Tradeshows are one of the most common campaigns a mid-to-large size company might engage in for the purpose of lead generation. Ask around, and you will find that for many companies tradeshows are the first or second lead-generating activity in terms of volume. The topic of effective tradeshow management is surprisingly complex, and the number of considerations is enough to fill an entire graduate level semester syllabus. One of the most essential topics, however, is the evaluation of return on investment (ROI) for tradeshow campaigns. As a marketing consultant, it never ceases to amaze me how often companies invest significant resources in a tradeshow, and then purport to evaluate the return on those resources via the number of leads generated at the show. Alas, this strategy is misguided, as the real measure of return on any investment in a for-profit company is profit, not lead count. Essentially, if you are going to effectively evaluate your return on investment for a tradeshow, you must be able to answer the following questions:

1. How many leads were generated at the tradeshow?
2. Over the course of your company’s average sales cycle, how many/what percentage of those leads converted to sales?
3. What was the amount of profit generated from leads obtained at the tradeshow? (NOTE: You must subtract the cost of participating in the tradeshow to calculate profit.)
4. What percent of all sales/margin is accounted for by leads generated at this tradeshow?

Until you can answer those four questions, you cannot effectively calculate return on investment from a tradeshow. Why is it not enough to know how many leads were generated at a tradeshow and use that figure to determine if you should participate in that tradeshow again? Because five hundred leads are worth nothing if none of them convert to sales. As a matter of fact, that would be a clear indication that there is not a good fit between your product or service and the attendees at the tradeshow.

What can you do if you are trying to evaluate a tradeshow in a period of time that is shorter than your average sales cycle, and you therefore do not have reliable profit data yet? There are a few more subjective measure you can use to evaluate whether or not to sign up for next year.

Here is a sample form that you can ask your tradeshow booth staff to fill out to allow you to make decisions about tradeshows before your average sales cycle is up, as well as evaluate your own performance in regards to tradeshow management:

_____________________________________________________________________

Rate Each on a Scale of 1-5:

__ Attendance

__ Lead Quality

__ Booth Location

__ Booth Staffing

__ Preshow Planning

__ Tradeshow Management

__ Display Effectiveness

What competitors were present, if any?

Recommend to Attend/Exhibit Next Time? Yes/No (Do not provide a maybe box, get a committed answer.)

Comments/Summary:

__________________________________________________________________________

This data, some of which is more subjective in nature, can still help to make a good decision as to whether or not to sign up for next year. Pay particular attention to the lead quality rating assigned by your staff, as this will be your best indicator as to whether a high conversion rate is likely.

Read More…

• Back to Basics Marketing
• Marketing as Company Wide Responsibility
• Mobilization: Reaching Outside the Marketing Department
• Advanced Lead Qualification: Sales and Marketing Work Together
• Sales’ Feedback into Marketing: Profiling Prospects and Their Problems
• “Inside Marketing”: Marketing to Your Own Sales Organization
• Developing Unique, Customer-Focused Value Propositions
• How to Train an Entry-Level Marketing Employee
• When Return on Investment Doesn’t Paint a Full Picture
• Defining and Presenting Value Propositions in a Competitive Market
• Logos and Promotional Product Designs for “Difficult” Subjects
• Defining and Refining Value Propositions for Luxury Items
• You Are Here Evaluating Return-On-Investment (ROI) for Tradeshow Activities
• Management Mistake in Small Business: No Investment during Trying Times