293 | Turn Trade Show Leads into New Customers with Katie Hunt

As you’re getting ready for upcoming trade shows, I want to share how you can create a simple, but effective way to turn your trade show leads (people you meet at the shows) into new wholesale customers.

Spoiler alert: the success of what I’m teaching you hinges on one singular thing: the follow-through. You have to do the work to see results. In this episode, I’m sharing what you should do while you’re on-site at the trade show to make the post-show follow-up easier and more profitable in 5 simple steps.

This episode is brought to you by our Email Marketing For Product Makers guide. 49% of our customers want to hear from us on a consistent basis, yet, only a small percentage of product-based business owners are actively sending monthly emails to their customers.

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5 Steps to Turn Trade Show Leads into New Customers

Being at an in-person trade show leads to opportunities that may not even be on your radar. I’ve personally connected with sales reps and licensing partners at trade shows, which turned into relationships that led to future revenue for my business.

Trade shows present a lot of opportunities, but the biggest mistake I see brands making when selling wholesale and exhibiting at wholesale shows is that they do not prioritize the follow-up.

Many trade show exhibitors don’t follow-up after meeting someone in-person at a show. Many brands don’t follow up after they send out pitches, sample kits, or catalogs. Many don’t follow up with wholesale accounts that haven’t placed an order in a while. These are all missed opportunities!

If you’re not following up, you’re leaving money on the table. In the case of exhibiting at trade shows, if you don’t follow up, you’re not maximizing the time, money and effort that you’ve spent to exhibit at that trade show.

Your follow-up doesn’t have to be complex. Today I’m going to tell you about things you can do while you’re on-site at the trade show to make the post-show follow-up easier and more profitable.

Step 1: Track who you meet at the show.

While there are different tech tools that you can use at shows to collect customer information, my favorite option is a low-tech notebook that you keep on hand in your booth.

As you meet people, ask for their business card to put in the notebook, then you can jot down notes about what products they looked at and any personal details about them.

If a buyer doesn’t have a business card, ask if you can take a photo of their badge and make notes in the notebook once they’ve left!

Step 2: Engage in casual conversation.

As you engage in conversation with buyers who approach your booth, mirror the energy they’re bringing into your booth.

Start by greeting them, say hello, and let them look around your booth. From there, ask questions & engage them in casual conversation through the following prompts:

Ask what types of products they are looking for.
Ask them about their store and their customers.
Ask what types of products they sell in their shop.
If you like the glasses they are wearing, compliment them or ask what types of glasses they are.

There is a benefit in engaging in casual and curious conversation rather than forced sales conversation because people want to feel seen and heard, but not aggressively sold to.

People usually don’t mind talking about themselves, plus having a casual conversation will help make your follow-up easier and more tailored after the show.

Step 3: Customize your tracking efforts for a personalized follow-up.

After a buyer leaves the booth, staple the business card in that notebook we referenced, then write down anything unique or interesting that you talked about that you can reference in your follow-up. Consider the following:

What products were they interested in?
Did you talk about something personal to them?
Did they mention something happening in the town where their store is located?

Simply write down any notes about their store, the person, and which products they were interested in.

Additionally, you can also use this time to rank each contact with a priority level. For example, you can use an ABC ranking system, where:

“A” are hot leads or people that need immediate follow-up: stores wanting samples, press wanting photos, someone needing specialty pricing on a bulk order, etc.
“B” are warm leads or people who connected with you, showed interest, but weren’t ready to buy at the show.
“C” are cold leads or people who you met but likely won’t buy: peers in the industry, suppliers to partner with, or shop owners that don’t seem like a great fit.

After your show, these rankings will help you prioritize who to follow up with first, second, and third. Then referencing the notes you documented will guide your conversation & help remind them who you are when you follow up.

Step 4: Personalize your follow-up email.

After the show, write personal emails to everyone you ranked as As first. You can follow with the Bs and Cs later if you have time. To streamline this process, I recommend having a templated email that you can customize for each person.

Here is a sample of what your template should include:

Thank them for stopping by your booth!
Remind them what you sell.
Have a clear call to action

(LABS Members- we have templates & swipe files for your wholesale outreach.)

To personalize the email, refer back to your notes and mention anything interesting that you & this person talked about. This personalization in your follow-up will not only make the email more friendly and personable, but it will help jog the buyer’s memory about who you are and the products you sell.

Step 5: Nurture your leads.

Immediately after the trade show, make sure to add everyone you met to your email service provider and follow them on social media.

I often get asked whether we can add buyers to our email list when we meet them at the show. The answer is yes.

When a shop owner gives you their business card or shares their email with you, they are consenting to receiving additional information from you. Therefore, you can add them to your email service provider.

Once they get added to your wholesale email list, we want them to get your wholesale welcome sequence and then monthly nurture emails from you. (Check out our templates for this inside LABS- our 12-month membership community for product-based business owners.)

A shocking number of brands drop the ball on follow-up, but particularly this step of ongoing nurturing of our leads. We can create an automated system through our email service provider that keeps our brand and products top of mind with our leads and wholesale buyers.

In Conclusion,

Each of our follow-up touch points should add value, provide wholesale buyers with the information they need to make their buying decision, and ultimately strengthen our relationship with each shop.

Simply put, make it easy for people to purchase your products.

These are strategies I teach in our Proof to Product LABS programs, where we even have templates that you can use to make the writing process faster & easier. Whether you use our templates or create your own, the goal here is to nurture your leads so that you build that know, like, and trust factor.

Quick Links:

Here is a recap of links shared throughout this podcast and blog post:

If you’d like to learn more about how to build out your monthly nurture emails so that you keep your wholesale customer coming back for more, our Email Marketing for Product Makers guide will get you started with ideas for what to say and when to send your monthly marketing emails.

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Connect with Katie Hunt

Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.

Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct