Take the Lead! How to Follow Up after a Trade Show

Take the Lead - How to Follow Up After a Trade Show

It’s estimated that only about half of all leads are followed up on. We don’t have to tell you that’s just like leaving money on the table. But it’s hard to argue with a salesperson who says that it’s time-consuming to follow up on new leads, and hey, a lot of new sales come from existing customers. 

Because that’s true. 

It’s also true that following up on leads after a trade show is a sure way to build relationships with new customers. And, there are easy ways to make the process, well, a lot easier. 

How can you improve your lead-response process for everyone involved, including your customers? Glad you asked!

 

TLDR? OK, here are the 3 most important takeaways: 

1 – Effective follow-up starts before the show

2 – The sooner you follow-up, the sooner you’ll see results. 

3 – You already have most of what you need to respond to those leads! 

Important, specific info to help you improve your lead follow-up and sales process is below. Maybe grab a cup of coffee and keep reading?!

 

Smarter Lead Capture 

Before a trade show, you have a pretty good idea of who you will talk to at the event. There will be some familiar faces, and others who are new to the industry. You will see former customers as well as current customers. Before the show, draw up a list of the most likely problems they have, and how your company can help. 

Also consider their questions in terms of how soon they are likely to need your product or service, and how much influence they have on the purchase. 

Create codes for them – like shorthand for buyer personas, almost – and capture that along with their contact information. 

Free eBook: Trade Show for Manufacturers Guide

Manage Your Messaging

Based on the questions you know you’ll be asked, and the people who will be asking, craft short, helpful answers that are not overtly sales-y. 

You probably have a lot of the information on your website, maybe even blog posts or case studies that speak directly to some of their concerns. If you were in their shoes, wouldn’t you be impressed with someone you just met at a trade show who provided such helpful, relevant information in a timely manner? Of course you would! 

Craft a few short messages addressing the people (and problems) that your leads will be most concerned about. Incorporate top-line takeaways from those web pages, case studies and blog posts and include a link for them to read more. 

 

Set it and Forget it: Automate What You Can

With your leads sorted into a handful of categories, create an email funnel for each group. This makes your messages more helpful to your prospects, since they will be at different points in the buying process and have different levels on influence in the purchase. 

Need help creating an effective email funnel? Let us help.

 

Make Follow-up a Team Effort

Your entire team will have good ideas about what to include in those messages for different types of leads. Ask them before you develop your messages. And include your salespeople in decisions about the best point in the process for a phone call, product demo, or promotional mailing. 

Making lead follow-up easy is important, but making it effective is the greater goal. 

How can we help you? Please jump on my calendar for a quick 15-minute meeting now, before you’re panicking – er, planning – for your next trade show. 

How Do We Get Articles, Not Just Ads, in Trade Magazines? Manufacturing Masters Video

Rob Felber was recently invited to be a featured expert in a series of Manufacturing Masters videos!

Manufacturing Masters is an operational training platform that’s built by manufacturers for manufacturers. The site offers training videos featuring real industry experts who cover hundreds of different topics. The videos cover anything from supply chain, to HR and recruitment, or cybersecurity, finance, engineering and business strategy. No matter what topic you’re looking for, the training focuses on short wins that can be implemented in your business today. Manufacturing Masters is the “How To” site for manufacturing businesses.

How do we get articles, not just ads, in trade magazines?

In this Manufacturing Masters video, Rob Felber details how to get articles in trade magazines. It’s not always easy to get publications to cover your stories from an editorial standpoint. That’s why Rob shares a few industrial trade public relations tips that can help you establish your story’s newsworthiness and earn editorial coverage, not just advertising space! 

To download the full video for FREE, please submit your email address below.

Our Agency’s Transition to Public Relations

30th Anniversary - Felber PR & Marketing

For those who grew up in Northeast Ohio, we cherished those steamy hot days spent at Geauga Lake amusement park and sister property SeaWorld. Getting cooled off by Shamu while trying to keep your Dippin Dots dry was great fun.

When Six Flags took over the amusement park, they hired our agency to develop promotions for events and rides. Whether it was a postcard with a plastic spider promoting HalloWeekends or a printed roll of toilet paper indicating the ride would scare the–, well you get the picture, Six Flags had recognized the power of dimensional promotion. For our “origin story” see our recent blog The Road Less Traveled: Agency Skills Forged by Opportunity.

