Presentation "8 Great Tips for Optmizing Your Trade Show Performance").

Before:

• Clarify your show goals with the sales force (and others responsible for staffing your exhibit).  Be detailed in your expectations…down to individual sales or lead development goals, if necessary.

• Require salespeople to identify and contact key prospects – especially those in stages of the sales cycle most impacted by face-to-face interaction – and schedule an appointment on the show floor.

• If you are introducing new or upgraded products and services, schedule the release around a trade show.  Surveys of attendees shows that “seeing new products” is the largest single reason for attending trade shows.

• If your company does special events around trade shows – dinners, outings, etc. – tune the guest list for maximum potential.  Do not allow salespeople to fill the guest list with comfortable, but low-potential prospects.

• Use public relations activities to increase your pre-show and in-show visibility, and schedule meetings with key press contacts at the show to raise the chances of post-show coverage of your products and services.

• If senior management attends the show, maximize the value of their time with peer-to-peer contact among key prospects and customers, as well as selected media interviews (the media prefer senior management contacts to almost any other opportunity at a trade show).

• If you don’t have one, set up an easy-to-do process for capturing relevant information on leads so they can be followed up after the show.

• Enforce the lead-gathering process with your booth staff.  At one show we attended years ago, the exhibitor next to us had a magician in their booth.  He was so popular that the aisle was crowded with onlookers, most of whom we connected with.  However, the people who staffed that booth were so interested in the magician that they forgot his real purpose…we got more leads from him than they did.

• By nature, trade shows are chaotic, and it is easy to let assigned tasks and goals slide.  Make sure someone has the job of enforcing goals and keeping attention on the core purpose of the show.

• At the same time, be flexible.  Trade shows are characterized by unexpected opportunities, so make sure you have the staff on hand to support the high-value opportunity no one saw coming.

• Working a trade show floor is intense and exhausting, so schedule break time for all your staff.

After:

• Collect leads from everyone and begin follow-up activities immediately.  The Pursuit Group consultants often find stacks of trade show leads on (and under) the desks of sales and marketing managers…leads that were never followed.  This single item may be the biggest trade show money-waster in existence.

• Debrief every salesperson on their show experience and grade them against the goals set earlier.  While this may not help with their last show performance, it will on the next one.

• While you are debriefing, find out their general impressions of the show.  How well did the new products go over?  Any surprises from the competition?  What is the current industry buzz?  How did we compare with the competition?

• Keep a record of show results:  leads, advances, sales, qualifications, etc., and compare them to expectations for that show.  More than anything else, this will help the trade show budgeting process next year.

• Follow up with press contacts made at the show and provide additional information as needed.  This simple act often marks you as a reliable source and can generate more than your company’s share of press attention over the long haul.

These suggestions are arbitrary; we could have added another hundred or so under each list.  The important takeaway: go into trade shows with a plan.  Measure the right things.  And use what you learn to improve your trade show ROI every year.

The results will be fewer calls to justify trade show expenses, since they will now be proven investments.  You may even be asked “anywhere else we can go that will generate these kinds of results.”

Josh Stailey is Chief Strategy Officer and a founding partner of The Pursuit Group.  His 30-year career has focused on combining information and communications to build better and more sustainable prospect/customer relationships.  Much of his work has addressed mature industries that face dislocating change: electric and gas utilities, manufacturing, distribution, banking, insurance and other “traditional” industries with similar challenges.  Contact him at jstailey@thepursuitgroup.com.