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Is there anything better than a face-to-face conversation at a trade show? I admit I am a trade show junkie. I love the sound of hundreds of conversations happening at once on a convention floor.
It is remarkable how much gets discussed and decided when two people sit down in person to talk about what they need. Those conversations lead to scanned badges and a sales pipeline that runs for months. Treating people like people builds friendship and trust, and that has a real effect on the sales cycle.
So why do so many organizations leave the show and turn those human conversations into another entry in the lead system?
Personal follow-up turns a badge scan back into a conversation.
During show hours your company invested money and people in learning what each visitor needs. Then the show closes and every one of them becomes a "contact" who receives the same generic response. That feels cold, and it is not because your team does not care. It is because we have built processes and systems that replace the human touch points, and we let them.
Think about your own habits with a major purchase. When you visit a dealership to look at a new truck, the salesperson does not follow up with a form letter and a brochure. They call. They email. If they are any good, they talk about how this truck meets the needs you described while you were standing on the lot. Their follow-up is specific to you because generic does not sell trucks. It does not sell excavators either.
Capture more of what was actually said at the booth. Give your team an easy way to note the visitor's application, fleet, timeline and the problem they described. When the show closes, follow up with a personal note and focused content that addresses that conversation: the right case study, the right spec comparison, an introduction to the right dealer. Not a page of marketing speak with a beautiful photo.
Doing the same thing over and over produces the same results. If you want different results from your trade show investment, do something different with the follow-up.
We help equipment brands build content that makes personal follow-up easy. Visit our ‣ page to learn more.