SEMA members are encouraged to take time to vote for the 2010–2012 SEMA Board of Directors. Members should be on the lookout for e-mail reminders from the SEMA Election Coordinator with a subject line “Vote Now.” One notice should arrive June 7, followed by another on June 14.

Seventeen industry professionals are vying for a position on the 2010–2012 SEMA Board of Directors. The SEMA Board provides strategic direction to the association and plays a critical role in shaping the future of the automotive specialty-equipment industry.

Ballots were sent to the primary contacts at eligible SEMA-member companies within the corresponding categories at the beginning of May and are due back by June 16, 2010.

Click on the following link to view photos and backgrounds of all of the candidates.

For more information about the 2010–2012 SEMA Board of Directors election, contact Judi Ritchie at judir@sema.org, or call 909/978-6671.

SEMA members are encouraged to take time to vote for the 2010–2012 SEMA Board of Directors. Members should be on the lookout for e-mail reminders from the SEMA Election Coordinator with a subject line “Vote Now.” One notice should arrive June 7, followed by another on June 14.

Seventeen industry professionals are vying for a position on the 2010–2012 SEMA Board of Directors. The SEMA Board provides strategic direction to the association and plays a critical role in shaping the future of the automotive specialty-equipment industry.

Ballots were sent to the primary contacts at eligible SEMA-member companies within the corresponding categories at the beginning of May and are due back by June 16, 2010.

Click on the following link to view photos and backgrounds of all of the candidates.

For more information about the 2010–2012 SEMA Board of Directors election, contact Judi Ritchie at judir@sema.org, or call 909/978-6671.

SEMA News - June 2010 

Ensuring the Top Return on Your Trade Show Investment Before, During and After

By Steve Campbell

This series of SEMA News stories is based on the idea of using reliable and repeatable methods to ensure business success. In coming issues, we will delve into a range of topics aimed at developing Best Practices through knowledge, motivation and skills.

	Trade shows provide opportunities for face-to-face consultations and hands-on demonstrations, delivering everything up to and including order agreements. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of the leads developed at trade shows are never followed up afterward.

Trade show participation can be one of the most effective ways to introduce new customers to your products or services as well as to update current clients about innovations. A trade show provides an opportunity for face-to-face consultations and hands-on demonstrations, delivering everything up to and including order agreements. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of the leads developed at trade shows are never followed up after the show. That’s a staggering waste of a significant investment.

But even the term “follow up” is a bit of a misnomer. The cultivation of business from a trade show should actually begin well in advance of opening day. The best practice is to establish a plan for how to handle contacts in the days and weeks leading up to a show, including development of an e-mail or regular mail message that can be tailored specifically to the interests of prospective customers. Doing that prep work ahead of time helps ensure that your company will pursue the leads that occur on the show floor.

In the case of the SEMA Show, there are even more tools available to exhibitors who wish to prepare for, procure and profit from trade show leads. The SEMA Show uses CompuSystems, a computerized lead-retrieval provider that not only supplies full contact data for buyers and exhibitors who use the system, but also allows exhibitors to buy advance lists of retailers and jobbers who will be attending the week-long event in Las Vegas. Jenny Clifford, marketing manager for Rhino Linings Corp., said that her company takes full advantage of that service as it prepares for the annual event.

“Prior to the SEMA Show, we purchase the leads available through CompuSystems based on the various automotive markets we target,” Clifford said. “We also pull up any prospects that have contacted us within the last year and do a pre-SEMA postcard mailing. We make sure the postcard is relevant to the automotive market the prospect is in. One type of postcard is not usually best for all.”

John Fischer, vice president of sales and marketing for AfterSoft Network NA Inc., said that his company pursues a similar pre-show strategy. “Each show differs,” he said, “but we mail out postcards to our target market for SEMA announcing our attendance and specials and inviting buyers to our booth. We also send a similar e-mail blast to all e-mail addresses that we have within our target market, and we call approximately 1,000 prospects.”

The CompuSystems service can make things really simple for exhibitors at the SEMA Show, and about 87% of them used the system last year, according to Susan Schwartz, CEM, president of ConvExx, the SEMA Show management company.

“All attendees have barcodes on their badges at the SEMA Show,” Schwartz explained. “Any exhibitor who has rented a CompuSystems reader then has the ability to have an attendee swipe their code through the machine. It reads the code and stores the contact’s name, address, e-mail address and phone number as well as some information about how much they buy, whether they have status as ‘recommend to buy’ or if they are the actual buyer, how many stores they have and so on.”

The exhibitor receives a USB thumb drive that contains all of the leads captured from the reader. The information is available immediately, which allows the exhibitor to retrieve the data whenever it’s desired.

“The exhibitor can even take the thumb drive back to the hotel every night and download the information to the home office,” Schwartz said. “The office staff can then get started on the day’s leads even before the SEMA Show is over, so an attendee can have information from that exhibitor sitting at his desk when he gets back from the Show.”

What’s more, CompuSystems can automatically feed the information into an exhibitor’s home office database. And since the data is CSV (comma-separated values) compatible, it easily downloads into Excel spreadsheets or other sales software.

The system also serves up data in the other direction. The SEMA Show uses CompuSystems to send every buyer a listing of all the booths where his or her code was swiped during the Show. On the exhibitor side, a comprehensive post-Show download is sent to the exhibiting company containing not only contact information for the booth swipes, but also information about anyone who downloaded exhibit information from the company’s entries in the New Products Showcase—including media. If an editor from Hot Rod or CarDomain.com took an interest in a new product, the exhibitor gets that information and can follow up on it.

		"The best practice is to establish a plan for how to handle contacts in the days and weeks leading up to a show, including development of an e-mail or regular mail message that can be tailored specifically to the interests of prospective customers. Doing that prep work ahead of time helps ensure that your company will pursue the leads that occur on the show floor."

Whether you’re using the CompuSystems method or simply collecting contact information from business cards, ensure that you and your sales team make notes about every potential customer who visits your booth as the show progresses. Jot down what specific products the person was interested in and any deadlines you discussed. Also categorize the prospect’s intent to buy in your notes; “hot,” “warm” and “just looking” are broad terms to use. The top category should be reserved for visitors who have buying authority and show real interest—but follow up with all of them. An attendee who visited the booth just to enter a contest or pick up some literature could turn “hot” by the time you return to the home office.

Post-event follow-up is crucial to creating the greatest return on a trade show investment. The best practice is to act either during the show, as noted above, or within days of returning to the office. Give responsibility for each lead to a specific salesperson with detailed instructions about how to proceed. Delays increase the chance that a buyer will accept a different offer. There are strategies that can simplify the salesperson’s tasks.

If you’ve already developed the essentials of a personalized cover letter, the salesperson can simply fill in information that is customized according to the notes made during the attendee’s visit to the booth. Include any requested literature in the package, promise a later phone call—then be sure to follow through! Phone calls obviously take the most time, but they’re also the most effective, allowing the salesperson to review the prospect’s product interests and answer spontaneous but important questions. This call also allows the salesman to discuss a future meeting, offer fact sheets or product brochures or provide information about special offers.

“Whether or not the lead came by the booth is irrelevant,” said Clifford. “We always make sure that we ‘touch’ the prospect at least two more times after the SEMA Show. The marketing team develops postcards that are mailed to each lead, making sure that the postcard is different with each mailing. This is just a gentle reminder and keeps your company name fresh in the prospects’ minds.”

A week or two after the show, when the flurry of follow-ups has subsided, sit down with your sales staff and other personnel who attended the event for a post-show analysis meeting. Talk about the booth size and layout, its location, the traffic patterns around it. Discuss what worked well and what needs further discussion and refinement. Review the literature and displays that were furnished in the booth and use these discussions to plan for
future shows.

A month or two down the line, evaluate the new business that resulted from the show. Your return on investment can be measured by the simple subtraction of how much you spent to be there from how much revenue you generated as a result. However, don’t ignore the intangibles that may also have accrued, such as building brand awareness and planting the seeds for future business that may take a bit longer to bear fruit.

“We have received phone calls from leads or prospects up to 1½ to 2 years after speaking to them the first time,” Clifford said. “We keep them in the loop with changes to our packages or pricing with e-mail blasts sent a couple times a year. We also send leads any relevant press releases, such as new products we’ve added.”

But if you don’t follow up, you’ve wasted an enormous percentage of the money you spent going to a show. “One exhibitor told me that he had an incredible number of leads when he left the SEMA Show in 2009,” Schwartz recalled, “but he had a bad salesperson who didn’t follow up on a single one of them. That not only costs money but frustrates buyers who think that they’ve given their information in good faith.”

On the other hand, she said, it’s never too late. The CompuSystems program used at the SEMA Show can continue to provide a company’s lead information at any time—even months afterward.

“You never know what the buying cycle might be,” Schwartz said. “A prospect might not even be ready to buy until mid-year, so you might catch him or her at exactly the right time.”

You just need to follow the leads.  

 

SEMA News - June 2010 

Ensuring the Top Return on Your Trade Show Investment Before, During and After

By Steve Campbell

This series of SEMA News stories is based on the idea of using reliable and repeatable methods to ensure business success. In coming issues, we will delve into a range of topics aimed at developing Best Practices through knowledge, motivation and skills.

	Trade shows provide opportunities for face-to-face consultations and hands-on demonstrations, delivering everything up to and including order agreements. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of the leads developed at trade shows are never followed up afterward.

Trade show participation can be one of the most effective ways to introduce new customers to your products or services as well as to update current clients about innovations. A trade show provides an opportunity for face-to-face consultations and hands-on demonstrations, delivering everything up to and including order agreements. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of the leads developed at trade shows are never followed up after the show. That’s a staggering waste of a significant investment.

But even the term “follow up” is a bit of a misnomer. The cultivation of business from a trade show should actually begin well in advance of opening day. The best practice is to establish a plan for how to handle contacts in the days and weeks leading up to a show, including development of an e-mail or regular mail message that can be tailored specifically to the interests of prospective customers. Doing that prep work ahead of time helps ensure that your company will pursue the leads that occur on the show floor.

In the case of the SEMA Show, there are even more tools available to exhibitors who wish to prepare for, procure and profit from trade show leads. The SEMA Show uses CompuSystems, a computerized lead-retrieval provider that not only supplies full contact data for buyers and exhibitors who use the system, but also allows exhibitors to buy advance lists of retailers and jobbers who will be attending the week-long event in Las Vegas. Jenny Clifford, marketing manager for Rhino Linings Corp., said that her company takes full advantage of that service as it prepares for the annual event.

