Your team is at Mobile World Congress, arguably one of the biggest trade shows of the year for most companies. They’re schmoozing with customers, eating great dinners every night and having an all-around good time. You’ve been left back at the office while they have all the fun.
Yep, life’s not fair, however, the reality is that trade show “fun” usually leaves everyone downright exhausted and wishing they were back in the office in their cushy chair rather than standing eight hours a day, waiting for the enormous taxi line or the Metro, and heading out for three-hour dinner after three-hour dinner.
Trust us, you’ve ended up with the better part of the deal, and your team really needs you to not only keep the home fires burning, but also as remote support for the show.
Here are five things you can do for your team while they’re locked in their insular world in Barcelona:
1) Stoke the social media fires. Your team is likely not going to have time to do anything on social media from the show floor, so start posting as if you’re at the show too. Not sure what to post about? Here are some ideas:
- Tweet about what your company, its partners and customers are demonstrating at the show, events they’re hosting, speaking slots, parties, etc.
- Tweet or retweet interesting facts/quotes from the keynotes and sessions
- Follow hashtag #MWC15 and retweet interesting storylines from exhibitors and attendees.
- Review MWC Live video programming and point out interesting highlights.
2) Classify leads immediately. Have your team send you the list of leads captured at your booth each day or twice a day and start classifying them immediately. When your team returns on Monday, they can start follow-up right away, rather than start the classification process then. It’s possible you’ll have thousands of leads, so set aside time each day for classification and scoring.
3) Prepare the follow-up email from sales. Consider sending a thank you as quickly as possible after the meeting with an image to trigger the recipient’s memory, such as a photo of the booth or a picture of the sales rep they spoke with. Trade show attendees have dozens of conversations at shows. Make sure they remember who you are and the value your company can bring them. Your follow-up should also include some sort of asset, such as a white paper or case study download, if possible.
4) Follow-up with missed appointments. Your sales team is going to have a hard time at the show breaking away and trying to contact attendees who do not show up for their scheduled meetings; they’ve likely moved on to someone who’s passing by and shows interest. Make sure your sales team alerts you quickly regarding missed appointments, and have an email ready to go out as soon as an appointment is missed asking to reschedule.
5) Provide support for last-minute tweaks. It’s hard to update items like presentations and demos from the show floor, and oftentimes even more difficult from the hotel. Offer to revise and send items like this from the office. Know the contact information for the local business office in case printed collateral needs updates.
You’re not there, but you are a valuable member of the trade show team. Show them your value by making their jobs easier, and next year you may be asked to be on the on-site team.