Automated Lead Follow-Up and CRM Systems

"Research has shown that 80% of the leads disqualified by sales,
go on to buy a competitor's product, or service within 24 months."
Source: SiriusDecisions

Year after year, for more than the 30+ years that I have worked with exhibitors, I have heard one or all of these three common follow-up laments from corporate exhibit managers. Does this sound like you?

1. Lack of control over show leads - After shows and events, you have little or no control or influence over the leads you generate at your trade shows and events. You spend hours, weeks, and sometimes months preparing for each show, in meetings, while coordinating with vendors and the sales and marketing departments, managing logistics, executing pre-show marketing campaigns, and much more. Then once the show is over, you hand over 200 or 300 leads to the VP of Sales, and promptly lose all contact, control, or influence over them.
2. Most leads are never followed up – You know from industry surveys, and anecdotal reports from your sales team and marketing department that 60 to 80% of the leads you work so hard to generate, are not followed up. And it is demoralizing.
3. True ROI is near-impossible to document – At the end of the year, your supervisor calls you into the office to detail your new budget requests, or you sit down for an annual performance review. Your director or VP asks, "What is the ROI of all these shows you/we do?" More often than not, you have little or no way to give management hard data and numbers, because you have no connection with the leads, and "no control" over the follow-up or sales process. Consequently, your budget, future promotion, and even your job can be in jeopardy, because you have few, if any, reliable numbers.

Why 80%?

Why are 60 to 80% of trade show leads never followed up? Here is the typical sales dynamic, which negates follow-up on most leads. Each month, sales people live and die by their quota. So when trade show leads come to them, they naturally contact the hottest "A" leads first, and after those, the "B" and "C" leads, if they have time. The "C" leads are really low down on the totem pole, getting disqualified almost by default.

"80% of leads from all sources (e.g. the internet, email campaigns,
direct mail, advertising) are not ready to buy"
Source: Sales & Marketing Management magazine

Also, on average, only 15 to 20% of trade show leads are "A" caliber – ready to buy, with a budget, a time frame and buying authority. Then, if the marketing department is doing their job, by the first of the month a fresh batch of leads comes in, and the cycle continues – month after month, and show after show. The "A" leads (15 to 20%) always get followed up first, and the other 80% (B and C leads) get pushed aside, neglected and too often forgotten and never followed up.

Losing (YOUR) sales to the competition

Trade show leads typically generate more business in the 12-to-24 month period after a show, than they do in the first 12 months afterward. This happens because attendees meet new suppliers and see new products at this year's show. Then, they put budget requests in for them at the end of the year. So, next year when they come back to the show, they are informed, funded, and and have the authority to buy.

Companies that fall into this continuous cycle lose two to three times of their potential sales revenue if they don't follow up and stay in contact with all their trade show and event leads until they mature. Indeed, let me re-emphasize the alarming quotation from the Sirius Decisions research organization at the begining of this atricle: "80% of the leads ignored or disqualified by sales, go on to buy a competitor's product, or service within 24 months."

So, here is what the traditional cycle looks like:

Most trade show leads follow this track:

1. Lead Capture via a card, badge scanning device, or collection of business cards
2. You hand over leads to the VP or Director of Sales (via a flash drive, web link, or through a lead retrieval provider)
3. Leads get entered into your organization's database, or CRM.
4. What happens after the hottest "A" leads are followed up? There is no system to follow up, nurture, and cultivate the other 80% of trade show leads (Bs & Cs), which won't buy for a year, two, or sometimes longer?

A Better Solution: Marketing Automation

You can use cloud-based Marketing Automation (MA) systems. This solution automatically follows up, nurtures, and develops 100% of all your A, B, and C leads until they qualify themselves as ready to buy. Here is how it works.

You capture trade show leads at the show like usual, but then you do two things simultaneously.

Each prospect (including your current customers ) can receive email or direct mail on a periodic pre- scheduled basis (i.e., once a month), with a link to a special landing page on your website that offers something of value to your potential and present clients. For example:

• Tips and techniques to help prospects to do their job better.
• A case study highlighting how your product did a better job for a client.
• Discounts or coupons for a seasonal special.
• An invitation to a webinar, or infomercial.

As prospects click on links in these emails, here are some of what a marketing automation system does beyond a basic email marketing program like Constant Contactor Vertical Response:

• Documents the pages visitors view and the length of their views, thereby quantifying a prospect's interest.
• Tracks exactly who opens your email (not just how many).

Examples of these metrics include:

• They clicked through to your site five times this quarter.
• They requested two subject-specific white papers.
• They spent five+ minutes three times on a specific product page.
• They or a colleague click on your pricing page.

A marketing automation system will automatically alert your Sales VP, Director. or Manager, and the appropriate account executive and/or customer service representative when their activity on your website hits a tipping point and indicates they are ready to buy.

The Bottom Line (Your ROI Reports)

So, while your sales team concentrates on closing the usual 15-20% of "A" leads, your marketing automation program automatically nurtures and cultivates the relationship with the other 80% (B & C leads) until they graduate to "A" leads and qualify themselves – effectively giving you (and your sales VP) two to three times more "A" leads for the same marketing spend. Plus, it documents all this activity and can be integrated with your CRM to give your VP (and you) real-time ROI reports – any time you, your VP. or CEO wants to see them.

And that my friend is an unbeatable combination.

Copyright © HATCH Marketing & Consulting LLC, 2011

Demonstration Offer

If you would like to see a personalized demonstration of a live Marketing Automation program and how it is integrated with a website and CRM, contact Michael Hatch to schedule a demonstration at 240-603-6044, or Mike@HatchMarketingLLC.com

About the Author

Michael Hatch is President of HATCH Marketing & Consulting, LLC (HMC); a business management, sales, and marketing consultant; a professional speaker, trainer, and writer; a successful serial entrepreneur; and acknowledged trade show marketing expert. Mike is an award-winning designer and has owned two successful exhibit design and graphics production companies that executed over a dozen new product launches nationwide and served over 10,000 companies, associations, and government agencies during a 17- year span. He has also produced and marketed over 200 successful trade shows, education conferences, and training programs during his career.