The Problem:

• Finding leads has become more difficult, and keeping a prospect engaged throughout the entire sales process is likely a close second.
• Many circumstances can take away a prospect’s attention, which is why a rock-solid process for maximizing every hard-earned lead sourced at an event is vital for a return on investment.
• From our experience, this outdated follow-up approach is a significant cause of revenue forfeiture from trade shows.

Marketing:

• Prospects who receive an email saying, “Thank You for attending,” from the general marketing email with an offer to answer any questions about their products.
• The problem is the email will be among hundreds of other companies in these prospects’ inboxes after the event.
• While marketing should engage with the prospect, it shouldn’t be considered adequate follow-up from the marketing@ address since it comes across as generic and impersonal.
• It also conveys to the prospect that a follow-up from the company isn’t a priority because it’s not from an individual.

Salesperson:

• Once marketing distributes the leads to the sales team for trade show follow-up, the prospect receives a call and email stating that the prospect; “Stopped by the booth.” They would like to gain a better understanding of their needs. Answer any questions about their product.
• This approach often fails because the outreach isn’t focused on a challenge that the company can help them solve. It requires the prospect to figure out how the company can help them, which in all likelihood, they won’t do.
• In addition, according to the Harvard Business Review, the average call attempts by salespeople consists of 1-2 calls. The chance of making contact requires at least 6 call attempts. This greatly impacts the effectiveness of trade show follow-up.

Channel Partner:

• If the company decides to send its trade show leads directly to its Channel Partners, it could be doing more harm than good.
• While indirect sales provided by channel partners greatly benefits an organization, having them perform lead qualification for trade shows is ill-advised.

Why?: There are many reasons, but here are three.

• Because, like with an internal sales team, the partner will have the same challenge with persistence (2-3 calls).
• Leads will be expecting the company to call them, not a partner.
• It can put a partner in an awkward situation if asked about competitor solutions.

Lead Response Strategy:

• Improving lead response starts with creating a well-thought-out post trade show or event strategy for success.
• This equates to 30 days of consistent follow-up, followed by a nurturing campaign to remain on the prospects’ radar.

Responsive:

To dramatically increase success rates, a post-show cadence (a series of steps to reach the prospect) should be done immediately after the trade show or event and be consistent.

Personal:

• Most importantly, the outreach must be personal. Genetic follow-up is a sure way of alienating a prospect.
• Gone are the days when a company can expect generic follow-up from sales or marketing to develop opportunities.
• Each contact requires personal outreach to understand the prospect, so they can ascertain the value a solution provides to them, their department, and the organization as a whole. Many companies struggle with this due to the lack of internal resources.

Consistent:

• Market Development Representatives (MDRs) are a proven inside team specializing in top-of-funnel activity, providing the right mix of research, on-target messaging, and sustained outbound actions to increase engagement.
• The Market Development Representatives (MDRs) aim to qualify Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) to either send them back into a nurturing campaign or move them forward as Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs).
• The idea is they’re leveraging what Account Executives and Regional Sales Managers lack, time to perform prospect qualification, and set up meetings.

Lack Resources?

• For companies who want to increase their trade show return on investment or decrease their customer acquisition costs but don’t have the resources or budget to make it happen, there’s a better alternative, Meet WaveOutbound ™ outbound marketing services that include; Market Development Representatives.
• Wave Representatives created a subscription-based service that provides dedicated Market Development Representatives for a fraction of the cost of hiring them in-house. Each team member is under the client’s brand and remains dedicated to the account during the subscription.
• In addition, we provide our clients with expert assistance with technology stack integration, configuration, effective messaging, and playbook development.
• Then, to ensure that the service stays on track, our clients receive real-time updates on the engagement’s progress via the integrated software package.

Why WaveOutbound Succeeds Where In-House Fails?

• We’ve found that internal sales teams are entrenched in existing business and have little bandwidth to qualify leads from trade shows in exchange for established business opportunities.
• Often inside sales teams focus on account management or channel partner business and lack the training and resources needed to be successful.
• Most aren’t certified on software platforms required to be effective.

Increasing Engagement = Increasing Revenue.

• WaveOutbound™ was purpose-built to connect with more prospects and to create significant gains in engagement, pipeline, and revenue.
• Our experience and sales approach provides end-users and channel partners with the information they need to purchase our client’s products.
• To find out how your organization can benefit from WaveOutbound™, contact us, and we’ll show you how we help solve these business challenges and more.
• Watch the video for a quick overview.

Wave Representatives, LLC™ Your Best Partner™ WaveOutbound™