It’s happened to all of us. We have attended a large conference and had some great conversations, made some great contacts, come back with our pockets stuffed full of business cards—and then, when we return to the office and business as usual, the energy from those conversations fades, the business cards end up in the back of a drawer, and somehow we don’t manage to follow through on those contacts we made. Unfortunately, when we do this, we are not alone. It is estimated that 70% of leads are not followed through. That is an unacceptably high number, given the cost of exhibiting at a conference, which is why you need to utilize an electronic Lead Retrieval process which is tied to your customer relationship management system.
It’s imperative to consider this for your conference. The reason your exhibitors pay money to participate is new business. And, if exhibitors do not see a return in their marketing spend; they will not return.
When exhibit space itself costs thousands of dollars, and staffing the exhibit costs even more, your return on investment is critical, and lead retrievals are an excellent way to ensure that you beat that 30% lead success rate. The days of using business cards to track leads truly are behind us, with excellent lead capture systems available for both computers and smart phones.
Here are some reasons why you, as an exhibitor or association conference event organizer, need to make good use of such a system.
- Electronic information is easily captured. A quick scan of your contact’s convention badge bar code and all their information is entered into your computer system. With cloud backup, there’s no chance that data can be lost, unlike business cards which can easily fall out of a folder or off the back of an overcrowded desk.
- Scanned data is easily enhanced. You can choose from a number of standard qualifiers, such as “hot lead,” “send salesperson,” “send literature,” etc., and you can add your own special comments, such as “expressed particular interest in class Y.”
- You can focus on the contact, not on the data. Knowing you have the contact information electronically, you can focus on creating that human connection which is critical to successful follow through of any lead.
enSYNC’s Kiosk EventXpress and Badge Manager program provides that essential bar code for the lead retrieval process. In addition, our Badge Manager can be used for “controlled access” for continuing education tracking as well.
Contact us today with your questions and to learn more about how this program, and others, can enhance the conference experience for all attendees.