“Prior to the SEMA Show, we purchase the leads available through CompuSystems based on the various automotive markets we target,” Clifford said. “We also pull up any prospects that have contacted us within the last year and do a pre-SEMA postcard mailing. We make sure the postcard is relevant to the automotive market the prospect is in. One type of postcard is not usually best for all.”

John Fischer, vice president of sales and marketing for AfterSoft Network NA Inc., said that his company pursues a similar pre-show strategy. “Each show differs,” he said, “but we mail out postcards to our target market for SEMA announcing our attendance and specials and inviting buyers to our booth. We also send a similar e-mail blast to all e-mail addresses that we have within our target market, and we call approximately 1,000 prospects.”

The CompuSystems service can make things really simple for exhibitors at the SEMA Show, and about 87% of them used the system last year, according to Susan Schwartz, CEM, president of ConvExx, the SEMA Show management company.

“All attendees have barcodes on their badges at the SEMA Show,” Schwartz explained. “Any exhibitor who has rented a CompuSystems reader then has the ability to have an attendee swipe their code through the machine. It reads the code and stores the contact’s name, address, e-mail address and phone number as well as some information about how much they buy, whether they have status as ‘recommend to buy’ or if they are the actual buyer, how many stores they have and so on.”

The exhibitor receives a USB thumb drive that contains all of the leads captured from the reader. The information is available immediately, which allows the exhibitor to retrieve the data whenever it’s desired.

“The exhibitor can even take the thumb drive back to the hotel every night and download the information to the home office,” Schwartz said. “The office staff can then get started on the day’s leads even before the SEMA Show is over, so an attendee can have information from that exhibitor sitting at his desk when he gets back from the Show.”

What’s more, CompuSystems can automatically feed the information into an exhibitor’s home office database. And since the data is CSV (comma-separated values) compatible, it easily downloads into Excel spreadsheets or other sales software.

The system also serves up data in the other direction. The SEMA Show uses CompuSystems to send every buyer a listing of all the booths where his or her code was swiped during the Show. On the exhibitor side, a comprehensive post-Show download is sent to the exhibiting company containing not only contact information for the booth swipes, but also information about anyone who downloaded exhibit information from the company’s entries in the New Products Showcase—including media. If an editor from Hot Rod or CarDomain.com took an interest in a new product, the exhibitor gets that information and can follow up on it.

		"The best practice is to establish a plan for how to handle contacts in the days and weeks leading up to a show, including development of an e-mail or regular mail message that can be tailored specifically to the interests of prospective customers. Doing that prep work ahead of time helps ensure that your company will pursue the leads that occur on the show floor."

Whether you’re using the CompuSystems method or simply collecting contact information from business cards, ensure that you and your sales team make notes about every potential customer who visits your booth as the show progresses. Jot down what specific products the person was interested in and any deadlines you discussed. Also categorize the prospect’s intent to buy in your notes; “hot,” “warm” and “just looking” are broad terms to use. The top category should be reserved for visitors who have buying authority and show real interest—but follow up with all of them. An attendee who visited the booth just to enter a contest or pick up some literature could turn “hot” by the time you return to the home office.

Post-event follow-up is crucial to creating the greatest return on a trade show investment. The best practice is to act either during the show, as noted above, or within days of returning to the office. Give responsibility for each lead to a specific salesperson with detailed instructions about how to proceed. Delays increase the chance that a buyer will accept a different offer. There are strategies that can simplify the salesperson’s tasks.

If you’ve already developed the essentials of a personalized cover letter, the salesperson can simply fill in information that is customized according to the notes made during the attendee’s visit to the booth. Include any requested literature in the package, promise a later phone call—then be sure to follow through! Phone calls obviously take the most time, but they’re also the most effective, allowing the salesperson to review the prospect’s product interests and answer spontaneous but important questions. This call also allows the salesman to discuss a future meeting, offer fact sheets or product brochures or provide information about special offers.

“Whether or not the lead came by the booth is irrelevant,” said Clifford. “We always make sure that we ‘touch’ the prospect at least two more times after the SEMA Show. The marketing team develops postcards that are mailed to each lead, making sure that the postcard is different with each mailing. This is just a gentle reminder and keeps your company name fresh in the prospects’ minds.”

A week or two after the show, when the flurry of follow-ups has subsided, sit down with your sales staff and other personnel who attended the event for a post-show analysis meeting. Talk about the booth size and layout, its location, the traffic patterns around it. Discuss what worked well and what needs further discussion and refinement. Review the literature and displays that were furnished in the booth and use these discussions to plan for
future shows.

A month or two down the line, evaluate the new business that resulted from the show. Your return on investment can be measured by the simple subtraction of how much you spent to be there from how much revenue you generated as a result. However, don’t ignore the intangibles that may also have accrued, such as building brand awareness and planting the seeds for future business that may take a bit longer to bear fruit.

“We have received phone calls from leads or prospects up to 1½ to 2 years after speaking to them the first time,” Clifford said. “We keep them in the loop with changes to our packages or pricing with e-mail blasts sent a couple times a year. We also send leads any relevant press releases, such as new products we’ve added.”

But if you don’t follow up, you’ve wasted an enormous percentage of the money you spent going to a show. “One exhibitor told me that he had an incredible number of leads when he left the SEMA Show in 2009,” Schwartz recalled, “but he had a bad salesperson who didn’t follow up on a single one of them. That not only costs money but frustrates buyers who think that they’ve given their information in good faith.”