Our next fortuitous turn on the road less traveled came when we asked the question, who are these promotions targeting? The answer and the group we would soon come to know and love were the media. Why the media we asked? The answer then, as it still stands today, is the media are the folks that buy ink by the barrel and hold the keys to a much larger audience. If Six Flags could get reporters to attend a special media day preview event, they knew that photos, videos, and stories would abound. 

Around the early 1990s, I was also a civilian volunteer with the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. At one organizational meeting, a division officer said to me, “so you’re in advertising, how would you like to be the public relations officer?” I remember thinking, “whoa what did I get myself into?”, just like the famous stuffed lion story, again, in the above-referenced blog

Mark Norfolk, president & CEO of Fabrisonic, LLC., & long-time client of Felber PR & Marketing being interviewed by the media at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2022. The Felber team conducted media research & contacted media personnel to schedule this and other interviews ahead of time to take place during the show.

Immediately, I called an older brother who had worked in PR and asked what a press release was and how to write one. I soon found myself writing responses to our local editors and being interviewed on the docks by local TV reporters, telling the story of the rescue volunteers that patrolled Lake Erie. This transition, from a simple roll of toilet paper to working with the media was the birth of Felber PR and Marketing’s public relations practice. 

Download our PR eBook

We learn by doing, and experience is the best education. We were thrust into the world of advertising when we started creating media promotions targeting advertisers for the trade media. And now, by working alongside editors and their publication marketing directors, we inadvertently learned the tricks of the PR trade, including how to use editorial calendars to understand what content worked with which industrial trade media publications. 

Terrence Mathis, Manager of Engineering-Cable Protection for PMI Industries Inc., being interviewed at the 2022 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas. He was asked his opinion of OTC2022, its value to young professionals, and what advice he would give to other young professionals about future OTC events. This at-show media interest in PMI Industries was in part generated by the Felber team’s public relations and trade show marketing efforts.

Armed with this knowledge, we built a skillset in targeting publications that cover countless manufacturing sectors. In a future blog, we will tie it all together, from pitching stories and factory tours, to trade show media interviews and building out a deep press room for our manufacturing clients. 

“It’s in There!” Why Pay Extra When It’s Included in HubSpot?

HubSpot, it's in there

For those of a certain age, you may remember the Prego commercial where the son convinces the father that Prego spaghetti sauce uses the same great ingredients as the old-world family recipe. The father keeps asking about this spice and that, and the line “it’s in there” is repeated.

Calendar Integration and Simple Meeting Booking

In sales, overcoming hurdles and converting prospects to customers quickly and easily is key. Any barriers, such as slow response to inquiries or landing appointments can send your coveted prospect looking elsewhere. Something as simple as booking an appointment directly with a representative may be the difference between getting an at-bat and being put on the bench.

There are many programs, for a fee, that allows scheduling. Calendly and TimeTap for example. For our customers, HubSpot is the default winner. Integration with their calendar is included in HubSpot at no extra fee. Book meetings online or in person. Embed calendars in blogs, emails, and landing pages to allow prospects immediate access to your calendar. You can have multiple meeting schedules (think Zoom, in-person, or just one event, such as the week of a tradeshow). With HubSpot, calendar links can be placed in email signatures, in chatbots, or even live on a website. And, since it is all within HubSpot, the history stays with your contact in one neat central CRM. Why pay for another application, especially when you miss out on all the free integrations? How easy is it? Rob Felber’s Zoom Calendar.

Live, Automated Chat Features

And, speaking of chat, why pay for that service? HubSpot chat allows live answering as well as automated responses. Don’t lose a prospect that has an immediate need or question by not being available. And, with HubSpot, you can start a CRM record with just their email address. Handle inquiries from pricing and material questions to order status and inventory, in seconds – oh, did we mention it does not cost extra?!

Survey Creation and Real-Time Data Collection

Creating surveys just got easier. Many of our manufacturing clients, especially those recertifying their ISO ratings, need to conduct customer satisfaction surveys. While Survey Monkey and Delight work, there are fees for using the premium features. All within HubSpot, we recently created a simple survey, complete with dropdown choices and comment text capture with a landing page – all branded to the client. Oh, and the data, collected for free, is captured on each individual contacts record. Did we mention this did not cost anything to execute?

HubSpot Has it All and is There to Help if You Need it

Calendars, chat, and surveys are just a few of the many features that enhance a modern, robust marketing software such as HubSpot. We use it, our clients use it and you should too. Reduce your tech stack by integrating multiple features and tools into one, easy-to-use platform.

By the way, HubSpot’s support is powerful, 24/7, and above all else, just pleasant, nice people that guide you through technology without making you feel, well, stupid. They know not all of us are tech wizards. They always ask what are you working on today and how they can help. Then they help.

