Setting Objectives for Exhibitions

How are you planning on measuring success at your next exhibition? Success can mean many things to many different people, but it’s important to make sure that you know what success means for your business and how you are going to measure it before the event has begun. This will help you to find out…
 

How are you planning on measuring success at your next exhibition? Success can mean many things to many different people, but it’s important to make sure that you know what success means for your business and how you are going to measure it before the event has begun. This will help you to find out whether exhibiting was a worthwhile experience, or whether you need to go back to the drawing board to find out why it wasn’t so great for your business.

 

In this short video, Andrew Pocock explains the importance of setting objectives and speaks about two of our objectives for an upcoming conference, sales and relationships.

Objective- Sales

Andrew Pocock from Marler Haley explains, “What we’re looking to do is to pick up as many new contacts as we can - obviously new contacts that have a need for what we do.”

Although it may be tempting to measure all contacts gained as potential leads, in reality this won’t be helpful to your business. It is more helpful to qualify these leads from their potential value.

Using a simple A, B, C scoring system can help with this.

A= Priority / high value

If the lead has an immediate need for your product/service or they are of high value, then score these people as ‘A’. These are the leads that should be your top priority to follow up with to try and convert into a sale.

B= Intermediate priority/lower value

If they don’t have an immediate need, or their potential value is lower than expected, then score these as B’s.  These are potential leads which should be followed up, but may not be as fruitful to your return on investment.

C= Low priority/ information seekers

If the person is simply browsing and wants more information, then score these as Cs. Cs can be sent follow up correspondence and added to mailing lists etc to keep them up to date with your products and services, but are unlikely to yield any immediate gain.

Objective - Maintaining relationships

Andrew continues, “We’re also looking to get ourselves in-front of existing customers.”

Maintaining relationships is vital to make sure that your existing client base is nurtured. You could even arrange to meet some of your clients at the event – as long as there are enough people to cover your stand while these meetings take place, to gain some valuable time with your clients.