More and more companies are rethinking how to improve their analog processes. Digitalization has long been present in many areas, but there is still a long way to go when it comes to lead capture at trade shows. However, for many companies, a trade fair is THE event of the business year. This is where it is possible to make new contacts and maintain old business relationships. Therefore, during our Fall SALE on September 29, 2021, we took an in-depth look at the topic of digital lead acquisition and showed how modern lead management really works for our customer Hannes Gottwald from voestalpine Stahl GmbH. In this blog post, we have summarized the highlights of our event for you. You can find the complete video on our YouTube channel.
Trade fairs are going back to analog, but please let the lead capture be digital!
No doubt many have been waiting for it: after a long lean period, physical trade fairs are back. According to a survey by the German company AUMA, 90 % of respondents are looking to use trade fairs to rekindle their business relationships with existing customers and 89 % are looking to acquire new customers. Nevertheless, it is surprising that after a trade fair, up to 70 % of the leads are not contacted - particularly given the high investment... The reasons could be the chaos of paper, missing handwritten contact data, or the lack of lead follow-up. It is necessary to put an end to this situation immediately! Therefore, we have compiled six tips to get the most out of your lead capture app and increase your company's success.
Tip #1: Digital visit report with customized questionnaires
A digital lead capture app helps you conduct successful meetings with your customers and prospects at the trade show booth. Based on your customers' needs, you can effectively respond to each of your interlocutors during the meeting and show images, files, and documents directly from the app. This means you don't have to stick strictly to a paper guideline.
Tip #2: Follow the BANT methodology
By following the BANT methodology, you can make it easier to analyze your contacts at the trade show:
B – Budget: What budget does the prospect have, i.e., what sales volume could he achieve?
A – Authority: Is my contact person authorized to make decisions, or do I have to contact other people?
N – Need: How well does my solution fit the potential customer's needs? Which of our solutions fits best?
T – Time: How long does it take to be implemented?
In this way, you will be able to recognize immediately whether a potential customer is particularly attractive for your company and whether the sales department should contact him directly.
Tip #3: Professional appearance through the customer's eyes
A digital solution for recording your contacts at trade fairs is not only practical for the whole team but also creates a professional image with your contacts. A digital questionnaire is eco-friendly (an issue that many of us are concerned about these days) and fits perfectly into the business process. Discuss each of the points, step by step, with your customer or potential customer. This creates transparency and more trusting cooperation.
Tip #4: Fast implementation of new software through effective standards
Many employees are not interested in the implementation of a new tool. Like many managers, they worry that the implementation process in the company will be long and costly. With snapADDY VisitReport you don't have to worry about this. All functions are self-service, questionnaires can be quickly set up and used in many different languages. The standard interface with the common CRM systems enables easy data transfer and without any manual work.
Tip #5: What are the advantages of using a digital solution in sales?
The app works as a guideline for the meeting and can be easily used to save valuable time on the trade fair stand and in follow-up activities - this allows you to spend more time with the customer. All contact data can be quickly scanned and saved in the visit report. If the trade show attendee's information is already in the CRM, it can be selected immediately and without having to re-scan the business card. In addition, thanks to the direct link to the CRM, it is possible to consult the account manager and match the attendee as required. Different file formats such as videos, presentations, or digital brochures can be presented live and sent in a follow-up mail directly from the app. Teamwork is made much easier thanks to the team coordination function; each team member can check which colleagues are available at a given time at the booth and which skills they have. After the meeting, follow-up emails can be sent automatically with all the information required by the customer, from attachments to suggestions for a new appointment - this way, follow-up is much faster!
Tip #6: What are the benefits for managers and department heads?
A digital lead capture tool not only benefits the trade show staff and the sales or marketing team in the office but also the management staff. Personnel costs can be reduced thanks to the automatic transfer of information to the CRM system as well as the fast follow-up. Thanks to the high data quality – all contact data and information is stored in the CRM system completely, accurately and up to date – the marketing campaigns such as mailings can be controlled effectively. The app also allows you to check the success of your trade fair attendance every day. Data protection is, therefore, a top priority!
Efficient lead management at voestalpine Stahl GmbH
We asked our customer Hannes Gottwald to tell us more about lead management at voestalpine Stahl GmbH. Today, the company successfully uses our snapADDY VisitReport app – but how was lead capture at trade fairs in the past? "An intern filled out all the lead questionnaires by hand. Follow-up took an average of one to three weeks, or even longer. And that's not reliable. Follow-up should not take more than a week," says Gottwald. Thanks to snapADDY VisitReport, this problem was solved, as all the data of the recorded contacts is exported directly to the CRM and follow-up emails are sent with all the relevant information.
Despite this, not all employees were willing to use the new software immediately. There was only a change of mind when it came to data protection, as no customer can be invited or contacted without having obtained their consent for marketing purposes.
“With snapADDY VisitReport, customers and prospects can sign up directly in the app - it works very well! Even our legal department is very satisfied because when the signature is transferred to the CRM, even the timestamp is included.”
Hannes Gottwald, voestalpine Stahl GmbH
Hannes Gottwald has an interesting answer to the question of what trade fair stands will look like in five years: they will be face-to-face trade fairs on large exhibition stands because a digital experience cannot replace personal contact. voestalpine Stahl GmbH regularly attends trade fairs to stay in touch with its customers. In this way, they can directly present the latest products and thus strengthen business relationships.
We thank Mr. Gottwald for sharing with us the interesting way of managing leads in the company. You can find the complete interview on our YouTube channel.
Winter SALE
We are looking forward to our Winter SALE on January 19, 2022, at noon. At our event, you can learn, among other things, why data quality is a preventative issue and why so many CRM projects fail. We will also introduce you to our new DataQuality feature, Smart Autocomplete: Creating and completing lead information directly in Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics and SAP Sales Cloud interfaces has never been easier! We invite you to register here. If you have already joined a SALE, you do not need to register again as you will be automatically enrolled in future events. Shortly before the live streaming begins, you will receive the invitation link.
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