On-site lead retrieval is just one step toward converting leads to sales. Effective lead management begins pre-show with traffic-building promotions and continues post-show with lead distribution, follow-up and reporting. Web-based tools that close the loop between buyers and sellers can maximize return on investment for exhibitors and generate new revenue streams for show management.

By providing customized Internet marketing opportunities and Web-enabled lead retrieval systems, full-service registration companies can help show management add value to the exhibitor experience. “Where you see the differentiation is how they leverage the database pre-event and post-event, and how they tie it in to lead retrieval,” says Tony Scalisi, Director of Exhibitor Services for Convention Data Services (CDS) Inc., Bourne, MA. 

In the past few months, several registration companies have rolled out innovative products and services that enable exhibitors to mine registration data and automate lead management. 

Pre-show promotion
ARsystems put a new twist on the VIP program by e-mailing exhibitors when attendees register in response to their invitations. “The first exhibitor to get that customer owns that customer,” says John Berton, President of Markham, Ontario-based ARsystems (Auto-Reg Systems) International. “We create a registration Web site for every exhibitor. Whether we receive the registration online or by fax, we tag that as the exhibitor’s registration.” The registrant receives an e-mail confirmation with a thank you note from the exhibitor, and the exhibitor gets an e-mail notification that the prospect has registered. Exhibitors can log on to a secure site to get a lead report complete with their attendees’ data.

To reach attendees who haven’t registered, exhibitors can query the registration database for a total count of registrants who meet specific criteria. Then, for a fee paid by credit card, they can opt to e-mail or fax a document to that segment. When the exhibitor uploads a document, show management receives an e-mail notice, reviews the document online and approves it to go out. 

Another model for leveraging registration data is CDS’s Internet Database System (IDBS), which serves up banner advertising on the registration Web site based on the registrant’s demographics and sends corresponding e-mail confirmation notices. If a registrant meets XYZ company’s prospect profile, the Web page will display the company’s ad. The e-mail confirmation will direct the registrant to the company’s booth, and a hyperlink will point the registrant to the company’s Web site. To further customize the experience, CDS can build a micro site for XYZ showcasing specific products or services. “The e-mails we send are HTML-based, so we can track the click-through rate,” says Ken Ferreira, National Sales Manager for CDS. 

Since CDS launched IDBS about six months ago, show managers have used its capabilities to varying degrees. The Communications Solutions Expo, Dec. 7-9, 2000, in Las Vegas, displayed banner advertising on self-registration stations. “We used the Internet marketing opportunity as a supplement for the corporate sponsorships,” says Stephanie Bauer, Director of Tradeshow Operations for Technology Marketing Corporation, Norwalk, CT. “It turned into a value-added service.”

Automated follow-up
While these initiatives help exhibitors gather pre-show leads and drive traffic to their booths, exhibitors also want Internet-enabled tools to manage leads on site. Registration contractors have responded with products and services that automate collection, follow-up, distribution and reporting. 
“If a lead management system takes two weeks to contact people, it’s of no value,” says Bob Lucke, Executive Vice President of ExpoExchange, the Atlanta-based convention and information management company. ExpoExchange is deploying a wireless, PDA-based lead management system that records lead data from virtually anywhere in the facility and transmits it for immediate follow-up via e-mail or a home-office sales call.

For example, the Bartizan box, from Bartizan Data Systems LLC, Yonkers, NY, can now be programmed to automatically e-mail each attendee who swipes a card. Called EXPO forw@rd, the improved box also e-mails leads to designated sales contacts. WebAccess, from Lumin Leads Management, Draper, Utah, batches lead data at the end of each day and sends it via the Internet to a secure server, where the exhibitor’s sales team can log on to view and download lead reports. Several vendors offer comparable capabilities.

Expo International, Canton, MA, introduced its Global Campaign Management (GCM) software as a show-to-show solution. By pre-populating the database with prospect and customer data, the program helps exhibitors recognize visitors and personalize their presentations. Exhibitors can collect new lead data in a Web-based database, or send it in batches to a centralized database via the Internet. A sales manager can view an online ticker that displays how many leads have been collected and troubleshoot problems with how leads are classified. Leads can be automatically distributed to sales reps based on pre-set routing rules, and follow-up e-mails can go to attendees based on how they responded to qualifying questions.

These real-time lead management features shorten exhibitors’ follow-up time from weeks to days. “Usually there’s a 45-day lag time taken up by converting and cleaning up data,” says CEO Stephen Saber. “To shrink that time, you need to do that on a real-time basis. We’re doing it in 24 to 48 hours.”

Show management can help exhibitors manage their data more efficiently by using an unencrypted, standard format for lead retrieval data output files recommended by the Trade Show Exhibitors Association in conjunction with the Healthcare Exhibitors Association. (The standards are available online at www. tsea.org). At a minimum, providing sample badges lets exhibitors pre-test their systems. 

Data Convergence
Though registration and lead retrieval data streams are currently segregated, they may eventually converge in one secure, Internet-accessible database. In a future scenario, show management’s registration database may be queried, sorted and downloaded into exhibitors’ customer relationship management databases. 

Companies that offer Internet-enabled lead management solutions today may be the forerunners in the next generation of database-driven Web sites for registration and lead retrieval.

Cathy Chatfield-Taylor writes about technology solutions for the meeting, convention and exposition industry.

Exhibitors are asking for lead retrieval systems with features, such as Web-based data collection and automated e-mail follow-up. Here’s a sampling of Internet-enabled products that work with 2-D bar code, magnetic stripe or smart card registration badges:

Bartizan Data Systems LLC, www.bartizan.com 

• EXPOforw@rd enables exhibitors to e-mail literature to the attendee and e-mail leads to the home office.

bCard Inc., www.bcard.net

• The bCard Interactive touch-screen station can be integrated with a Web site for access to product information.

Convention Data Services Inc., www.cdsreg.com

• LeadPro can be configured to e-mail a customized message to each attendee based on qualifiers and follow-up codes. The wireless Palm LeadPro also records notes.

ExpoExchange, www.expoexchange.com

• EXPOCARD Web collects and customizes lead data and automates communication with attendees via fax or e-mail. 
• n The IntelliLead kiosk captures qualified leads and distributes them to the home office or fulfillment house.

Expo International Inc., www.expo-intl.com

• Global Campaign Management software enables e-mail marketing and fulfillment campaigns, real-time reporting, and show-to-show campaign analysis and lead management.

Lumin Leads Management, www.luminleads.com

• WebAccess batches lead to a Lumin server, where exhibitors can access and download real-time lead reports.
• ExpoReply allows exhibitors to e-mail product information to attendees within 24 hours of their booth visit.
• ExpoTrax is a Web-based tool for company-wide lead distribution, follow-up and reporting.

Netkey Inc., www.netkey.com

• Netkey’s Web kiosk captures and qualifies leads, links to product- specific Web pages and e-mails product information to attendees based on their preferences.

NewLeads, www.newleads.com

• n WebLaunch interfaces directly with an exhibitor’s Web-based database to capture, qualify and store attendee data in real-time.