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According to trade show research, 80% of leads gathered at trade shows are never followed up by the sales staff. You need more qualified information than a business card can provide. Is the lead ready to buy or just doing research? Do they have purchasing authority or are they only able to make suggestions? Consulting your lead qualification scorecard can provide the necessary short-list that warrants immediate follow-up.

The sooner you follow-up a lead, the better. The longer you wait, the colder the lead gets and the greater the chance that you’ll be forgotten or beaten by your competition. To follow-up when you return to the office may be too late in this instant gratification world. Following are three types of lead follow-up that will help your company stay fresh in the minds of potential customers.

Email
Emailing hot prospects the night of a trade show to say thank you, or to respond to product inquiries is a great first step in building a relationship. Kevin Ehlers suggests these five points when sending a follow-up email:

1.  Stand Out - Because email is such a standard form of communication, we all receive a lot of messages every day.  If you send a long-winded email, people may delete it and move on. Use eye-catching graphics and try to keep the most relevant parts of the message at the top so they show up in the preview pane.

2.  From/Subject - Use the From and Subject lines to brand your company. Even if they don’t read the whole message, your company still “registers” with the prospect.

3.  Timing - Sending the email directly after the show is imperative while your company is still fresh in your prospects’ minds. Keeping your name in front of them will help increase trade show sales. 

4.  Use a Call to Action - Present an offer or entice them to contact you in some way (15% off their first order or free ground shipping).

5.  Send a relevant message - If you use a lead scoring system, send a different message to the hot, warm and cold leads. If you use lead retrieval software, send them product specific messages based on their interest on the show room floor. Including their local sales rep’s contact information is a nice touch, too.

Mail
Alan B. Isacson offers this option for lead follow-up via mail: “Hot prospects cool quickly. One way to prevent them from becoming lukewarm is to send follow-up information during the show. Prior to the show, prepare product information packages at your office, and either leave them with an assistant or transport them to the show. At each day’s end, address your packages to those hot prospects and drop them in the mail. Or, forward the prospects’ addresses to your office assistant for immediate mailing. When your red-hot prospects return from the show, your information will be waiting on their desks.”

Phone
Contact by phone is a great method to follow-up hot leads, particularly if the prospect asked for a price quote or additional information. Whether that information is sent via email or traditional mail, a phone call to verify the information arrived is an excellent way to stay engaged with a prospect. “Did you receive the information?” “Can I answer any additional questions?” “Is this the solution you were looking for when we spoke at the trade show?” All of these questions tell the prospect that you care, and want to help them solve their problem.

If the prospect requested a price quote and a sample kit from three vendors and only one delivered, who do you think gets their business? Make sure to take notes on the lead card and follow-up as quickly as possible with what you promised via email, mail or phone. Rapid engagement and delivering on your word is key to turning a hot trade show lead into a long-term relationship.