CONTACTS ARE THE NEW GOLD

Whether it’s display budgets, planned events or trade show appearances: Covid has not spared the sales and marketing world either. In the last few weeks, countless companies have rescheduled, canceled, and tried out everything possible. In the process, those responsible asked themselves numerous questions: How many cuts can my advertising budget take? How much potential would my trade show presence have in a completely digital version? How can generated leads be turned into paying customers as efficiently as possible from now on? The questions will stay with us for some time, but already the certainty remains that post-covid leads will be worth much more than generated new customer contacts before the pandemic. How you can deal with them, we reveal here …

Trade shows act as an economic engine for the economy – before, during and after the pandemic. Germany as a trade fair location has a high ranking in a global comparison, and not only in terms of the sales figures it achieves. The industry association AUMA estimates that in the past two years, around 180,000 exhibitors have vied for the favor of around 10 million visitors each year. You don’t have to be a prophet to predict that these figures will be lower in the near future. As we all know: When something becomes scarcer on the market, its value increases.

If fewer and fewer visitors can be expected at trade shows in the future, every new customer contact acquired will be all the more important for it – we think.It is similar to the popular precious metal.The task now is to promote the popular “raw material” lead.But can this be done effectively?This is precisely where there are comprehensive opportunities to scrutinize existing processes and, if necessary, optimize them before the next upcoming trade show appearance.Here we show you how you can best proceed.

Marketing and sales staff are familiar with this: “Should we still exhibit at trade shows at all?” is a question that is asked far too quickly, usually by budget allocators.Yet trade show appearances can now generate similarly precise figures as digital campaigns.Resourceful marketers or their sales colleagues have the start and reason of the stand visit, contact data, conversation details and follow-up actions for individual contacts just as quickly at hand as precise insights into the total volume of visitors at the stand.The tools for this are extremely easy to use.Individual leads are quickly qualified by scans, voice or electronic notes, and with the right electronic tools, the “Thank you for visiting us” newsletter is guaranteed to go out faster than the competition.The bottom line is that there are real data treasures lying around your own trade show booth. In the future, they will not only help to effectively optimize your own business processes. The next discussion about future trade show budgets will also take place under a completely different sign with the corresponding data.

Let’s assume that you are organizing a sports and leisure fair.A person in his early 20s visits the fair because he can get fashion items or sports equipment there before anyone else.Years go by and the person successfully completes a degree and makes a career.Fifteen years later, she has long since built up a close brand loyalty because of the positive experiences at the sports and leisure fair and countless interesting newsletters and social media posts.Meanwhile, the example person is in a decision-maker position at a large company.And she is particularly concerned about closing crucial deals at her sports and leisure trade show.That’s why the company outlined has long since become a regular exhibitor at the instigation of the former student.

Sounds too good to be true? We think that the scenario described can become reality if trade fair organizers also use the time wisely now and ask the right questions: Do I capture all visitors and their interests? Do I only do this at the entrance and exit or do I also want to know exactly the footfall per hall? Do I have the right IT infrastructure in place to process the data obtained sensibly and effectively? And once the technical side has been clarified, is there also a comprehensive data utilization strategy?

Covid, just like the trade show industry, has already forced the world to rethink.So why not take the current situation as an opportunity to say goodbye to old, entrenched processes now?Now is the time to learn how to make good use of digital tools.So that you can soon be more successful than ever before.