Efficient lead management at trade fairs: Interview with René Knapp

Mr. Knapp, what does the term lead management actually mean and what opportunities does its efficient handling open up, especially with regard to its use at trade fairs?

The topic of lead management has become very important at trade fairs over the last ten years. In the past, people used to go to trade fairs and take an informal approach to networking. That no longer happens, everything has to be effective and it’s always about return on investment (ROI), it’s more and more about numbers.

Trade fair appearances cost a lot of money, so lead management has emerged as a kind of “results measurement tool” for companies. That’s why it has simply been very much in focus for a few years now. Trade fairs are almost no longer held just to meet people; instead, you want very concrete figures: how many people did you meet, who was interested in what and, of course, you also want to generate “business” from this at some point. In other words, when visitors are invited to a trade fair, they are welcomed on site, given food and drink by the catering team, presented with the latest products and engaged in discussions. The results of these conversations are then recorded with the lead app – a tool from XFAIR – and evaluated accordingly.

The next step is to send out corresponding thank-you emails in which you thank them for their visit – this should actually be the beginning of actually getting a signature at some point, i.e. concluding a contract for a deal that you initiated at the trade fair.

Where does XFAIR start with its lead management solutions and what challenges does the team face in its day-to-day business?

The thing is that what most people think of as lead management is actually only a small part and only the final consequence of the “big picture”. There’s a lot more going on, both in the preparation and the follow-up.

Das eigentliche Lead-Management, das heißt, das Qualifizieren eines Besuchers, ist eigentlich das Ende einer ganzen Reihe an Aktionen, die vorher stattfinden müssen. Ich muss mir also vorher als Aussteller überlegen: Wen lade ich überhaupt zu dieser Messe oder dem Event ein? Wenn diese Person sich dann zurückmeldet und zusagt, muss ich irgendwie schauen, dass derjenige eine Antwort erhält und vielleicht sogar ein Eintritts-Ticket bekommt. Das heißt mein Lead-Management fängt eigentlich schon viel früher an.

Ab dem Zeitpunkt der Einladung kann ich schon dafür sorgen, dass irgendwann tatsächlich aus dem „heißen Lead“ ein Vertrag wird. Und das ist für mich als leidenschaftlicher Vertriebsprofi wirklich ein großes Ansinnen; diesen ganzen Prozess zu begleiten. Mit unseren Lösungen von XFAIR bieten wir hier Möglichkeiten für unsere Kunden – meist größere Aussteller von großen Messen. Mit unserem Einladungs- sowie Response-Management können alle notwendigen Schritte bearbeitet werden, die zur Vereinbarung eines Termins von eingeladenen Besuchern mit der vor Ort zuständigen Standbesetzung führen. So kann der Eingeladene an der Infotheke aufschlagen und, beispielsweise mit einem QR-Code, der seinem Einladungs- beziehungsweise Bestätigungsschreiben entnommen werden kann, sofort identifiziert werden. Damit könnte dann zum Beispiel automatisiert eine Nachricht an einen entsprechenden Vertriebsmitarbeiter rausgehen, dass jetzt sein Termin an der Infotheke ist, wo er ihn abholen kann. Oder man kann ihn auch automatisiert mit nur einem Klick anrufen.

Es geht eigentlich immer darum, den Besucher eines unserer Kunden, also eines Ausstellers, bestmöglich zu betreuen und Ihm den bestmöglichen Service zu bieten. Dazu gehört, dass er ohne Probleme zu seinem Ansprechpartner kommt, dass die Gesprächsatmosphäre entsprechend relaxed und trotzdem professionell ist, um alles in guten Bahnen zu lenken, dass dann nachher eben irgendwann ein Geschäft draus wird.

„Uns geht es darum, dem Kunden ein optimales „Surrounding“ für seine Kundenakquise zu schaffen.“

How is lead capture organized at the event? How can an outsider imagine the processes?

Now, in order to capture a lead, initial contact must be made. There are two ways to do this: either the prospects come via the information desk or they meet the sales representative directly. If they come via the information desk, there is the option of recording them – as mentioned above – and then calling the sales employee, fully automatically of course. If they meet directly, this is of course also possible, in which case they may have already booked a meeting room with one of our tools, or even a table in the catering area where they can sit down to have their conversation.

The actual lead capture then takes place via the app, in which I then enter the data, be it via a business card scan or a manual entry, a QR code scan or an existing data record that I can pull from the database. Ultimately, I can then fill out a personalized questionnaire.

Who is the visitor? Which industry is he from? Is he a decision-maker or not?”.

The principle is always similar. It’s always about “Who is the visitor? Which industry is he from? Are they a decision-maker or not?”. Then the interests are queried: “Which product are you interested in? Would you like to receive further information, either electronically or by post as a hard copy? What is the next step, what should happen after the conversation?” This is the typical structure of a lead form. However, this can of course be individually adapted and is different for each of our customers. The evaluations, which can be collected both daily and cumulatively, look correspondingly different. The marketing departments can then use the reports provided by XFAIR to run their corresponding evaluations and draw their conclusions.

What if visitors to the stand who have not been invited beforehand come to talk to employees and are interested in a particular product? There is no pre-existing data record – can these people also be recorded?

I even believe that this is the group of people who are even more interesting for the exhibitors, because they are all people who do not yet know the exhibitors. We call this group the “walk-ins”. Of course, we can also record them and add them to our system for our customers. The visitors are then usually forwarded to an information desk, as these visitors do not yet know the name of the contact person and then ask for the relevant contact person based on certain criteria values. For example: “I’m looking for someone who is responsible for Switzerland, who should perhaps be able to speak Italian because it’s for Italian-speaking Switzerland and who should be responsible for a certain type of machine.” We can store these responsibilities and skills in our system. According to these search parameters, we receive a “search result” and can thus identify the relevant people and contact them directly with just one mouse click in order to guide the visitor to their contact person as quickly and effectively as possible.

Of course, no matter how well prepared you are, no matter how good your products are, if you have customers who place different demands on the tool every time, you have to be as adaptable as possible. How does that work at XFAIR?

Of course, we are lucky that we have a great deal of experience thanks to the large number of projects we have already completed and have already implemented so many different requirements. We also have it in our claim:

“There really is nothing that we can’t implement, …”

This flexibility is not just a given, it has grown. Through experience and, of course, through knowledge. This enables us to be highly flexible for our customers. There really is nothing that we can’t implement, because with our standardized product we cover, let’s say, 95 percent of requests, and if something can’t be covered, then of course we take it on board and our “in-house development department” will then work out an appropriate solution. This enables us to provide the customer with a completely individualized solution – even if something is not included, i.e. if a customer approaches us with a completely new requirement. Then we program it from scratch.

Have we got your attention? If you would like to find out more about our XFAIR solutions and how they can be used for your event, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you’re curious about how XFAIR came about in the first place, you’re welcome to browse through the blog articles listed below!