Want to learn more? Here’s my calendar!

How to Pick the Trade Magazines to Target? Manufacturing Masters Video

Rob Felber was recently invited to be a featured expert in a series of Manufacturing Masters videos!

Manufacturing Masters is an operational training platform that’s built by manufacturers for manufacturers. The site offers training videos featuring real industry experts who cover hundreds of different topics. The videos cover anything from supply chain to HR and recruitment, or cybersecurity, finance, engineering and business strategy. No matter what topic you’re looking for, the training focuses on short wins that can be implemented in your business today. Manufacturing Masters is the “How To” site for manufacturing businesses.

How to pick the trade magazines that we want to target?

In this Manufacturing Masters video, Rob Felber details how to choose the best trade magazine for your business. There’s no sense in getting your business featured in a trade publication that isn’t being read by your prospects or potential customers. But how do you pick which publications to target? Rob shares a few industrial public relations tips that can help you make sure you’re delivering the right content to the right person at the right time!

To download the full video for FREE, please submit your email address below.

Best Practices for Approaching the Media

Approaching the Media Blog Graphic

Spam emailing journalists, reporters and editors with pitches, news releases, announcements, etc., is ineffective, and it establishes your organization as “one of the bad guys.”

So, what are the best practices for approaching an editor or journalist?

Attract, don’t chase

Contacting publications to pitch stories is only one way to get the media’s attention. Much of a journalist’s or reporter’s job is researching industry trends and finding newsworthy content. You should make sure your website and social media are places where these journalists and reporters might find great stories. 

There are ways to connect with the media other than through one-way spam. Writing and sharing relevant content establishes your company’s credibility and increases your findability within the industry. To make sure reporters will find you on search engines and industry sites, you should prioritize SEO and keyword research. Posting keyword-rich content online will lead potential customers and reporters to find you on search engines. 

Establishing your own blog and posting regular content can help your organization get noticed by other industry bloggers and journalists. Blogging can not only help you be found by reporters but also possibly be looked to again for future stories. The bottom line is: when you create and post valuable content online, you reach people who are looking for what you have to offer, including reporters and the media. Pro tip: make sure the media are on your CRM. Often a simple announcement or news update shared via email to your contacts will pique their interest in a story.

Download our PR eBook

Make it personal

These days, we’re all bombarded by tons of notifications from social media, texts, calls and emails. Journalists are no strangers to this. Think about how you might be able to get them to open and pay attention to your email out of the thousands in their inbox. 

Rather than sending generic emails to a ton of reporters, you should take the time to research industry publications and find specific reporters who are likely to cover your story. Think about what the individual reporters like to write about by researching their previous stories, and then write specific, targeted pitches crafted just for them. It’s up to you to pitch stories to reporters who might actually be interested in writing about your industry or topic. Consider offering an exclusive story, free samples, product demonstrations or interviews with executives to sweeten the deal.

In my opinion, the best way to get coverage is by fostering real relationships with reporters. Connect with media in your industry by commenting on blogs, social media, and communication that doesn’t involve pitching anything. Relationships don’t form overnight but making sure your interactions with the media are personal might just lead to the formation of professional relationships that prove mutually beneficial for years to come.

Nail the pitch

So, you’ve selected a specific media publication and reporter you’d like to pitch to. Now, it’s time to send the email, make the phone call or set up the meeting. There are a few things to keep in mind when developing a pitch strategy. 

As we’ve already established, making your message personal is number one. Next, it’s important to help the journalist or reporter understand the big picture. You’re more than likely not the only pitch they’ll hear today, so make sure they understand the newsworthiness of your story. It is critical to mention their readership and why your story resonates with them. Give the necessary details but keep it simple. Show them that you value their time. Be prepared to give a compelling pitch and have any supporting material ready to send after your initial pitch. 

Don’t forget, it’s a 2-way street – journalists need ideas in order to write stories! Don’t be afraid to reach out, make a connection and get your story covered by the media. Want some help fostering relationships with the media? We can help improve your public relations strategy. Schedule a 15-minute consultation at your convenience, and let’s talk about it. RobFelber@FelberPR.com, (330) 963-3664.

How Do I Get Interviewed More Often? Manufacturing Masters Video

How do I get interviewed more often?

Rob Felber was recently invited to be a featured expert in a series of Manufacturing Masters videos!