On the other hand, she said, it’s never too late. The CompuSystems program used at the SEMA Show can continue to provide a company’s lead information at any time—even months afterward.

“You never know what the buying cycle might be,” Schwartz said. “A prospect might not even be ready to buy until mid-year, so you might catch him or her at exactly the right time.”

You just need to follow the leads.  

 

SEMA News - June 2010 

Ensuring the Top Return on Your Trade Show Investment Before, During and After

By Steve Campbell

This series of SEMA News stories is based on the idea of using reliable and repeatable methods to ensure business success. In coming issues, we will delve into a range of topics aimed at developing Best Practices through knowledge, motivation and skills.

	Trade shows provide opportunities for face-to-face consultations and hands-on demonstrations, delivering everything up to and including order agreements. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of the leads developed at trade shows are never followed up afterward.

Trade show participation can be one of the most effective ways to introduce new customers to your products or services as well as to update current clients about innovations. A trade show provides an opportunity for face-to-face consultations and hands-on demonstrations, delivering everything up to and including order agreements. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of the leads developed at trade shows are never followed up after the show. That’s a staggering waste of a significant investment.

But even the term “follow up” is a bit of a misnomer. The cultivation of business from a trade show should actually begin well in advance of opening day. The best practice is to establish a plan for how to handle contacts in the days and weeks leading up to a show, including development of an e-mail or regular mail message that can be tailored specifically to the interests of prospective customers. Doing that prep work ahead of time helps ensure that your company will pursue the leads that occur on the show floor.

In the case of the SEMA Show, there are even more tools available to exhibitors who wish to prepare for, procure and profit from trade show leads. The SEMA Show uses CompuSystems, a computerized lead-retrieval provider that not only supplies full contact data for buyers and exhibitors who use the system, but also allows exhibitors to buy advance lists of retailers and jobbers who will be attending the week-long event in Las Vegas. Jenny Clifford, marketing manager for Rhino Linings Corp., said that her company takes full advantage of that service as it prepares for the annual event.

“Prior to the SEMA Show, we purchase the leads available through CompuSystems based on the various automotive markets we target,” Clifford said. “We also pull up any prospects that have contacted us within the last year and do a pre-SEMA postcard mailing. We make sure the postcard is relevant to the automotive market the prospect is in. One type of postcard is not usually best for all.”

John Fischer, vice president of sales and marketing for AfterSoft Network NA Inc., said that his company pursues a similar pre-show strategy. “Each show differs,” he said, “but we mail out postcards to our target market for SEMA announcing our attendance and specials and inviting buyers to our booth. We also send a similar e-mail blast to all e-mail addresses that we have within our target market, and we call approximately 1,000 prospects.”

The CompuSystems service can make things really simple for exhibitors at the SEMA Show, and about 87% of them used the system last year, according to Susan Schwartz, CEM, president of ConvExx, the SEMA Show management company.

“All attendees have barcodes on their badges at the SEMA Show,” Schwartz explained. “Any exhibitor who has rented a CompuSystems reader then has the ability to have an attendee swipe their code through the machine. It reads the code and stores the contact’s name, address, e-mail address and phone number as well as some information about how much they buy, whether they have status as ‘recommend to buy’ or if they are the actual buyer, how many stores they have and so on.”

The exhibitor receives a USB thumb drive that contains all of the leads captured from the reader. The information is available immediately, which allows the exhibitor to retrieve the data whenever it’s desired.

“The exhibitor can even take the thumb drive back to the hotel every night and download the information to the home office,” Schwartz said. “The office staff can then get started on the day’s leads even before the SEMA Show is over, so an attendee can have information from that exhibitor sitting at his desk when he gets back from the Show.”

What’s more, CompuSystems can automatically feed the information into an exhibitor’s home office database. And since the data is CSV (comma-separated values) compatible, it easily downloads into Excel spreadsheets or other sales software.

The system also serves up data in the other direction. The SEMA Show uses CompuSystems to send every buyer a listing of all the booths where his or her code was swiped during the Show. On the exhibitor side, a comprehensive post-Show download is sent to the exhibiting company containing not only contact information for the booth swipes, but also information about anyone who downloaded exhibit information from the company’s entries in the New Products Showcase—including media. If an editor from Hot Rod or CarDomain.com took an interest in a new product, the exhibitor gets that information and can follow up on it.

		"The best practice is to establish a plan for how to handle contacts in the days and weeks leading up to a show, including development of an e-mail or regular mail message that can be tailored specifically to the interests of prospective customers. Doing that prep work ahead of time helps ensure that your company will pursue the leads that occur on the show floor."

Whether you’re using the CompuSystems method or simply collecting contact information from business cards, ensure that you and your sales team make notes about every potential customer who visits your booth as the show progresses. Jot down what specific products the person was interested in and any deadlines you discussed. Also categorize the prospect’s intent to buy in your notes; “hot,” “warm” and “just looking” are broad terms to use. The top category should be reserved for visitors who have buying authority and show real interest—but follow up with all of them. An attendee who visited the booth just to enter a contest or pick up some literature could turn “hot” by the time you return to the home office.

