Agents and brokers set up a trade show booth to look for new opportunities, find new prospects, and set up appointments.
Typically exhibitors who participate in face-to-face events such as trade shows, consumer and mall shows that attract the end user are looking for the fastest pay-off and an immediate method of gauging their Return on Investment.
But, the challenge at these events is that while many of the attendees have real insurance needs, some may not be ready to sit with you and have a serious discussion at the event.
Many things may get in the way of their commitment such as a previous commitment to another agent, they may not understand how you can help them mitigate risk, and they may feel skeptical about the claims you are making or have had a previous experience with the companies you represent.
This group of individuals can become excellent long-term leads but if you spend too much time attempting to deal with unwilling prospects at a trade show, the risk is that you miss countless opportunities with others who may be ready to discuss their needs. A back-up objective will help you stay focused on the short-term high value contacts while you build a relationship with contacts who might prove valuable in the long-term.
To address this challenge you need to step back to the beginning and look at your overall marketing plan. Surely when developing your plan you weighted the pros and cons of several marketing tools such as print, e-marketing, social media, direct mail, brochures, trade shows and events. In addition you undoubtedly considered adding additional face-to-face special events to your rostrum of activities including open houses, seminars, newsletters, and community charity events.
Now, the next step is to integrate all your marketing initiatives. For example if you are planning an open house you may be printing invitations and mailing them to a pre-qualified list. If you are planning an informational seminar you may be considering an e-mail blast or mentioning the event in your social media conversations. If you are attempting to expand your newsletter circulation you may choose to place an advertisement in the local media.
The trick is to create a universal marketing plan where one activity complements another. You accomplish this when you include as a secondary objective, attracting visitors to attend one of your other marketing events.
For example if a visitor at your booth is not prepared to commit to an appointment and you have assessed that there may be long term potential, why not invite them to attend an upcoming seminar? Your secondary objective now can be as simple as building a data base of interested people who have expressed interest in an upcoming activity.
In order to realize this additional benefit of participating in a trade show, you need to carefully plan your approach. Here are the steps you need to take.
- Plan a post show event within 20 – 30 days after the show. This way you can promote the event and it will be fresh in your visitor’s mind.
- Promote the event at your booth. This could take the form of a poster or sign-up sheet.
- Create a profile of the people who will get the biggest benefit of attending this event and train your booth staff on how to identify and qualify these people.
- Develop a lead sheet, so that your staff can record the visitor’s information that will help you target your post-show marketing.
- Ask for the commitment. If they have agreed to a meeting where you are able to close the sale, you should still invite them to other events you have planed. This keeps your clients engaged in the issues around family and business protection and may lead to future business. If you don’t ask, they won’t volunteer and you risk losing other valuable opportunities.
- Follow-up with these people immediately after the show to remind them of the upcoming event or the date of the release of your newsletter.
Another mistake many agents and brokers make is attending a show with the goal of talking to everyone. While you services certainly can apply to anyone, when you focus on those individuals who give you the best opportunity of achieving your goals, you are in a much stronger postion to have the right conversations with the right people.
When you look at your marketing plan as a holistic component of your business success and you move away from focusing on one show at a time, you will achieve better results. Studies have proven that when you add a secondary objective to your exhibit plans, your ultimate show related return on investment could grow as much as 50 – 60% and that’s well-worth the effort.