Post by jeff.dworkin@ghostpoint.com
As “fall trade show season” wraps up, it is now time to follow-up with all those people whose cards you collected or badges you scanned. At one particular show this year, I was doing some research into a topic that was new to me, so I allowed my badge to be scanned by a number of vendors. What I quickly realized is that most of those companies have no idea of how to follow-up after a show.
A badge scan or a business card collected at a booth is not a Marketing Qualified Lead and should not be treated as such, that is, forwarded to a salesperson who is going to try and close a sale. I visited a lot of booths and spoke to a lot of people at that show. Assume I have no idea of who you are. Unless we had a real conversation in that booth and someone tagged me as a Qualified or Hot Lead and scheduled specific follow-up action I should be put into a nurture campaign.
The first follow-up email should come very quickly after the show and feature a concise reminder of what you do. Remind me of why I engaged with you at the show. Give me an easy way to reply to you and request that a salesperson follow-up with me. That way, if I truly am a hot lead and in desperate need of your product or service, all I have to do is click a single link and self-qualify so your salesperson can immediately contact me.
You should also have a second call to action that will allow me to further engage with your company and/or your content. If I click that link, then I have started down the path to being an MQL. If not, maybe I was only interested in the tchotchke that you were giving away in the booth. I won’t respond to any of those nurture emails and quickly be dropped into your long-term nurture campaign.
Remember that the goal of marketing automation is to relieve your salespeople from those simple and/or repetitive tasks that don’t really contribute to the top line. Initial booth follow-up is a great example of this.
