How to measure success of trade shows and exhibition participation with SugarCRM

Trade Shows and Exhibition Participation

Manufacturing companies often generate leads and business through trade shows and participation in relevant exhibitions. While these events can sometimes yield immediate business, in other cases, they may require extensive follow-up and nurturing. To assess their effectiveness, it’s crucial for management and marketing teams to understand which trade shows and exhibitions are delivering the best results and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these activities in generating business.

There are two primary goals or expectations from the marketing and sales teams when participating in trade shows and exhibitions:

1. Lead Generation, Sales, and Conversions – Quantitative Metrics
2. Brand Awareness, Networking, Partnerships, and Competitor Analysis – Qualitative Metrics

Sales and management teams are particularly focused on lead generation, sales, and conversions, and they require a clear and credible return on investment (ROI) to justify continued participation. This is especially important given the significant costs associated with these events, including booth expenses, travel, and the time and effort spent by the sales and marketing teams.

How do we get Business from Tradeshows and Exhibitions

In this article, we focus on the first key objective of trade show participation: Lead Generation, Sales, and Conversions. There are several ways to connect with your target audience and maximize the potential of these events.

1. Pre- and Post-Event Communication
2. Visitor Engagement at Your Booth
3. Networking with Other Exhibitors

During the exhibition, some individuals you meet may have an immediate need for your offerings, though such opportunities are typically rare. However, you may be fortunate to encounter leads that are close to converting into sales.

Additionally, many visitors come to trade shows simply to explore available products and services, gathering information for future needs. While they may not be ready to buy now, they may consider your company when their requirements arise.

Lead and Opportunity Management in SugarCRM

This includes clearly outlining the lead and opportunity lifecycles, ensuring that all sales team activities and performance are accurately tracked within the system. Having these processes in place will provide valuable insights and enable better management of leads generated from trade shows and exhibitions.

Quantitative Metrics

To measure the success of trade shows and exhibitions, it’s important to focus on quantitative metrics such as the number of leads or inquiries generated, the number of new contacts established, and the number of sales closed.

This metric provides a clear indication of the value derived from attending trade shows and exhibitions.

SugarCRM’s Campaigns Module

For each trade show or exhibition participation, the marketing team should create a campaign in the system, naming it after the event and specifying the event dates.

In addition to event details, the campaign can also capture key financials such as budget, actual costs, and expected revenue. At the conclusion of the marketing activity, this module automatically calculates the Return on Investment (ROI) based on the information and activities recorded in the CRM, providing valuable insights into the event’s effectiveness.

Pre Event Marketing Activities – Targets and Target Lists

Sugar Sell includes two modules that help capture and manage information related to pre-event marketing activities. Before the event, the marketing team typically focuses on two key tasks:

1. Identifying the Target Audience for the trade show or exhibition.
2. Communicating in Advance about the event, ensuring potential attendees have enough time to plan their visit.

Targets and Target Lists

SugarCRM’s Targets module allows the marketing team to capture key information about their target audience, including name, email, phone number, and other relevant details. There are two main categories of target audiences that the marketing team typically addresses:

• Existing Contacts and Leads within the CRM.
• External Targets obtained through other channels, such as purchased lists.

For example, they might create a target list named “Trade Show List for Singapore Exhibition” and populate it with selected leads and contacts based on specific criteria.

Additionally, reports can be generated, and the resulting data can be added directly to the target list.

For external targets acquired from third-party sources, they can be easily imported into SugarCRM using a CSV file, creating a new, fresh target list.

Communicating with Target Audience

Once the target audience is identified, there are several ways to communicate with them:

1. Email, Phone, SMS, and WhatsApp
2. Social Media
3. Online/Social Media Ads
4. Offline Ads

SugarCRM provides tools to streamline these communications. The system includes email templates and a mass emailing feature, allowing the marketing team to send targeted emails to the audience. Additionally, a Web-to-Lead form can be used for event registration, enabling potential attendees to sign up in advance.

It’s important that all registration forms include the question: “How did you hear about this event?” This helps track the effectiveness of different communication channels.

The Campaigns module also includes subpanels for Targets, Leads, Contacts, Opportunities, and Accounts, along with an Activities subpanel.

If a target responds to any communication, you can easily convert them into a lead by using the Convert to Lead button in the Target module, automatically linking them to the relevant campaign.

For any paid ads, ensure that the registration form includes the Campaign ID in the API call, so that these registrations are properly associated with the campaign.

Capturing Registrants in SugarCRM

When targeting a specific segment through campaigns, it may be necessary to capture their interest using a registration form. SugarCRM, or any other CRM platform, typically offers a RESTful API, enabling direct integration of registrations into the CRM system.

Capturing Visitors at Exhibitions

To gather visitor information during exhibitions, several methods can be employed. These include collecting business cards, maintaining a visitor logbook, or providing a digital lead form via a phone or notepad kiosk.

Post Event Communication

 After the trade show concludes, import all visitor information into the campaign as leads. Send follow-up communications to event participants and non-participants, expressing gratitude for their support. Address any immediate needs by reaching out to high-priority leads promptly.

Distribute all collected contacts and leads to the appropriate regional or divisional teams for further follow-ups, ensuring streamlined communication and nurturing.

Lead Conversion to Opportunities

Through diligent follow-ups by the sales team, leads can be nurtured and guided toward conversion.

This ROI can be realized within a short timeframe (e.g., three months) or over an extended period (e.g., three years), depending on the lifecycle of the leads and opportunities. By adhering to a structured lead management process, ROI can be tracked and calculated automatically.

By analyzing ROI data, the marketing team and management can identify which campaigns yield the highest returns, allowing for informed decisions about future participation and resource allocation.

Conclusion

By leveraging Sugar Sell’s Campaigns, Targets, and Target List modules, organizations can efficiently track the return on investment (ROI) for marketing activities, including trade show and exhibition participation.

Bhea, a trusted SugarCRM partner for over a decade, specializes in guiding organizations through the entire SugarCRM implementation process.

Contact us today to schedule a demo of SugarCRM and explore how it can benefit your business.