Go Meet Them

When you are in the lead retrieval technology business, and spend much of your day packaging and perfectly formatting SalesForce-compatible leads, it is only natural that you begin wondering where all those smoking hot leads are acquired.  Where do your clients round up all the good ones?  Are trade shows stuffed with business people looking to make huge purchases?

While my initial thinking was that this was good to be true, I did research and learned that trade shows really are attracting quality potential buyers. There are several reasons companies choose to exhibit at trade shows (brand recognition, industry visibility, testing new products, etc.), the main goal of most exhibitors is lead generation. The leads gathered at trade shows easily validate how much companies spend exhibiting because trade shows are generally packed with targeted, high-quality contacts.

Let’s look at five reasons to get out on the trade show floor and go meet decision makers. Of course, remember to use your Overpass app!

ONE:

45% of attendees only go to one trade show a year. Exhibiting at trade shows can give you extremely unique leads. Exhibiting at many trade shows could give you many unique leads.

TWO:

46% of attendees are executives or upper management.  These people are typically the hardest to reach through traditional marketing and sales methods, yet they are almost half of the attendees you pass by on the trade show floor!

THREE:

86% of event attendees have purchasing power.  Obviously the leads with purchasing ability are the ones you want to meet.  How convenient!  Since 1998, this statistic has stayed consistently within the 80th percentile, indicating that a steady stream of decision makers will keep coming to trade shows in the future.

FOUR:

On average, a company only has meaningful engagement with 52% of its potential trade show audience.  Exhibit Surveys, Inc. defines ‘meaningful engagement’ as “face-to-face interactions like talking to exhibit staff, viewing a demonstration, and/or requesting a follow up”.  While trade shows are already a strong driving force in sales, this shows that most exhibitors have the potential to nearly double the leads they currently generate!

FIVE:

Approximately, 50% of attendees intend to buy a product as a result of attending a trade show.  It’s much easier to sell to customers looking to buy.

There you have it! Now go out and meet your people…!

Resources: www.exhibitsurveys.com and Center for Exhibition Industry Research