How to Maintain Momentum with Prospects Post Show
Follow-Up Strategies Every NAMM Show Exhibitor Should Know
You’ve returned from a successful NAMM Show with lots of orders, new business connections and head full of ideas. Now what?
They say “the fortune is in the follow up.” Use this guide to ensure you have an effective post-show strategy to help you grow your business in 2018.
- Make Immediate Contact – Don’t let your interaction with a connection you’ve made at The NAMM Show be the end of your engagement with them. Rather, The NAMM Show should be the beginning of a growing relationship. Send a personal email or hand written thank you note to reinforce your connection within a week or two of the show. If you can, follow up with answers to specific questions they had about your brand or products. The more personal the connection and interaction you have in addressing their problem or need, the more likely they will continue to engage with you and ultimately buy. Don’t be shy or concerned that you are bothering them. If they didn’t want to hear from you, they wouldn’t have given you their contact information.
- Nurture Your New Audience – Upon making that initial follow up connection, continue to send additional information about you, your products and your brand, differentiating yourself from the completion, highlighting customer successes and inviting them to connect on social media. This is the “getting to know you” phase of the relationship that should take place over three to five follow up emails. Help your new contact generate the trust they need to feel confident about a future purchasing decision.
The NAMM show sets the stage for our year. It’s a great time for manufacturers and distributors to engage directly with people who purchase our product, develop new product ideas and relationships, and see some awesome performances. For sales, it’s important to start the year off positively.
National Sales Manager, Cordoba Guitars
3. Generate Online Buzz – Your customer testimonials are probably your most important asset in getting potential buyers to trust you and your products. Post your videos, testimonials and photos online; and share on social media while your new connections are seeking more information that will move them closer to a purchasing decision. Invite your followers to post on social media about their favorite moment with your brand at the show so that your new contacts see the excitement and momentum that has been generated around your products by buyers that have similar needs.
4. Make a Tripwire Offer – Upon getting to know you, make your new contacts an offer that allows them to test your services or product with minimal commitment. Ideally this would be a smaller offer that eventually leads to a bigger purchase down the road. Or it could be a generous discount during a specified window of time that generates a sense of urgency to buy. It may not feel like a “big win” in the short term; but it gives you the opportunity to establish trust with a buyer and eventually turn them into a repeat customer and raving fan. In short, it is a great opportunity to convert those sitting on the fence.
5. Continue to Engage with Valuable Content – Show that you value your new contacts by continuing to give them content that pertains to your industry, company and product line on a weekly or monthly basis, via email, social media or both. Make sure this content is more for their benefit than yours. In other words, the focus of the content should help them solve problems, such as educational videos, pictographs, product comparison sheets, white papers, industry news versus “look at me” promotions. If they find value in the content you provide, they will continue to engage in the relationship and you will be top of mind when they are ready to buy or buy again.