How to Follow-Up with B2B Leads from a Trade Show

Go After B2B Trade Show Leads While They’re Still Hot

So, you read our post about how to generate B2B trade show leads and now you have a ton of contacts from the big event you just attended. Now what?

If you want to convert those contacts into revenue, you need to follow-up ASAP. And there’s revenue to be had; 82% of trade show attendees have the power to recommend or make final purchasing decisions. But you can’t expect everyone you spoke with to take the next step on their own.

Whether someone’s ready to make a purchasing decision or needs more time to evaluate their options, a strategic trade show follow-up campaign can significantly improve your return on investment. Here are a few tips and recommendations to get you started.

Follow Up Before Anyone Else

According to a survey conducted by EXHIBITOR, 40% of trade show exhibitors follow-up between 3-5 days after the show. If you want to get a jump on your competitors, consider reaching out to your contacts within 48 hours after the event wraps up. Prospects may be more eager to talk immediately after the show while they still remember your solution, but more importantly, research tells us that between 35-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.

Uncover hot leads with a trade show follow-up email

Reaching out before anyone else can give you a leg up, but your success will depend on what you do with that advantage. This is when your leads are the warmest, while they are still imagining the vision you presented at the show, and it’s the best time to go further in the sales process.

A follow-up email might offer a premium piece of content, such as a white paper or demo, or another piece of content that carries similar value. Any responses to these offers (e.g., a white paper download, a demo request) will help you uncover the hottest leads so you can call them first.

But what if your contacts don’t open your email? Not all of them will, of course.  That is just the nature of email campaigns, but there are some things you can do to improve email open and response rates:

• Reference the specific show in the subject line and in the first paragraph.
• Avoid spam-trigger words like “free,” “offer,” and “limited-time” in the subject line.
• Address each contact individually by name.
• Keep your message short and to the point.
• Provide a clear call-to-action or next steps.

Connect on Social Media

Connecting with prospects on social media immediately after the trade show allows for a smoother transition when reaching out via email or a phone call. Social media is an open, low-pressure channel that feels more organic and less salesy, so this option may be good for nurturing prospects who didn’t seem as interested in your solution as others might have.

Social media is also a great way to connect with people who you might have missed at the show. On Twitter, look for people who used the event’s hashtag and see if any of their tweets from the event are related to a solution you offer or a business challenge you help clients overcome. These are great opportunities for you to connect with prospects you might have never spoken with otherwise.

Leverage What You Learned

No matter how you follow-up with trade show leads—email, social media, telephone call—one of the best things you can do to increase your conversion rates is leverage what you learned about each prospect at the event. You probably didn’t have a lengthy conversation with every contact in your trade show database, but the ones you did talk to (and remember) are worth sending personalized messages.

If you can speak more to the prospect’s pain points and business goals, and lay out a clearer vision of how your solution resolves those critical business issues, you will be more likely to spark their interest at this critical stage of the buyer’s journey.

Outsource Your Trade Show Follow-Up Campaign

If you have limited resources and lots of leads to follow up, Intelemark can help. Our agents will reach out to these new contacts immediately after the event, setting the table for your salespeople to come in and close the deal. Many of our clients utilize a trade show direct response follow-up campaign as a means of lead qualification.

Schedule a test campaign or contact us to learn more about outsourcing your trade show follow-up. We also specialize in trade show registration services that can help drive attendance to your booth, so you can make more connections.