Mar 22

Written by:
3/22/2012 1:07 PM 

On March 1st we hosted an instructional webinar on effectively running a tradeshow campaign from the initial planning stages until the follow-up calls are made and the leads are tracked in Microsoft CRM. It covered a range of best practices to manage the leads from a tradeshow and tie them to show where they were initially contacted. Tradeshows can be a major investment, and we show you how to make the most of every lead.

Companies regularly invest thousands of dollars, countless hours, and knowledgeable staff toward creating an effective tradeshow presence, so it is important to know exactly which shows are providing enough of a return to justify continued participation. And with the current data showing over 70% of tradeshow leads left without any follow up this is clearly an issue to be addressed.

Microsoft CRM contains a number of tools that can help you plan, track and report on every trade show so you can make the best decisions for your marketing campaigns, and the webinar covered three major areas:

Tradeshow Investments

These events require more than just monetary investment, and it is important to realize exactly how much time and how many people need to be involved with a successful tradeshow. Understanding the exact investments will help you make better decisions about which shows you attend, and which events aren’t producing high enough results.

Tradeshow Process

We covered the best practices for setting for making the most of every lead. Tradeshows are about more than simply showing up and hoping to make a sale. The process should involve detailed planning, effective exhibiting, following on every lead, and then tracking and reporting on the results to determine the ROI of every show.

Instructional Demonstrations

We then showed exactly how you can use Microsoft CRM to create efficiencies in a tradeshow campaign. This included setting up pre- and post-show activities, making and assigning tasks, and tracking the costs, attendance, and other elements of the show. We also covered using some of the automated features to send an email to each lead and then setting up a reminder for a sales representative to follow up with a call. Microsoft CRM also allows you to import all of your leads to a central location, where the dashboard and reporting tools provide the necessary visibility to see your budget, revenue, and other metrics at a glance.

Studies have shown that the vast majority of tradeshow leads are never contacted again and there is almost no follow up. This webinar detailed how companies can use these tools to turn that around and start streamlining the sales process and getting better returns from such large investments.

If you missed out on the live webinar, be sure to visit our events page to sign up for future opportunities to participate.

View The Webinar Now: