Hot or Not? Keys to Gathering Qualified Leads at Trade Shows

Was your trade show a success because you have a pile of anonymous business cards to call? Or did you determine what lead qualifiers are important to your business prior to the show and have a short list of sales-ready leads to follow-up? Is it budget or immediacy of sale that is important to your business? Those and other qualifiers will help sales staff determine if the leads are sales-ready (hot) or require more nurturing (not).

How do you determine what is hot and what is not?

One method is to record trade show leads with the lead retrieval device (scanner) that records an attendee’s badge or card. Scanners usually have a set of customized codes the exhibitor can use to further qualify the lead. All of the information is then saved to a memory stick or can be printed out for later follow-up. These devices are a good start, but more and more attendees are limiting the amount of information on their badges or identity cards. It’s a good idea to contact the trade show prior to the event and determine how much information will be recorded before paying for scanner rental.

Another, more custom, method to qualify leads is offered by Event Technologies. Their method uses a custom score card to rank leads by individual qualifiers: Budget, Role, Need, Time frame, Action and Opportunity.

“To get the total score for each lead, you multiply the weight of the question by the value of the selected answer. You do this for each question, and then add up all the values to get your total score. This total score is compared to the rating scale to get the rating. An example of a rating scale is: 0-125 Cold, 126-299 Warm, and 300+ Hot.”

Once you determine your company’s criteria for qualifying leads, the score card can be a great method for determining “hot or not” trade show leads. The prospect’s business card or scanner data can also be attached to the score card for future reference. Trade show leads get cold quickly, so it’s important to follow-up with a thank you email and additional sales materials during or immediately after the show for your hottest leads.

If you’re holding a drawing or giving away any type of free gifts to generate booth traffic, it’s also important to separate that contact information from “hot” leads. If a prospect is interested in your products or services and not just the SWAG, hand them off to another sales person for more information about your company’s products and for the opportunity to qualify and record the lead. That way, post-show, you will have a list of qualified leads to follow-up that isn’t contaminated by people who are simply looking for a free gift.

Whatever method you use to qualify leads, it’s important to:
• determine your criteria before the event
• train your event staff to ask the right questions
• follow-up immediately before your competition

After the show, your sales staff will have clearly identified “hot” leads and a successful trade show with solid ROI.