Exhibition Leads – 7 Top Tips to Improve Leads:Sales Conversion rates

I was talking with an exhibition stand contractor some time ago and I couldn’t believe it when he told me that on several occasions over the years, when breaking down his clients’ stands after a major event, he had found all the visitors business cards – leads with the potential to turn into orders – left in the rubbish to be discarded! Can you believe it? Well it was true then and I’m pretty sure it still is today for some businesses although obviously not you.

You’ve just invested a great deal of time & money on a great exhibition and now the orders will start pouring in – or not. For every lead that you have gathered, business card, completed info request form, enquiry etc., your competitors will probably have gathered the same. Potential and existing customers are now making their decisions about which product/service they may like to purchase. To make that decision they will probably need to speak to the potential supplier – but which one? It may well be decided by the speed and professionalism of the follow up response. Make it your Company.

7 Tips to gain maximum conversions from leads to sales:

  1. Enter leads onto a database
  2. Prioritise leads into existing & potential customers
  3. Allocate who will handle the follow up for each lead
  4. Acknowledge & thank every lead within 3 days of the event.
    1. This can be by email or phone call according to priority.
    2. At this stage it doesn’t need to be the sales person responsible for that lead to call as this is an acknowledgement, so involve other members of staff.
  5. Plan the acknowledgement and, if possible, include a call to action – special offer or diarised appointment for sales person
  6. If there are more leads than can be acknowledged in that time-scale consider using an outsourced telemarketing company
  7. Measure the results

Make every event a great customer experience for your existing and potential customers, which will make more sales & profit for you.

Paul Clayton is a business growth management & training consultant. Paul specialises in business development,  creating high performance cultures and helping businesses to develop & implement successful business strategies to boost sales and improve profits.

www.healdi.co.uk