After The Trade Show: Support Exhibitors with These 3 Things

If you’ve been reading our latest blogs, then you’ve gotten some pointers (or a fresh view) on some of the things that trade show organizers can help their exhibitors with before the show and during, to ensure that they get the most out of their experience (and keep coming back). So what about after the trade show is over? What can you encourage and help your exhibitors do to ensure their satisfaction with your show?

Here’s a few of our recommendations. For more, download our latest guide.

Immediate Email Follow Up

Research shows that 87% of show leads are never effectively followed up on. Yikes. Exhibitors should be sending out emails to follow up within the first 1-3 days, another 1 week after the event, and then another 2 weeks after. Beyond that, a steady lead nurturing sequence should be used to keep leads engaged.

A suggested sequence for the first couple weeks can look like this:

First 1-3 Days:

Send a short and sweet email thanking them for visiting your booth. A good idea is to create some sort of call to action for them to take, such as visiting another page with valuable content for them to download, or a post-show contest to enter. This helps to engage with them further and get a sense for their interest level.

1 Week After:

Send a slightly edited version of the first email they sent to all the leads who haven’t yet clicked on the link or opened the email. They may have been busy catching up from being at the show.

2 Weeks After:

If they are doing a grand prize giveaway or have another time sensitive offer, let them know this is the last chance to enter. Then announce the winner and send it out to the entire list of leads, not just the ones who entered to win. At this point, another ‘free’ piece of content can be offered as well.

Measure Their Results

In our guide, we talk about encouraging your exhibitors to get clear on their priorities for your show, as well as to set goals consistent with that. If they have done that, then it will be easier to review and measure their results post-show, against those goals.

Hopefully they created SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based. If they’ve done this, they can see exactly where they landed and then create an action plan for what didn’t work well, and they can document what did, in order to replicate for future shows.

Survey Says!

Now this is more for you, the trade show organizer. This is where we recommend that you boldly go where no other trade show organizer has gone before (sorry, Star Trek thing there) and ask some powerful and specific questions of your exhibitors to gauge what you’re doing well, and what you can do better.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, we already send out a survey after every show. But are you asking questions that truly solicits feedback that will make an impact on you and your show, along with your exhibitors experience?

If so, that’s awesome! Rock on with your bad selves. And, if you’re just asking some of those basic questions, up your game with deeper and more engaging questions. For 5 bonus questions that you can ask your exhibitors that we think are game-changers, download our guide: How to Ensure Your Exhibitors Get the Most Out of Their Trade Show Experience. 

Superior Expo Services is a leading family owned trade show general services contractor with over 25 successful years in the business. We know what it takes to ensure that you, your show, and your exhibitors are supported and set up for success. We pride ourselves on providing superior performance that rivals the big guys, yet never compromises our grassroots customer-centric approach to project management, personal service and attention to every detail.