Post-event follow-up is crucial to creating the greatest return on a trade show investment. The best practice is to act either during the show, as noted above, or within days of returning to the office. Give responsibility for each lead to a specific salesperson with detailed instructions about how to proceed. Delays increase the chance that a buyer will accept a different offer. There are strategies that can simplify the salesperson’s tasks.

If you’ve already developed the essentials of a personalized cover letter, the salesperson can simply fill in information that is customized according to the notes made during the attendee’s visit to the booth. Include any requested literature in the package, promise a later phone call—then be sure to follow through! Phone calls obviously take the most time, but they’re also the most effective, allowing the salesperson to review the prospect’s product interests and answer spontaneous but important questions. This call also allows the salesman to discuss a future meeting, offer fact sheets or product brochures or provide information about special offers.

“Whether or not the lead came by the booth is irrelevant,” said Clifford. “We always make sure that we ‘touch’ the prospect at least two more times after the SEMA Show. The marketing team develops postcards that are mailed to each lead, making sure that the postcard is different with each mailing. This is just a gentle reminder and keeps your company name fresh in the prospects’ minds.”

A week or two after the show, when the flurry of follow-ups has subsided, sit down with your sales staff and other personnel who attended the event for a post-show analysis meeting. Talk about the booth size and layout, its location, the traffic patterns around it. Discuss what worked well and what needs further discussion and refinement. Review the literature and displays that were furnished in the booth and use these discussions to plan for
future shows.

A month or two down the line, evaluate the new business that resulted from the show. Your return on investment can be measured by the simple subtraction of how much you spent to be there from how much revenue you generated as a result. However, don’t ignore the intangibles that may also have accrued, such as building brand awareness and planting the seeds for future business that may take a bit longer to bear fruit.

“We have received phone calls from leads or prospects up to 1½ to 2 years after speaking to them the first time,” Clifford said. “We keep them in the loop with changes to our packages or pricing with e-mail blasts sent a couple times a year. We also send leads any relevant press releases, such as new products we’ve added.”

But if you don’t follow up, you’ve wasted an enormous percentage of the money you spent going to a show. “One exhibitor told me that he had an incredible number of leads when he left the SEMA Show in 2009,” Schwartz recalled, “but he had a bad salesperson who didn’t follow up on a single one of them. That not only costs money but frustrates buyers who think that they’ve given their information in good faith.”

On the other hand, she said, it’s never too late. The CompuSystems program used at the SEMA Show can continue to provide a company’s lead information at any time—even months afterward.

“You never know what the buying cycle might be,” Schwartz said. “A prospect might not even be ready to buy until mid-year, so you might catch him or her at exactly the right time.”

You just need to follow the leads.  

 

SEMA News - June 2010 

Ensuring the Top Return on Your Trade Show Investment Before, During and After

By Steve Campbell

This series of SEMA News stories is based on the idea of using reliable and repeatable methods to ensure business success. In coming issues, we will delve into a range of topics aimed at developing Best Practices through knowledge, motivation and skills.

	Trade shows provide opportunities for face-to-face consultations and hands-on demonstrations, delivering everything up to and including order agreements. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of the leads developed at trade shows are never followed up afterward.

Trade show participation can be one of the most effective ways to introduce new customers to your products or services as well as to update current clients about innovations. A trade show provides an opportunity for face-to-face consultations and hands-on demonstrations, delivering everything up to and including order agreements. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of the leads developed at trade shows are never followed up after the show. That’s a staggering waste of a significant investment.

But even the term “follow up” is a bit of a misnomer. The cultivation of business from a trade show should actually begin well in advance of opening day. The best practice is to establish a plan for how to handle contacts in the days and weeks leading up to a show, including development of an e-mail or regular mail message that can be tailored specifically to the interests of prospective customers. Doing that prep work ahead of time helps ensure that your company will pursue the leads that occur on the show floor.

In the case of the SEMA Show, there are even more tools available to exhibitors who wish to prepare for, procure and profit from trade show leads. The SEMA Show uses CompuSystems, a computerized lead-retrieval provider that not only supplies full contact data for buyers and exhibitors who use the system, but also allows exhibitors to buy advance lists of retailers and jobbers who will be attending the week-long event in Las Vegas. Jenny Clifford, marketing manager for Rhino Linings Corp., said that her company takes full advantage of that service as it prepares for the annual event.

“Prior to the SEMA Show, we purchase the leads available through CompuSystems based on the various automotive markets we target,” Clifford said. “We also pull up any prospects that have contacted us within the last year and do a pre-SEMA postcard mailing. We make sure the postcard is relevant to the automotive market the prospect is in. One type of postcard is not usually best for all.”

John Fischer, vice president of sales and marketing for AfterSoft Network NA Inc., said that his company pursues a similar pre-show strategy. “Each show differs,” he said, “but we mail out postcards to our target market for SEMA announcing our attendance and specials and inviting buyers to our booth. We also send a similar e-mail blast to all e-mail addresses that we have within our target market, and we call approximately 1,000 prospects.”

The CompuSystems service can make things really simple for exhibitors at the SEMA Show, and about 87% of them used the system last year, according to Susan Schwartz, CEM, president of ConvExx, the SEMA Show management company.

“All attendees have barcodes on their badges at the SEMA Show,” Schwartz explained. “Any exhibitor who has rented a CompuSystems reader then has the ability to have an attendee swipe their code through the machine. It reads the code and stores the contact’s name, address, e-mail address and phone number as well as some information about how much they buy, whether they have status as ‘recommend to buy’ or if they are the actual buyer, how many stores they have and so on.”

