Few businesses exist that don't compare data from one year to the next. The same should be true of exhibiting. If you have set goals, the process of post-show evaluation is made simple. You also have a chance to determine if the arena you've selected - a particular show - is an effective venue for reaching you customers and prospects. Knowing how to do this evaluation is the subject of this article.

Was It Good For You?

The fat lady came onto the stage, hit that one final note and managed to shatter eye glasses, stop traffic, amass hundreds of hounds who heard a mating call - and the show was over.

This series has been devoted to planning pre-show/at-show promotions, with tricks, tips, how-to's and don'ts. But if, when the show is ended, you are unable to define what was and was not accomplished then all that went before becomes an exercise in futility.

There's a new term being used to describe the comprehensive elements of effective trade show planning: Closed-Loop Management. This phrase clearly defines that all aspects of a show, from inception, goal setting, pre-show planning, and graphic design to staffing, inquiry management and follow-up is part of a continuum which, when analyzed, provides a road map for that same event the following year.

In closing the loop of promotional strategies, evaluating results is both the last and first step; the last for this particular show, and the first in setting objectives for next year's event.

Trade show activities are part of a continuum, each aspect segueing into the next. Perceiving each as a separate activity decreases both your effectiveness and potential.

After The Ball Is Over—Evaluation Time

"We gave out a lot of catalogs." "We collected 530 business cards." "I talked to 230 people on the first day, alone." Good results? I don't think so. When these outcomes were reported, the first reaction was "How many did you qualify?" Looking back on your last show, how many of the people with whom you spoke were really potential prospects or customers? Was your time spent at the show really used in the best possible way? How many actual orders, real business, resulted?

The answers to all these questions lies in your pre-show planning. When setting objectives, if they are quantifiable, the numbers will speak for themselves. If your objectives were more qualitative, such as introducing a new product, how many demos were completed, or samples ordered? Was part of the booth contact a questionnaire to be completed and turned in for evaluation? Or if, as in one case we had, the audience is comprised of influencers, do they still hold sway the way they did before?

Another way to look at results is based on how 'clean', or qualified, your invitation list was at the beginning of the planning process. Too often, post show, you discover your list was not filled with appropriate names. One of the saddest experiences is mailing out 500 invitations and finding that only 47 were the 'right' people at the cost of wasted postage, printing and premiums.

The buying habits of show attendees is also a critical element. If you use the 'three show rule', doing three shows before deciding whether or not to keep exhibiting, you can use your experience with the audience to truly evaluate show effectiveness. What often happens, though, is once you're used to doing the show, you rarely take a fresh look at the results and re-analyze the audience. Are they still the right target at which to aim?

Shows don't work. People do. It's the sales people who really close the loop for exhibits, writing orders weeks and months later. How integral, how beneficial, was the show contact? Did the action taking place at the show help move the buying process forward toward a satisfactory conclusion? Or should the purchase have been completed at the show, saving thousands of dollars in costs of making sales?

Your bottom line question should be whether you really made "the most" out of your exhibit space; the most qualified contacts, the most sales, the most of a uniquely positioned sales, marketing and advertising opportunity.

Follow the Lead

There’s an adage about follow-up: "You are only as good as your last contact." So if you make a promise or a commitment at a show - and never do anything - your credibility is down the tubes. At one show, after checking my voice mail, I contacted three vendors requesting a quote for a customer.

Each supplier was given the identical information on the same day, within an hour of each other. Because there was a deadline involved with the order, they were each was told that this quote was needed within two days. Only one responded - and that was within twenty-four hours. The other two were never heard from again - and also never got an order from me again. Obviously, I wasn’t important enough for them to bother, so why should I care about them?

As the aisle carpet is rolled up, what did you do with all those leads you collected over the course of the show? Did you stick them in the packing case with the booth, never to be found again, or did you go through and review them each evening and make additional notes as the show closed before rushing out to party hearty?

For the best follow up, you need to start with an effective way to trap the information you collect at the show, one that details information rather than relying on a scrap of paper. We’ve all seen the salespeople who take your business card, make a few scribbled notes on the back and then stick the card in his or her pocket. Who knows what happens with those cards after that?

Another experience involved those imprinters now in use at so many trade shows. My zip code was incorrectly scanned on to the magnetic stripe of those plastic cards we all carry, so I never received a single catalog or sample ordered at that show.

Too often, the exhibit manager operates without authority or accountability. They get little, if any, support from management, can't require staff attendance, or have the final say-so on what happens with the booth.

Gaining Corporate Support

The anathema of exhibit marketing is that senior management rarely understands or supports trade show participation. The reasons given for this lack vary; the reality is that it's not understood - or worse - in the past there was a bad experience that soured them.

Getting past the negatives and onto the positives is a matter of internal education. Other marketing communications are more visible, or produce quantifiable results. In the case of trade shows, traceable outcome can take years, with actual sales occurring only through combined efforts.

For an exhibit manager, gaining corporate support takes a lot of time and a lot more effort. The primary job is making an invisible task visible, both in terms of expenditures and accomplishments. The answer lies in communication.

In researching this article, I spoke with several exhibit managers who enjoy total support for their programs, and in all cases that support evolved because of a constant barrage of information provided to management before, during and after all shows in which they participated. Management was kept informed of pre-show planning and expectations, what actually happened at the shows, and, then, what resulted. No one was ever kept in the dark about this aspect of marketing communications.