Manufacturing Masters is an operational training platform that’s built by manufacturers for manufacturers. The site offers training videos featuring real industry experts who cover hundreds of different topics. The videos cover anything from supply chain, to HR and recruitment, or cybersecurity, finance, engineering and business strategy. No matter what topic you’re looking for, the training focuses on short wins that can be implemented in your business today. Manufacturing Masters is the “How To” site for manufacturing businesses.

How do I get interviewed more often?

In this Manufacturing Masters video, Rob Felber details how to get your business interviewed more often. It’s one thing to post content on your own platforms, but it’s another for your content to earn a place on a third party’s platforms. That media coverage could open the door to a wide audience of potential prospects and quality leads. Rob shares a few public relations tips for manufacturers who need help getting industrial trade media interviews and attention!

To download the full video for FREE, please submit your email address below.

The Trade Show is Over: Time to Maximize Your Investment 

The trade show is over: time to maximize your investment

So, you made an effort to capitalize on trade show chatter, before, during and after the show. How do you know you had a successful trade show? After the proper planning, preparation and practice, you met lots of people and started some great conversations. Excellent! 

Now, it’s time to make the most of those new connections.  

Following up three to 7 days after those initial trade show conversations is critical. Also in that first post-show week, your prospects will probably be contacted by a competitor or two – you want to look good in comparison.

It’s time for your CRM system to help you out. 

Managing New Contacts from a Trade Show

You just met a lot of people, and some of them expect to hear from you very soon. In fact, they’re looking forward to it. They’re warm leads. Some will be glad to hear from you IF you have something helpful for them. They’re qualified leads. And while others will barely remember you, you know you have something to offer them. They’re prospects or cold leads, and they’re valuable too. 

The right process will help you address each of them in turn. 

Before the trade show, you probably wrote targeted post-show emails for each type of prospect. You wisely mirrored the graphics and messaging that you used before and during the show. And you automated the process to be automated with triggering events that will keep each type of prospect engaged properly for wherever they are in the buying cycle. 

If this sounds complicated, it’s not! A user-friendly CRM simplifies the process and helps you track each prospect through the sales funnel. 

Want some help? Contact us.

Trade Show Review: How Did You Do? 

➡️It’s worth repeating: reaching out to new trade show contacts in a timely manner is your first priority after the show. ⬅️

Then, after catching your breath, it’s time to review the whole process. 

Trade shows are expensive, and designing a booth, staffing it and providing unique, meaningful promotions adds a lot of time (and more money) to the endeavor. Was it worth the investment? Ten different companies may have 10 different methods for determining the answer to that question.

Evaluating the total number and quality of leads generated is one way; tracking benchmarks to determine how valuable the show was for your organization is another. Most companies judge success based on a variety of factors including new accounts, new product lines introduced into existing accounts, and of course, based simply on sales order volume in the first few months after a show. 

Whew. Now it’s finally time to give yourself a pat on the back and then – get ready for what’s next! Soon, you’ll be having more in-depth conversations and developing new relationships with many of those new prospects. 

Already registered for your next trade show? Download the Trade Shows for Manufacturers Guide here.

Don’t Get SPOOKED by Reporters

Don't Get Spooked by Reporters

Contrary to what you may have heard, reporters and editors in the business-to-business manufacturing world are not scary. They are not ghoulish. They are not out for blood. They do not have razor-sharp fountain pens.

These media folks are professionals, curious to a fault, and looking to provide their readers (your prospects and customers) with the most accurate, up-to-date, insightful content. They certainly are not the people to be afraid of when conducting an interview. While we all might get nervous speaking in public or with a reporter, working with the key people that cover your industry is critical to getting the word out about your latest innovation or service. No need to carve a jack-o-lantern to scare them into printing your story. Establish a relationship first and it will be like talking to an old friend (although candy never hurts).

Here are three ways to calm the nerves before an interview and achieve the goal of placing your message in front of thousands of their subscribers:

1. Practice. We always tell our clients that the first time they say something should NOT be in front of a reporter. Practice what and how you want your message to be received. Consider media training or simply having a colleague role-play the interview or recording a practice interview for critique.

2. Plan out what you want to say and just as importantly, the topics you want to avoid. Way too many times we have seen a CEO tell us what they do not want to address only to get caught up in the excitement and spill the beans. Note, once it is said, it is hard to retract. If you already crossed the path of a black cat… well, he’s out of the bag! Said another way, we ask you what you would give your left arm not to have to discuss, then plan your answer should that topic come up.

