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:
- How did you perform in relevance to what you set out to do?
- Are there changes you could make to improve your exhibition stand?
- Did anything unexpected happen that you were not prepared for?
- How did the quality of visitors rate in relation to your needs?
- Were your staff effective?
- Are there areas which require more preparation?
- Was their a positive response to your pre-show and live show promotions?
- Are there any changes that you could make to make the next show an improvement?
- If any, what were the major challenges and obstacles?
- Would it be worth exhibiting at that particular show again?
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:
- It will help you make better choices on future exhibit locations
- It can prove the investment worthwhile
- It will encourage staff to meet targets
- It will show which areas before, during after the show need improving
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:
- Basic information (name, occupation, location etc.)
- The potential customers requirements
- What sales representative dealt with them
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.