For this to come about, there are specific steps you, the exhibit manager, need to take. In a nutshell, you need to know where you are, where you're going and then figure out how to get there.

The first is to do an internal study to find out where you stand. The easiest version is to provide multiple choice answers that let co-ordinates and managers define their perceptions. Questions should be included along the lines of:

1. What is the purpose of our trade show exhibit?

2. Rank objectives in order of importance.

3. Who makes the buying decision amongst our customers and prospects?

While this study is taking place, examine those shows in which you participate, to verify that the message you are sending is one audiences you are trying to reach want (or need) to hear. Combine the results and present this information to top management. This final report, which incorporates co-ordinate desires as well as the realities of shows, will preclude future dissension. No one will be able to say they didn't have a finger in the end result.

Now the burden is back on you. For all future shows information needs to be provided to managers about what to expect as well as what they need to submit - all with deadlines. Mission statements and objectives need to be defined in advance, and then, post-show, evaluated.

You also need to develop strategies that reflect audience needs and audience objectives.

Given that the trend is to provide more technical expertise at shows, appropriate personnel must be present, with the blessing of that manager. Once they understand this, based on information you have provided, there should now be a shift toward providing support rather than maintaining opposition.

You're probably asking where you find the time to do all this work. A small part of it is available from show management and internal tracking. But the majority will come from you being a manager - not a minion. Your job is to manage the shows, not run errands. It is far more cost effective to investigate outsourcing.

With the growth of the trade show industry, there are many excellent companies who provide services to fill out forms and do the other menial tasks that are time consuming but produce little or no management benefit. Exhibit houses also provide this service although their charges sometimes are a bit high. If you need referrals, give me a call.

Reporting The Results

Lastly, your main job from here on out is to flood upper-level management with reports. Other marketing communications are visible because management is kept aware of what is going on. It's rare that exhibit managers do this. When you keep the trade show program a mystery, no one is willing to play sleuth and find out how it's going. And when something needs to be cut, budget-wise, that lack of visibility translates to lack of importance. Reports will change that perception.

Almost all the exhibit managers I've met know their jobs inside and out, the pluses and minuses, what works and what doesn't. They recognize the value of trade shows in sales and marketing. They are team players, understanding that shows don't work - people do, and they give credit where credit is due. But you, the exhibit manager, are what makes them effective. You enable the sales people with opportunities to speak with customers and prospects in a cost-effective venue. It's about time you got support as well.

Taking Sides

It seems that everyone has an opinion of your trade show program, either positive or negative. In the corporate world, large company or small, getting everyone onto the good side of exhibiting is the answer. How to do it is the question.

We're talking about advanced trade show skills, but what we're really trying to do is move not only you, the exhibit manager, but also your company into more sophisticated - and more effective - exhibiting. These articles may seem at times idealistic, but they are easier to put into practice than one might think.

Sales, which are the life blood of any company, rarely exist in a vacuum. Neither do trade shows. The same departments which support any sales effort, and it's all of them indirectly if not directly, also support and contribute to the trade show effort. Gaining their involvement, and more importantly, their support should be one of your goals.

When the trade show program as a whole has a mission and each show within that program has goals and objectives, the next step, that of deciding which tactics will take you to those goals, has to be determined. Given that these tactics will be implemented by the company as a whole, not by any one individual, it is imperative that all departments be involved. Communicating that to department heads is the problem.

What's in it for them? We, the exhibit community, understand the value of trade shows and what they can do for us when they're done right. Most people who connect a negative connotation to trade shows usually have a reason. Sometimes they've had a bad experience. Other times, they've done the shows and gotten nothing out of them and figure that, therefore, all shows are bad. Most times, the real reason is there were no goals so there was no way to know if they worked or not. Another prevalent reason is that the staff in the booth didn't know why they were there or what to do during their shifts.

Corporations spend millions of dollars each year in training their staffs on how better to sell. Selling techniques have gone from the 'hot button' of the '60's to strategic selling in the '80's. But selling in a booth - rather using it to question effectively instead of talk - is a skill rarely understood and taught even less.

Your job in involving other departments is one of education more than anything else. Explain to them in simple terms why you exhibit at trade shows. Although shows are, for the most part, not actual selling venues, they do shorten the selling cycle. It might be done by providing technical expertise so that prospects can compare apples to apples. Or, it might be used to contact the smaller client and save the time and expense usually associated with normal sales calls.

In educating these people, they begin to comprehend how their contributions, no matter how small, have value. Every single thing we do impacts on the impressions prospects and customers have of our companies. For instance, if the low man on the totem pole - the mail room clerk - doesn't expedite those 'thank you' notes or catalogue requests, the image communicated is one of not caring.

"Houston, We Have A Problem..."

Many years ago I read a phrase in a book that I've taught every person I've ever employed. "I have a problem and I need your help." These nine words have gotten us all farther simply because it implies respect for someone's judgment and value for what they have to say. If you use them on a department head when deciding how the trade show is actually going work, they'll be more willing to come up with tactics because they now know what they have to say is valued and that you are really listening.

What else can you do? Start with a survey of other managers in your company to find out what they like and dislike about doing shows. Be careful when you write this. Often we phrase questions so we get responses we want to hear - not the truth. This way you'll find out where they are so that later you can move them to where they need to be. After collating results, distribute the study along with information about the benefits of trade shows. Include how each department's contribution reinforces the overall effort.