3. Graphics, charts, and photos to the rescue. Having these tools at the ready can help you stay on point as well as provide the reporter with pre-written content for their story. Always, always, always have the high-resolution photos, videos and infographics packaged and ready to send at the conclusion of an interview. While the editors are not scary, the deadlines they work under are, and we have seen stories killed faster than Michael Myers on Halloween when materials are not ready. The editor may have no choice but to skip or delay your story for lack of decent “art.” Then, your story may have actually died.

So, pack up your giant pumpkin basket, a few coins for UNICEF, and get into costume. It’s time to tell your (ghost) story. Happy Halloween from Felber PR & Marketing!

Need some more PR tips? Download out free Manufacturer’s Guide to Public Relations eBook below!

Download our PR eBook

Capitalize on Trade Show Chatter, Before, During and After the Show

You have a lot to do before a trade show! While promoting your trade show presence ahead of time by having a killer booth design with engaging displays, maybe offering some swag, and setting up meetings with media connections who will be in attendance are all critical to having a successful show, there are other behind-the-scenes tasks you’ll want to handle before you leave.

5 Tips to engage visitors before and during a trade show

 

What to Do ASAP before the Trade Show

Huddle with your team. Make sure everyone inside your organization knows that your company is attending! Let your vendors know, too. Pre-show chatter with your employees and vendors isn’t just good “internal PR,” it helps your sales and customer service reps hone their presentation. And of course, no one knows your company and its products better than the people who make them. Their suggestions will make your trade show presentation better and post-show lead follow-up more productive.

Develop and practice talking points for in-person interactions. You don’t want to sound like a well-rehearsed actor, but you should practice some natural talking points around features and competitive advantages, and be prepared to answer all of the questions you expect to be asked at the show.

 

Trade Show Prep, Two Weeks Before the Show

Warm up the crowd with pre-show messaging: make sure your pre-show “chatter” includes all the pertinent hashtags and that your social media posts include @mentions of other attendees and exhibitors as appropriate. Try to engage your audience with questions and polls, and remember to share your booth number and images of your booth graphics in those posts. 

Review the attendee and exhibitor list. Data collection begins NOW!  

Review and update your lead generation form to ensure that it reflects your most current offerings. Also ask yourself, will it resonate with the prospects you’re most likely to see at the show? 

It should go without saying, but we’ll say it: test the lead gen form and your automated responses.

Not sure how to do that? We can help.

 

The Week Before the Trade Show: Ready to Go? 

Update your live chat popup box with a teaser like, “Want to chat at the show? Let us know when you’ll be there!” And we’ll say it again: test that updated chat window. 

Schedule a designated person (or two) who will be available for live chats both during the show and for three- to 10 days after it’s over. 

  • Give them a script or bullet list of answers to the FAQs you anticipate (based on show reps’ experience at the booth) and try to end all responses with a question, like “can we prepare a quote for you?” or the generic but effective, “is there anything else you have questions about?” 
  • Commit to responding to all chat requests and inquiries within 12 hours. Twenty-four hours is long enough for a “hot” lead to cool off (or reach a competitor). 
  • Why should you prepare for trade show leads to respond up to 10 days after a show? Because like you, trade show attendees will have a lot to unpack – literally and figuratively. And because different trade show leads will enter your funnel at different points in the sales process. 

We’ll discuss what to do with those leads in a future post. Can’t wait? Contact us!

 

Game Day: During the Trade Show 

Collect intel, both on other companies in your space and from your prospects. Not sure how to effectively collect info from leads? We help our clients pre-qualify leads and categorize prospects efficiently so you can maximize those face-to-face interactions and be ready to follow up as soon as you return from the show. 

Keep communication channels open. Just as important as connecting with potential buyers on a personal level, communicating back to your team at the plant is also vital to getting the greatest return for the time and financial investment you put into the show. 

What are you learning that might help engineering, manufacturing, or that could help customer service do their jobs better? What questions could the team back home answer for you, so you can pass along relevant information to a prospect you spoke with earlier at the show? If you respond to a prospect’s inquiry during the show, you’ll leave a great impression that will go a long way toward establishing a relationship after the show. 

 

More Trade Show Tips 

This isn’t a comprehensive list of all you have to do before a trade show, but we’ve covered some of the most important items to maximize your trade show investment. We help companies prepare before, during and after trade shows, from scheduling media interviews before the show to engaging their audience with creative displays and memorable promotional items during the show to following up on each lead in a timely, helpful manner.  The goal is to build great customer relationships! How can we help you?

 

While Trade Shows are primarily marketing events, there are plenty of PR opportunities in every show. We help our clients make the most of those opportunities and build long-term business relations. Want to discuss the possibilities? Get in touch