The exhibitor receives a USB thumb drive that contains all of the leads captured from the reader. The information is available immediately, which allows the exhibitor to retrieve the data whenever it’s desired.

“The exhibitor can even take the thumb drive back to the hotel every night and download the information to the home office,” Schwartz said. “The office staff can then get started on the day’s leads even before the SEMA Show is over, so an attendee can have information from that exhibitor sitting at his desk when he gets back from the Show.”

What’s more, CompuSystems can automatically feed the information into an exhibitor’s home office database. And since the data is CSV (comma-separated values) compatible, it easily downloads into Excel spreadsheets or other sales software.

The system also serves up data in the other direction. The SEMA Show uses CompuSystems to send every buyer a listing of all the booths where his or her code was swiped during the Show. On the exhibitor side, a comprehensive post-Show download is sent to the exhibiting company containing not only contact information for the booth swipes, but also information about anyone who downloaded exhibit information from the company’s entries in the New Products Showcase—including media. If an editor from Hot Rod or CarDomain.com took an interest in a new product, the exhibitor gets that information and can follow up on it.

		"The best practice is to establish a plan for how to handle contacts in the days and weeks leading up to a show, including development of an e-mail or regular mail message that can be tailored specifically to the interests of prospective customers. Doing that prep work ahead of time helps ensure that your company will pursue the leads that occur on the show floor."

Whether you’re using the CompuSystems method or simply collecting contact information from business cards, ensure that you and your sales team make notes about every potential customer who visits your booth as the show progresses. Jot down what specific products the person was interested in and any deadlines you discussed. Also categorize the prospect’s intent to buy in your notes; “hot,” “warm” and “just looking” are broad terms to use. The top category should be reserved for visitors who have buying authority and show real interest—but follow up with all of them. An attendee who visited the booth just to enter a contest or pick up some literature could turn “hot” by the time you return to the home office.

Post-event follow-up is crucial to creating the greatest return on a trade show investment. The best practice is to act either during the show, as noted above, or within days of returning to the office. Give responsibility for each lead to a specific salesperson with detailed instructions about how to proceed. Delays increase the chance that a buyer will accept a different offer. There are strategies that can simplify the salesperson’s tasks.

If you’ve already developed the essentials of a personalized cover letter, the salesperson can simply fill in information that is customized according to the notes made during the attendee’s visit to the booth. Include any requested literature in the package, promise a later phone call—then be sure to follow through! Phone calls obviously take the most time, but they’re also the most effective, allowing the salesperson to review the prospect’s product interests and answer spontaneous but important questions. This call also allows the salesman to discuss a future meeting, offer fact sheets or product brochures or provide information about special offers.

“Whether or not the lead came by the booth is irrelevant,” said Clifford. “We always make sure that we ‘touch’ the prospect at least two more times after the SEMA Show. The marketing team develops postcards that are mailed to each lead, making sure that the postcard is different with each mailing. This is just a gentle reminder and keeps your company name fresh in the prospects’ minds.”

A week or two after the show, when the flurry of follow-ups has subsided, sit down with your sales staff and other personnel who attended the event for a post-show analysis meeting. Talk about the booth size and layout, its location, the traffic patterns around it. Discuss what worked well and what needs further discussion and refinement. Review the literature and displays that were furnished in the booth and use these discussions to plan for
future shows.

A month or two down the line, evaluate the new business that resulted from the show. Your return on investment can be measured by the simple subtraction of how much you spent to be there from how much revenue you generated as a result. However, don’t ignore the intangibles that may also have accrued, such as building brand awareness and planting the seeds for future business that may take a bit longer to bear fruit.

“We have received phone calls from leads or prospects up to 1½ to 2 years after speaking to them the first time,” Clifford said. “We keep them in the loop with changes to our packages or pricing with e-mail blasts sent a couple times a year. We also send leads any relevant press releases, such as new products we’ve added.”

But if you don’t follow up, you’ve wasted an enormous percentage of the money you spent going to a show. “One exhibitor told me that he had an incredible number of leads when he left the SEMA Show in 2009,” Schwartz recalled, “but he had a bad salesperson who didn’t follow up on a single one of them. That not only costs money but frustrates buyers who think that they’ve given their information in good faith.”

On the other hand, she said, it’s never too late. The CompuSystems program used at the SEMA Show can continue to provide a company’s lead information at any time—even months afterward.

“You never know what the buying cycle might be,” Schwartz said. “A prospect might not even be ready to buy until mid-year, so you might catch him or her at exactly the right time.”

You just need to follow the leads.  

 

SEMA News - June 2010

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, knew a thing or two about leadership. One of his most famous quotes was, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Those are also fitting words to describe the upcoming SEMA Leadership Days, to be held July 21–24 in Pasadena, California.

Attendees will “learn more” by taking advantage of this year’s Business Technology Symposium at the Pasadena Convention Center on Friday, July 23, from 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. The topics for this full day of instruction will run the gamut from “The Future of Mobile Marketing” and “Reaching Your Customers on Forums and Blogs” to “Market Research in the Digital Age” and “Social Media for Your Business.” Your business can’t afford to stand still in a rapidly changing world. Here’s a chance to jump ahead, where the learning is tailored for our industry and the networking with industry peers alone is worth your while. Just contact Arlene Wood at arlenew@sema.org or call 909/396-0289 for details.

