Lead Generation Techniques for Trade Shows and Exhibitions

The secret to a successful trade show or exhibition is to know exactly what you want to achieve. If lead generation is your main goal for attending a trade show, we have some key tips to help you generate as many leads as possible.

Lead generation is the act of stimulating interest amongst your target audience for a particular product or service you are selling. Trade shows, exhibitions or conferences are places you can collect a pool of contact details of people who are potentially interested in your product.

There are 7 lead generation key tips:

1. Have a lead generation plan: Don’t go in blind! Know in advance what you want to achieve and then create a game plan so you know how to make the most of the event.
2. Set goals and targets: Even if it’s your first trade show, don’t approach the opportunity as simply exploratory. Set goals, and go after them!
3. Prepare your image: Give some serious thought into how you will be presenting yourself. You want to make a good first impression and create an image that is on brand with how you sell and what you’re selling.
4. Focus: Small talk is great for rapport building, but when you’re at a tradeshow with a lot of people to talk to and a short amount of time to do it in, transition quickly from small talk to a focused conversation.
5. Build your credibility and authority: You want to make sure you demonstrate that you are capable and, credible, and an authority on what you are selling. People aren’t interested in buying from someone who doesn’t really know what they’re talking about.
6. Seamlessly collect data: Make it very easy to collect data, and have a plan in process for how you plan to organize it.
7. Follow up: Trade shows are a buzz of excitement, and those in attendance meet a lot of new people! Make sure to follow up, and be creative enough to help potential customers remember you.

Sales Pipeline Pitfalls

Once you build your sales pipeline, you can start to measure its performance. The figures you generate will provide you with the clarity that you need to make better decisions and ensure smarter execution of your ideas. If this gets neglected, it will have many negative consequences that could include a lower closing percentage and lost revenue. Considering what’s at stake, it’s important to ensure you’re getting the most benefit from your sales pipeline measurement. But how can you actually do this?

A good starting point is to avoid these four common sales pipeline pitfalls:

1. Only measuring your closing rate: 43% of salespeople only measure their closing rate! The close is the ultimate goal, but it’s not the only goal. Understand other crucial measurements in order to make the most of your pipeline software and get the most information possible.
2. Not differentiating between leads and qualified leads: Don’t be one of the 28% of people who do this. A poor lead means that you are selling to someone who isn’t in your ideal customer market, and will likely not end up benefiting from your services or end up buying your product.
3. Not measuring progression (and leakage) through the whole pipeline: Look at the pipeline as a whole. 26% of people neglect to do this crucial step, and they lose revenue and don’t understand all the information as a result.
4. Looking at your sales pipeline as a static entity: A pipeline isn’t static. It’s constantly changing, moving, and evolving. Be sure to keep up with it, unlike the 18% of people who ignore this pitfall.

Check out articles such as Sales Pipeline Revealed, and the ebook Pipeline Measurement and Sales Success. If you’re looking for a great tool to measure your sales pipeline, check out Pipeliner CRM.

This infographic accompanies a blog post – Strengthen Your Sales Forecast with Risk Scenarios (Not Probability) by Frank Donny of Marseli. Frank knows his stuff. After all, he is the creator of the Accurate Sales Forecasting App. He asserts that probability is not the right way to go when you are looking for the most accurate sales forecast. Probability and weighing just aren’t adequate on the front line.

The infographic illustrates:

• The four risk scenario categories
• The group process: Collect, Review, Meet
• Meeting outcomes and expectations

Download this actionable infographic and learn the process, step by step, that will give you the most accurate insights into your sales forecast, in the most simple and intuitive manner possible.

Put it on your wall…share it…admire it!

Let’s take a closer look at the four risk scenario categories. These include:

1. Not applicable: When there is no risk scenario assigned, this task is unlikely to be closeable in that forecast period.
2. Committed: This is the lowest amount of revenue expected for the time period. Calculate this by adding the revenue that you’ve already won, with the deals that you’ve gotten a verbal go ahead.
3. Likely: This is everything in the committed category, plus a few other deals that are close to closing, and are likely to be completed before the end of the time period.
4. Best case: This category is everything in the committed category, plus the deals that need a pretty significant amount of time to close.

Use these formulas to create a solid forecast. You can do this using:
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• Collect: Collect possible scenarios from educated others
• Review: Use the “four rights,” to understand who to engage
• Meet: Discuss with your colleagues

Download this actionable infographic for the most simple and intuitive way to learn the process. It will guide you, step by step, to the most accurate insights into your sales forecast.

Five Sales Rep Profiles

The Challenger Sale presents the findings of a survey of hundreds of frontline sales managers across 90 countries. This research revealed some interesting findings. To start with, the survey revealed that almost every B2B sales rep falls into one of five profiles.

Understanding your profile helps you understand yourself, and how to target your skills to be a better salesperson. This study also analyzed the percentage of salespeople that fall into each group, and how likely they are to close a sale when the environment is highly complex. If you find yourself in a category with a low percentage, having insight into how your personal traits might be altered to fit a profile type with a higher success rate.

1. The Hard Worker: The hard worker makes up 21% of salespeople, and they have a 10% chance of closing a sale in a high complexity environment.
2. The Relationship Builder: The relationship builder accounts for 20% of salespeople, and in a high complexity environment, they have only 4% chance of getting the deal.
3. The Challenger: This type of profile tips, the challenger, matches 27% of sales reps. They are the most likely to close a sale in a high complexity environment with a 54% success rate.
4. The Lone Wolf: Lone Wolves make up just 18% of a sales team, and are about 25% likely to close a sale in a high complexity environment.
5. The Problem Solver: Last and least! The problem solver is the rarest kind of profile, with only 14% of salespeople matching the profile of a problem solver. They aren’t very likely to close a sale in a high complexity environment with a 7% success rate.

Sales Reps: Do the Right Thing and Advice for Brand New Sales Reps are a few of SalesPOP!’s many articles that will be of great help to new and old sales reps alike!