Lead Retrieval: Follow That Lead

For many years, the claim has been bandied about the tradeshow industry that the average exhibiting company does not follow up on 80 percent of its leads. It sounds counterproductive at the very least, if not preposterous, when reaching potential clients would appear to be the most important reason for exhibiting.

Why invest the time, money and manpower to exhibit at a show if only to let those leads, and potential revenue, fall through the cracks? Is there any truth to that 80-percent number, or could it be an exaggerated illustration of a generalized industry complaint?

“I’ve heard that number for years, decades even,” Trade Show Exhibitors Assn. President Stephen Schuldenfrei said, “and I’ve never been able to discover any science behind it. Frankly I don’t believe it’s that high in this day and age.”

In fact, Tradeshow Week was not able to locate any report or study from its own research arm, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research or any other industry organization stating that exhibitors do not follow up that percentage of leads.

Nevertheless, according to Genny Nelson, head of research at CEIR, it does remain an overall industry perception that exhibitors are not getting top grades when it comes to following up on leads.

“That’s always been a frustration in our industry,” CEIR President Doug Ducate said. “It’s the biggest complaint of attendees, that they asked for more information and never got it. It’s a major challenge.”

While there may be room for improvement, lead retrieval and follow-through is an imperfect science, as diverse and varied as the reasons why companies exhibit at tradeshows in the first place.

Companies often have different objectives for exhibiting and varying approaches to gathering, qualifying and following up on leads. Some companies may exhibit for brand presence purposes or the chance to engage in face-to-face contact with established customers, unconcerned about how many new leads they acquire. Other exhibitors may measure their success at a show by how many leads they collect, figuring the more the better.

“Some (companies) shoot for elephants and want one to five leads, and some rabbit hunt and gather as many as they can,” said Ron Mathews, Intl. Restaurant & Foodservice Show event director. “(However), solid follow-up is important to justify the return on investment and time.”

According to Kenneth Wells, Verizon Wireless associate director of enterprise data sales, his company’s goal is to follow up on every lead possible.

“We figure, if they’re (in our booth), they’re worth following up with,” he said. “It’s how we justify being in a show.”

Other exhibitors are more selective about which leads they pursue. To them, it’s quality, not quantity, that matters.

Sophia Danvers, a marketing manager with Cisco, said larger companies with a strong customer base can afford to be more discriminating about which leads they pursue.

“I think (the percentage you follow up on) depends on the quality of leads,” she said. “Only 30 to 40 percent might be actual prospects. You follow up on the ones that make sense.”

Though exhibiting companies have a right to their methods and philosophies when it comes to leads, overall attendee dissatisfaction on the subject persists.

Catersource Conference & Trade Show Conference Director Pauline Hoogmoed said she received poor attendee feedback about exhibitor follow-up after the 2007 show. Hoping to forge improvements before this year’s February show, Hoogmoed took a more active approach by sharing attendee feedback with exhibitors, encouraging the use of lead retrieval technology and stressing the importance of lead follow-up.

“The success of our show hinges on companies building relationships with our attendees,” she said. “The only thing we can do is try to give our vendors enough information about how to be successful at our show.”

Yet, tools and advice mean nothing if leads aren’t being properly qualified, according to Richard Erschik, president of Leads To Sales. Qualifying leads is the responsibility of the tradeshow marketing department, he said.

Still, Erschik added, he believes the issue of poor lead follow-up is a major problem that comes down to one thing: a disconnect between company marketing and sales.

Leads are not being properly qualified before being passed on to the sales departments, leaving salespeople to weed through non-prospect leads to find the good ones. That wastes time and slows the follow-up process, Erschik said.

“This problem creates an opportunity for marketing to blame sales and sales to blame marketing,” he added. “It’s marketing’s job to help prioritize the leads before they’re handed off to the sales department. Out of 100 leads, only 10 percent are worth the sales force’s efforts.”

Candy Adams, president of Tradeshow Consulting, said she also sees a disconnect, not just between sales and marketing, but in how a company prepares its marketing staff for the showfloor. Training booth staff to prequalify potential clients by asking them the right questions can quickly and easily separate the suspects from the prospects, she said.

“Companies don’t budget money to train people to get, qualify and follow up on leads,” Adams said. “In planning your budget for the show, you have to ask who’s going to follow up on the leads. Following up takes time.”

Michael Hughes, TSW associate publisher and director of research, also recognized the problem of how leads are handled during and after shows.

“Most exhibitors wing it at tradeshows,” he said. “They show up and hope for the best. There’s a disconnect between sales and marketing, and leads sometimes fall through those gaps.”

If ROI is an exhibitor’s reason for being on a tradeshow floor, then there’s work to be done when it comes to leads.

Show management can assist in lead retrieval, but it’s up to the exhibiting company to create a pre- and post-show game plan, work to bridge any gaps between its marketing and sales departments, and implement a comprehensive lead follow-up process that makes sense. Ultimately, it’s about qualifying, following up on and translating leads into sales.

“Exhibitors need to change their mentality,” said Kerry Talbot, director of events at Monster, “and they should leverage every opportunity. The show shouldn’t end after the last day.”