You Got a Lead, Now What? Tips to Optimize Leads Post-Show

Trade shows are a fantastic way to engage with the community, discover customers, and take the first steps towards forging new connections that can help grow your business. Yes, trade shows can be overwhelming—you’re having conversations with dozens of people, scouting potential relationships, and trying to take advantage of the instant access to all corners of the crafts community. There are new products to explore and consider and so many people to meet. 

And, everyone is participating in the same way. Everyone feels tired and wiped out by the end of the first day; everyone is engaging in multiple conversations; everyone is distributing and accepting contact information and planning next steps. It’s overwhelming and draining for everyone, which means it’s crucial to pre-plan how you will optimize the leads you’ve generated at the show. 

Don’t leave this newly-turned soil fallow once you’re back home. It’s time to plant the seeds of all those leads you collected so they will bloom into a bountiful garden of community connections!

Segment Leads Before the Show

Expect to collect a lot of leads at trade shows! There truly is no greater space to make an abundance of new connections within a short period of time. Segmenting new connections will help you prioritize leads that require your immediate attention post-show, versus leads that may require additional nurturing. 

Create rules for how you will segment leads. Consider:

• Hot, warm, and cold – This segmentation strategy delineates between leads that are ready for engagement now, leads that may need further nurturing, and leads that may convert in the future but don’t feel ready to engage yet
• Good vs bad fit – This segmentation strategy analyzes leads based on whether they would be a good fit vs. a bad fit for your business. Be discerning, it’s not personal!
• By service – This segmentation strategy groups leads by the services you or they provide. This segment might contain craft educators, influencers, digital marketers, etc. 

Employ CRM tools to make it easy to sort through your leads after the show. This might mean creating several lead captures that funnel your new leads into segmented audiences. It’s also good to have a notebook to take notes on your top leads; remember, you’re meeting a lot of people. Don’t trust your memory; take notes you can refer to later. Try to take at least one personal, detailed note per lead.

Pro Tip: Consider creating an automated welcome sequence tailored to each segment that sends immediately after capturing a new lead. Create easy-to-scan QR codes for landing pages specific to each lead type. This brings us to…

 

Follow Up Immediately

Don’t let more than 24 hours go by without following up on your new leads! Research shows that leads contacted within the first 48 hours are 7x more likely to convert, and open rates for follow ups drop15% for every day past the 48-hour mark. Industry data also shows that most people take 10-14 days to follow up.

Creating an automated welcome sequence makes first contact an easy, set-it-and-forget-it maneuver. But don’t stop there.

 

Make Follow Ups Personal

If you’re using an automated welcome sequence, it won’t be personalized. That’s okay! Make it friendly and information rich (more on that below), and include the promise of more to come. 

Since your automation sends immediately, you can still follow up on your hot leads with a personal message within the first 48 hours. Include your new lead’s name and unique, distinctive details that relate to the conversations you had when meeting (refer to your notebook!). 

Something as simple as:

“Hi Rebecca,

It was so lovely meeting you at h+h americas! You should have received a message from me already with some information about my shop, but I wanted to follow up because I’m really excited about bringing your stitch markers into the shop. I love that your designs feature iconic monuments from countries you’ve visited—it’s such a cool memento for travelers. And it was so fun that you brought “the bean” stitch marker to Chicago! I just know the knitters in my store will love your work. 

I’d love to connect more about this—you can book some time with me via the calendar link below if you’d like to discuss further. I look forward to hearing from you!

Warmly, 

Flossie”

People love a story, and they really love it when you remember their stories. See the bolded sentences above? Those are the personalized bits that show you were listening and attentive. They personalize your follow up so it stands out in the potential sea of follow ups that your new lead is managing. 

Share Valuable Content

Why should a new lead engage with you? What do you have to offer them? What pain points do they have that your business can help solve?

Whether you design an automated welcome sequence or send individual messages (we encourage both, as outlined above), the best follow ups include content—given freely—that will help your lead. Did you say you would send an important piece of content to a new lead? Refer to your notebook for any potential content you promised to send post-show!

Valuable content could be:

• About Me/Us: Information about your business; specifically, your unique story. 

• Product Info: Do you hand dye yarns with natural foraged materials? Do you source fabrics from indigenous communities using fair trade practices? Do you craft jewelry out of your home? Take your new lead on a behind-the-scenes journey.
• Educational Content: Have you written great blog posts, case studies, or white papers with valuable educational content that can help your lead thrive in their own business? Do you have video tutorials that illustrate your knowledge and expertise? Share it!
• Inspirational Content: Crafters love to feel inspired. Share projects, behind-the-scenes peeks at recent events, new product stories, and hot, trending social media content to inspire your new leads. 

Valuable content positions you as a thought leader and authority in the crafts space, and also provides an inside look at your brand’s personality. This is a great place to let your storytelling abilities and personality shine!

 

Track Post-Show Follow Up Success

After you’ve collected leads to your CRM, delivered automated messages, and sent out personalized follow ups, it’s time to analyze the efficacy of your methods. This is where using your CRM to manage leads becomes really important. 

The data you should track can all be gathered from your CRM. It includes:

• Open rates
• Click-through rates
• Lead conversion rates
• Content engagement (when linking to valuable content on your blog, website, social channels, etc)

Use this data to discover which leads segments delivered the highest conversion and engagement rates so you’re better prepared for the next trade show. 

 

Do you need help strategizing your trade show attendance, before and after the show? Reach out to schedule a call today.