To “become more,” please join us for the annual Installation Banquet & Gala Fundraiser on Friday evening from 6:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m. (cocktail reception from 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.), where we will salute the contributions of the outgoing members of the SEMA Board of Directors and welcome the incoming group. In addition, the three newest members of the SEMA Hall of Fame will be celebrated. The actions and stories of the industry luminaries celebrated at this event inspire all of us to become more. Meanwhile, proceeds from the Gala Fundraiser and other activities are contributed to Childhelp, which aids victims of child abuse, and the Victory Junction Gang Camp, which uses camping experiences in its racing-themed facilities to enrich the lives of children who suffer from chronic medical conditions or illnesses.

“Dream more” is what we in the specialty-equipment industry do every day. The products manufactured, distributed and sold by SEMA-member companies are the very stuff dreams are made of, and the results of those dreams—at least a fair representation of them—will be on display at the SEMA Show ’N Shine on Saturday, July 24, from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. at the Pasadena Convention Center. Chip Foose, the award-winning automotive designer, fabricator and host of TLC’s “Overhaulin’,” has once again signed on to be the grand marshal of the show, which will feature a full range of musclecars, street rods, exotics and restorations.

To “do more,” take part in the SEMA Pinewood Drag Races, which will be run concurrently with the Show ’N Shine on Saturday. Help the children supported by Childhelp and the Victory Junction Gang Camp by sponsoring a pinewood dragster for less than $100, and we’ll see to it that your car is raced even if you can’t be there to watch the action in person. Contact Cindy Booher via e-mail at cindyb@sema.org for more information about this worthwhile, fun and fulfilling competition.

So much of what we do in business distracts us from the friendships we develop in our industry and the contributions we can make through volunteerism and human kindness. Join us for the activities of Leadership Days and reconnect to the great SEMA community of volunteers, leaders and industry icons. Our collective participation (that means you!) also brings out the best in our fellow enthusiasts, competitors and business associates through the actions they inspire.

Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to also bring out the best in yourself. 

—Christopher J. Kersting, CAE
President and CEO, SEMA

SEMA News - June 2010

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, knew a thing or two about leadership. One of his most famous quotes was, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Those are also fitting words to describe the upcoming SEMA Leadership Days, to be held July 21–24 in Pasadena, California.

Attendees will “learn more” by taking advantage of this year’s Business Technology Symposium at the Pasadena Convention Center on Friday, July 23, from 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. The topics for this full day of instruction will run the gamut from “The Future of Mobile Marketing” and “Reaching Your Customers on Forums and Blogs” to “Market Research in the Digital Age” and “Social Media for Your Business.” Your business can’t afford to stand still in a rapidly changing world. Here’s a chance to jump ahead, where the learning is tailored for our industry and the networking with industry peers alone is worth your while. Just contact Arlene Wood at arlenew@sema.org or call 909/396-0289 for details.

To “become more,” please join us for the annual Installation Banquet & Gala Fundraiser on Friday evening from 6:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m. (cocktail reception from 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.), where we will salute the contributions of the outgoing members of the SEMA Board of Directors and welcome the incoming group. In addition, the three newest members of the SEMA Hall of Fame will be celebrated. The actions and stories of the industry luminaries celebrated at this event inspire all of us to become more. Meanwhile, proceeds from the Gala Fundraiser and other activities are contributed to Childhelp, which aids victims of child abuse, and the Victory Junction Gang Camp, which uses camping experiences in its racing-themed facilities to enrich the lives of children who suffer from chronic medical conditions or illnesses.

“Dream more” is what we in the specialty-equipment industry do every day. The products manufactured, distributed and sold by SEMA-member companies are the very stuff dreams are made of, and the results of those dreams—at least a fair representation of them—will be on display at the SEMA Show ’N Shine on Saturday, July 24, from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. at the Pasadena Convention Center. Chip Foose, the award-winning automotive designer, fabricator and host of TLC’s “Overhaulin’,” has once again signed on to be the grand marshal of the show, which will feature a full range of musclecars, street rods, exotics and restorations.

To “do more,” take part in the SEMA Pinewood Drag Races, which will be run concurrently with the Show ’N Shine on Saturday. Help the children supported by Childhelp and the Victory Junction Gang Camp by sponsoring a pinewood dragster for less than $100, and we’ll see to it that your car is raced even if you can’t be there to watch the action in person. Contact Cindy Booher via e-mail at cindyb@sema.org for more information about this worthwhile, fun and fulfilling competition.

So much of what we do in business distracts us from the friendships we develop in our industry and the contributions we can make through volunteerism and human kindness. Join us for the activities of Leadership Days and reconnect to the great SEMA community of volunteers, leaders and industry icons. Our collective participation (that means you!) also brings out the best in our fellow enthusiasts, competitors and business associates through the actions they inspire.

Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to also bring out the best in yourself. 

—Christopher J. Kersting, CAE
President and CEO, SEMA

SEMA News - June 2010

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, knew a thing or two about leadership. One of his most famous quotes was, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Those are also fitting words to describe the upcoming SEMA Leadership Days, to be held July 21–24 in Pasadena, California.

