Following Up After Trade Shows and Events

That Follow Up Fix, said for this mix, Twas the day before Christmas, Santa quickly coming in his sleigh, Helping sales pros shine in a magical way!

🎁 Honk for the email, ping for the chat,
No time to wait—get your follow-ups handled stat!

🎄 Bumpity-bump, keep the momentum right,
Building connections on this festive day before Xmas night.

✨ Honk, ping, bump—smooth as a sleigh ride,
With That Follow Up Fix, success lifting the tide!

As stockings are hung and the tree glows bright,
Stay ahead, stay merry, and win relationships tonight!

Here’s to sleighing your follow-ups with holiday cheer. Tomorrow’s Christmas, but today’s for keepin’ follow up real! 🎅🎄✨

According to Adler Display, a staggering 80% of trade show leads receive no follow-up, leading to missed opportunities.

Furthermore, MarketReach reports that while 98% of exhibitors collect leads, less than 70% have a formalized follow-up plan, resulting in low conversion rates.

You're back at your desk, staring at a mountain of business cards, written contact information.

And details captured in your phone from last week's live event you attended.

Your competitor just posted on LinkedIn about winning an opportunity with someone you met at the same event. 

Meanwhile, your "nice to meet you" emails are disappearing into the void.

🎯 The Problem:

You've spent thousands on trade show attendance, but your follow-up process feels like throwing spaghetti at a wall.

😫 The Reality:

Your inbox is overflowing with generic "Great meeting you!" emails from other vendors and you know your prospects are getting the same.

Your notes are scattered, conversations are blurring together, and that hot prospect you connected with?

They have already forgotten which solution was yours.

Standard post-event outreach achieves limited success.

💡 The Solution:

What if you could turn every live event or trade show into a predictable revenue machine?

Proactive post-event engagement shows promising results.

The secret isn't in collecting more business cards and contact info.

It's in the 24-hour psychological window that most salespeople miss. 

Yesware research shows that sales reps who follow up within 24 hours of their initial outreach receive about a 25% reply rate on average.

Here's What Standout Sales Pros Do Differently With Trade Show Follow-Ups...

C.A.R.V. Your Advantage.

-Customized (Tailoring the follow-up to the individual needs and context of each lead shows prospects that you truly listened to them during the event.)

-Automated (Automation allows sales professionals to maintain a personal touch without having to manually craft each follow-up from scratch.)

-Relevant (Prospects remember the experience at the trade show, and a follow-up that feels out-of-touch or disconnected can instantly undo the positive impact of the initial conversation.)

-Value add (Providing value that keeps the conversation going and helps the prospect take the next step in the buying process.)

Why master this? 

Because according to AdAge in an older report, one capability that will be most important to marketing in the future, 33% of marketers answered: “personalization.”

Unfortunately, most salespeople fail at event follow-ups. 

Here's why: 

The #1 Reason: No standard lead process to event contacts, missing event-specific engagement opportunities. 

Other key obstacles:

•  Time Decay: Waiting too long to follow up (Waiting for a period of five days reduces the chances of receiving a response to 24%-belkins)

• Context Collapse: Failed to capture crucial conversation details during the event

• Mass Marketing: Sending the same follow-up to everyone

• Digital Drowning: Getting lost in the post-show email tsunami 

Companies excelling at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost sourced from a blog by expert marketer Neil Patel.

So let’s outline an live event follow-up framework you can use.

Step 1: Execute The "Golden Hour Memory Lock"

Here's your action plan: 

• Record voice notes between conversations or capture immediate conversation summaries

• Take photos of business cards with context notes

• Record specific discussion points and tag leads with conversation triggers

• Map connection points and shared interests

• Document specific pain points mentioned and stated business challenges

Yes, take the extra time to do all of these.