Exhibitions are one of the best marketing tactics for global B2B customers. Despite all the changes and global lockdowns during the past two years, nothing can really replace a face-to-face meeting, and there's nothing like an exhibition to meet many potential and existing customers, all in one place and in a short time.
The thirst for these encounters, both by clients and show visitors, was clearly visible from the massive number of attendees our customers' booths received in recent exhibits.
However, despite exhibitors' thrill at the show's success and movement in their individual pavilion, it is essential to remember that the work only starts here.
A successful exhibition is measured not by the number of people who visited your booth during the show but by your ability to form long-term relationships that will mature into transactions.
A Customer Relationship Tracking System
Monitoring the activities vis. a vis. Your customers is a necessary requirement for success. Without proper follow-up, exhibition lead collection means absolutely nothing. And by the way, having your CRM system is an essential tool, regardless of shows and exhibitions, but that would be discussed some other time...
Even if you were charming and the meeting in the pavilion was excellent... The potential clients visited dozens of pavilions within a few days. Chances they would remember you are slim. Sending a personal and precise email within a day or two after the show increases the chance that you and your products will be remembered. Suppose that email is part of an ongoing process, maintaining relevant communication, personifications, and consistency (easily handled thanks to a CRM system). In that case, the chance of a lead maturing to a customer is much higher.
Well, through adequately timed and phrased emails, as mentioned, nurturing leads and turning them into qualitative relationships, with no rush to try selling them anything.
A. First email:
The first email would thank the prospect for visiting the booth. An attached photo or video might remind them who you are and where you are from. It would be nice to take a selfie with the prospect at the end of a successful session and send it to them by email as a friendly reminder of the interaction you had.
B. Second email:
It should be scheduled for a few days after sending the first email and include a clear call-for-action (Unrelated to sales!!!). It should contain quality content relevant to the prospect's professional world and bear some relevance to your own.
C. It is advisable to carry on sending emails to prospects while monitoring the CRM system so that you won't be spamming them but will not open too large a gap between communications.
Those emails must continue providing relevant content to prospects, including subtle calls-for-action related to your products (such as: inviting them to visit your virtual showroom, asking them to download product information to help them with something, introducing new products, welcoming them to an online webinar, and so on).
1. Consistency. True. It has already been mentioned here. But, well, it cannot be stressed too many times. Cause, if there's no follow-up, whatever you invested in the exhibition itself, would deem irrelevant.
2. Keep it personal. Do not use template emails. It must feel special. Small nuances concerning personal lives, the company, your discussions during the show, would make all the difference, differentiate that particular client-to-be from hundreds of others.
3. Further to the above – Become their friends. Connect via social media, respond, engage, treat them as your friends and colleagues, not as mere leads. Chances are they would remember you better, and in the next stage, you just might increase the likelihood of being called to provide some sort of service.
