after the show or exhibition - evaluate

after the show...

Measuring your results against your goals and asking questions is a good way of working out where you can improve for future events.

 

Evaluating your exhibition

Evaluating your exhibition and its results is vital to the show itself.. Debriefing your team straight after the show can be the best method as the goings on of the event are still fresh in their minds.. Here are some questions to ask yourself and your team:


Being self critical can be de-motivating, but it can also lead to improvement. Analyse your weaknesses and strive to improve on them. Answering questions like these will give you and your team a better idea of your stronger areas and the areas that may need improvement.

Measuring results

Keeping track of any leads and collecting sales data is vital to assessing the success of your show. Measuring the cost of the exhibit to the business that it has acquired is the best way to discover if the show was a success. Here are a few reasons why measuring your results is so important:


The main factor of exhibition success is measuring what you put into the show, to what you got out of it. Initially you must set a target that you want to achieve, and then you must create a strategy for how you are going to achieve it, and finally you must create a post show summarisation which signals the areas in which you have, or have not succeeded in.

With the right forethought and planning the results will always speak for themselves.

The follow up

Gathering information correctly at a show is vital when following up your leads. Creating a user friendly way of doing this can turn your prospects into results. It is important you take always take note of the following information:


This is the basic outline; also encourage sales staff to take notes at the show so that the requirements of the potential customer are simply laid out to the representative following up the lead. This will give the staff member a better idea of what to convey to the buyer when they meet after the show. If the representative is not fully aware of what the potential customer wants it shows bad communication and research and reflects poorly on the company.

In order to maintain good awareness of your potential custom, evaluating your leads is vital. Doing this straight after the exhibition will give you a slight inkling as to what you have achieved, but doing this 3-4 times across the year proceeding the show will you give you a true idea of what you gained from the exhibition.

Following up your leads quickly is very important; do not leave it more than a week before you make contact. Rank your potential customers as a matter of importance; some will only expect a thank you letter where as others will require a sales visit.

This process after the show can make or break your potential sale. How you interact with your leads after the exhibition will demonstrate how much you want to do business with them.

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