Successful exhibiting takes careful planning and involves a lot of hard work. There is so much to do in the lead up to your event it’s easy for the ‘point’ to sometimes get lost. The ‘point’ being to make money for your business, whether by direct sales or by heightening your brand’s awareness in the marketplace which, in order will create future marketing opportunities.
But how can you know if the show has been a success unless you can effectively evaluate the ROI for your business?
It is important to collect as much information as you can on the show-floor such as business cards, phone numbers, client names and company names. These should ideally all be collated into a database immediately, along with notes on each contact which will remind you of your meeting and your prospective client’s interests and engagement. ( it will also give you an ‘in’ when following up after the show)
The follow up immediately after the show is your optimum window to convert those prospective customers into a sale. Many people visit a trade show to gather information but are not necessarily ready to buy on the day. A follow up phone call or email could make the difference between trade show success or losing that prospect to another exhibitor who has been a little more aggressive in their post show follow ups.
Your evaluation process should probably focus on a shifting time scale such as feedback from your prospects within 1 week of the show / 1 month after show / 3 months after / 6 months etc. Many trade shows are annual events or even biennial so often visitors will attend with an outlook to buy sometime in the next year / 2 years.
Other than collecting contact details find out what the impact of the actual stand itself was. Make sure to de-brief all staff, even those hired for the event, to find out what the general reaction has been from visitors and passers-by. Was there one particular thing which caught the eye / attracted people to the stand. Was there one question asked more than others. Where did people stop and look. Were brochures picked up. All these points can offer valuable data to evaluate your ROI – and also re-evaluate before your next show to see what was successful & where you could improve. (A good idea would be to compile a questionnaire and get all your staff complete)
An overall evaluation of your trade show success should also consider how well organised the event itself was. Did the organisers deliver the promised amount of visitors and if so did you manage to attract your fair share and were they valuable contacts? Re-visit all the variables such as location of your stand, orientation of your stand, design and logistics. All these things can be adjusted in your favour for next time and contribute to an on-going successful exhibiting experience.