Attendees will “learn more” by taking advantage of this year’s Business Technology Symposium at the Pasadena Convention Center on Friday, July 23, from 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. The topics for this full day of instruction will run the gamut from “The Future of Mobile Marketing” and “Reaching Your Customers on Forums and Blogs” to “Market Research in the Digital Age” and “Social Media for Your Business.” Your business can’t afford to stand still in a rapidly changing world. Here’s a chance to jump ahead, where the learning is tailored for our industry and the networking with industry peers alone is worth your while. Just contact Arlene Wood at arlenew@sema.org or call 909/396-0289 for details.

To “become more,” please join us for the annual Installation Banquet & Gala Fundraiser on Friday evening from 6:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m. (cocktail reception from 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.), where we will salute the contributions of the outgoing members of the SEMA Board of Directors and welcome the incoming group. In addition, the three newest members of the SEMA Hall of Fame will be celebrated. The actions and stories of the industry luminaries celebrated at this event inspire all of us to become more. Meanwhile, proceeds from the Gala Fundraiser and other activities are contributed to Childhelp, which aids victims of child abuse, and the Victory Junction Gang Camp, which uses camping experiences in its racing-themed facilities to enrich the lives of children who suffer from chronic medical conditions or illnesses.

“Dream more” is what we in the specialty-equipment industry do every day. The products manufactured, distributed and sold by SEMA-member companies are the very stuff dreams are made of, and the results of those dreams—at least a fair representation of them—will be on display at the SEMA Show ’N Shine on Saturday, July 24, from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. at the Pasadena Convention Center. Chip Foose, the award-winning automotive designer, fabricator and host of TLC’s “Overhaulin’,” has once again signed on to be the grand marshal of the show, which will feature a full range of musclecars, street rods, exotics and restorations.

To “do more,” take part in the SEMA Pinewood Drag Races, which will be run concurrently with the Show ’N Shine on Saturday. Help the children supported by Childhelp and the Victory Junction Gang Camp by sponsoring a pinewood dragster for less than $100, and we’ll see to it that your car is raced even if you can’t be there to watch the action in person. Contact Cindy Booher via e-mail at cindyb@sema.org for more information about this worthwhile, fun and fulfilling competition.

So much of what we do in business distracts us from the friendships we develop in our industry and the contributions we can make through volunteerism and human kindness. Join us for the activities of Leadership Days and reconnect to the great SEMA community of volunteers, leaders and industry icons. Our collective participation (that means you!) also brings out the best in our fellow enthusiasts, competitors and business associates through the actions they inspire.

Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to also bring out the best in yourself. 

—Christopher J. Kersting, CAE
President and CEO, SEMA

SEMA News - June 2010

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, knew a thing or two about leadership. One of his most famous quotes was, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Those are also fitting words to describe the upcoming SEMA Leadership Days, to be held July 21–24 in Pasadena, California.

Attendees will “learn more” by taking advantage of this year’s Business Technology Symposium at the Pasadena Convention Center on Friday, July 23, from 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. The topics for this full day of instruction will run the gamut from “The Future of Mobile Marketing” and “Reaching Your Customers on Forums and Blogs” to “Market Research in the Digital Age” and “Social Media for Your Business.” Your business can’t afford to stand still in a rapidly changing world. Here’s a chance to jump ahead, where the learning is tailored for our industry and the networking with industry peers alone is worth your while. Just contact Arlene Wood at arlenew@sema.org or call 909/396-0289 for details.

To “become more,” please join us for the annual Installation Banquet & Gala Fundraiser on Friday evening from 6:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m. (cocktail reception from 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.), where we will salute the contributions of the outgoing members of the SEMA Board of Directors and welcome the incoming group. In addition, the three newest members of the SEMA Hall of Fame will be celebrated. The actions and stories of the industry luminaries celebrated at this event inspire all of us to become more. Meanwhile, proceeds from the Gala Fundraiser and other activities are contributed to Childhelp, which aids victims of child abuse, and the Victory Junction Gang Camp, which uses camping experiences in its racing-themed facilities to enrich the lives of children who suffer from chronic medical conditions or illnesses.

“Dream more” is what we in the specialty-equipment industry do every day. The products manufactured, distributed and sold by SEMA-member companies are the very stuff dreams are made of, and the results of those dreams—at least a fair representation of them—will be on display at the SEMA Show ’N Shine on Saturday, July 24, from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. at the Pasadena Convention Center. Chip Foose, the award-winning automotive designer, fabricator and host of TLC’s “Overhaulin’,” has once again signed on to be the grand marshal of the show, which will feature a full range of musclecars, street rods, exotics and restorations.

To “do more,” take part in the SEMA Pinewood Drag Races, which will be run concurrently with the Show ’N Shine on Saturday. Help the children supported by Childhelp and the Victory Junction Gang Camp by sponsoring a pinewood dragster for less than $100, and we’ll see to it that your car is raced even if you can’t be there to watch the action in person. Contact Cindy Booher via e-mail at cindyb@sema.org for more information about this worthwhile, fun and fulfilling competition.

So much of what we do in business distracts us from the friendships we develop in our industry and the contributions we can make through volunteerism and human kindness. Join us for the activities of Leadership Days and reconnect to the great SEMA community of volunteers, leaders and industry icons. Our collective participation (that means you!) also brings out the best in our fellow enthusiasts, competitors and business associates through the actions they inspire.

Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to also bring out the best in yourself. 

—Christopher J. Kersting, CAE
President and CEO, SEMA