Trade show and expo organizers are constantly on the lookout for ways to improve their events for their customers. Lead retrieval, also commonly known as lead capture, is a way to retrieve contact details from the person that you've met in the event.
A common, low-tech way, to retrieve a lead is getting a business card [1]. Newer solutions such as using an app that scans QR codes to get the contact details are more widely used. Once the code is scanned, the lead appears on your phone and you can qualify it, make a comment and export it right away.
In this article we're going to showcase the benefits of using lead capture technology in trade shows and expos.
Who Should Use Lead Capture Apps
Without a doubt the group that will use these apps the most are the exhibitors. However, it's important to mention that organizers should not completely disregard the use of lead retrieval tools themselves. Here are the situations where these apps are useful for each group.
Exhibitors
- Scanning potential leads at their booth.
- Scanning each other at networking sessions.
- Capturing the leads during a break-out session.
Organizers
It's not uncommon for organizers to also want to sell products in their own fairs. For that reason, it's not uncommon to see the organizers scanning the leads themselves:
- In their own help booth.
- By wandering and chatting to people around the event.
- While participating in planned sessions.
The Benefits of Using Lead Retrieval in Expos
Having lead capture enabling tools in events helps all the parties involved, not just the exhibitors.The data collected in this way can greatly improve the event experience for everyone.
Benefits for Exhibitors
It's time spent talking to clients, not entering data
Entering data in excel or through surveys should be a thing of a past. Using an app lets the exhibitors have more time to talk to their clients, find out their needs and qualify them. This is especially relevant when the event is high-paced and you want to collect as many leads as possible.
It shows an objective ROI for the event
The leads collected in the app show an objective ROI for the event [2]. Exporting and sharing them afterwards is an easy way to show the results to the stakeholders. No more, counting of business cards or vaguely remembering who you spoke to. Have the data organized and ready to be transferred to any department in your company.
Instant follow-up
Having organized data allows you to follow up with your leads straight after the event. Lead response management survey [3] has shown that the sooner you reply to an interested lead the better the success rate of conversion. No more wasted time cleaning and categorizing the data after the event.
Benefits for Organizers
Revenue Generation
Selling lead capture app licenses is a great way for organizers to earn extra revenue from the event [4]. There are various models of pricing in the market - charging for each scan or charging a fee per event. In essence, it's another way to make organizing the fairs more efficient and profitable.
Data-Based Decisions
With the help of the data generated from lead capture you get the signals about the health of your event [5]. You see which exhibitors are performing the best and which locations are most popular. This allows you to proactively take actions, such as organize promotions to specific exhibitors, which are lacking traffic at that moment. Moreover, when organising future events, you can show objective statistics how much value the exhibitors are going to receive.
Summary
Lead retrieval solutions are a powerful way to make your events stand out. The time saved, value generated and having an objective ROI should help more businesses embrace it. We at Scantact believe that it's finally time to say goodbye to business cards.
References
- Kelly Lovell. Do you still need a business card?. Entrepreneur. Home of Entrepreneur magazine.
- Eventbrite. How to Measure Event ROI. Eventbrite Blog. Event Trends, Best Practices and More.
- Inside Sales. The Lead Response Management Study. Lead Response Management. Research by Dr. Oldroyd.
- Sheila Eugenio. 4 Ways Technology is Changing the Events Industry. Entrepreneur. Home of Entrepreneur magazine.
- Chris Einberg. 3 Hidden Adantages of Lead Retrieval for Event Organizers. Bartizan Blog. A trade show industry resource.