Exhibition News October 2019 | Page 37

Feature “If an exhibitor is able to attract 300 or so people to their stand, then the question is do they have the resources to be able to follow up with them all afterwards?.” – Alison Church “I guess it’s all about setting objectives,” says Sherrard. “If, as an organiser, you allow exhibitors to walk into a hall thinking that they’re going to be walking away with 600 leads, they’re going to fail, and worse, they’ll be operating in a negative atmosphere. “If, though, you tell them that they can expect, say, five leads, then they will try and find another way to market themselves. We have to strike a balance. “As we’re all organisers here [at the roundtable event], rather than exhibitors, perhaps it’s worth reflecting on how to try and qualify how long it takes to get a lead onto your stand, and then working out how many leads you physically accommodate. “If your pitch stands at about 10 minutes, and the show is open for eight hours a day, you can manage six pitches each hour, that’s a maximum of 48 pitches on a typical show day – forget nipping to the loo or having lunch. “It’s quite sobering. If you have four people working your stand then we’re looking at 192 pitches. Fine, but if the exhibitor thinks that they are going to get 500 leads out of it, they’re going to fail, and we’re going to struggle to sell that next time.” Alison Church, marketing director at Easyfairs, says that an alternative, technology can help drive visitor-initiated lead capture. “I think there’s something to be said for the quality of the lead,” she says. “You can tell exhibitors that if they’re going Hell-for- leather then they can get 300 good quality leads, but there is technology out there that allows visitor-initiated lead capture. That could include non-qualified leads. It’s a balance: how are you going to get those leads, how are you going to qualify them, and what’s your follow-up?” Lead follow-up is a well-worn path of discussion among exhibition organisers, with the average exhibitor generally following up with only around 20% of leads. Church continues: “If an exhibitor is able to attract 300 or so people to their stand, then the question is do they have the resources to be able to follow up with them all afterwards? Exhibitors are famously poor for following up leads. I see this as a sales team responsibility, to set these objectives. “Crucially, this will form the base for a successful re-book campaign as you will both be able to determine their KPIs.” Marketing packages The table shared examples of the types of programmes they run to give exhibitors the best possible leg up when it comes to pre- show marketing. The marketing manual is a common tool provided by organisers which aspires to give exhibitors advice on how best to get their message out and outlines how to make use of the tools and technology at their disposal. However, there seems to be little in the way of post-show marketing, with an exhibitor’s message lost in the malaise of the post-show comedown and as attention turns to the next one. Surely post-show marketing offers great value? Katie Leslie, operations executive at Clarion Gaming, says it depends on the portfolio. “We run five trade shows and six conferences, so there isn’t really time between events, she says. “As our events have a similar exhibitor base, and the events are stacked, there isn’t really the bandwidth in personnel or the time to follow up Lori Hoinkes, Fresh Montgomery Juliet Trew, Informa Markets Alison Church, Easyfairs Michael Myburgh, Reed Exhibitions Lucy Green, ITE Group Katy Leslie, Clarion Gaming Stephanie Fleury, Clarion Gaming Martin Fullard, Representing Exhibition News Mike Sherrard, Mash Media Matt Coyne, GES Amy Jordan, GES October — 37