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Sales Energized Trade Shows (Post 5 – Outreach)
2 min read
So now that you’ve done all the hard work to create a sales energized annual trade show plan, along with all the show specific priorities and details, and now that you’ve obtained sales management buy-in and have individuals assigned to work with you, it's time to begin the all important outreach program!
This program should be based on the plan you’ve created, which then makes it a whole lot easier to decide who to target with your outreach program.
You’ll then be able to create a matrix of prospects, customers, partners, and PR targets for the various products and services that you want to promote. Creating a matrix will help identify overlap – and the targets that fit into multiple areas can get a higher priority.
Once you’ve developed the target matrix, you’ll need to agree on specific outreach programs and responsibilities which may include:
Marketing
- List purchases and email blasts
- Snail mail blasts
- Social media marketing
- Widespread show promotion thru all communication channels (web, newsletter, webinars, etc).
- In general your goal is to make sure that all available communication channels are used to promote your trade show schedule and drive attendance.
PR team outreach – you’re probably already doing this so I won’t go into any details here.
Sales outreach – and this is the real differentiator:
- Work with sales to determine account specific prospects
- Identify existing accounts and prioritize for show attendance
- Identify channel partners and prioritize – sales team should be identifying specific individuals
- You’ll need to decide if it’s appropriate to set specific meeting times at the booth. This can be a good way to avoid overflow situations and can also help avoid missed appointments since people are less likely to skip out if they have a fixed meeting time.
Closely monitor the progress of the outreach program – and if it isn’t progressing as planned then let the team know about it and get it back on track!