It Took Me 50+Years to Write this Article. (One experience at a time.)
By: Richard Erschik
Why post show sales lead follow-up stays broken today (even with better lead capture + CRMs)
1) The lead is “owned by everyone”… which means owned by no one
Marketing pays for the booth from their budget and runs the event. Sales “inherits” the leads after the show. That handoff is where the wheels come off and urgency dies.
CEIR-style exhibitor education material has been saying for years that companies struggle not only with lead quality, but with following up effectively and closing the loop so they can tie show activity to sales conversion. (Global Pet Expo)
2) Salespeople don’t trust trade show lead
Marketing pays for the booth from their budget and runs the event. Sales “inherits” the leads after the show. That handoff is where the wheels come off and urgency dies.
CEIR-style exhibitor education material has been saying for years that companies struggle not only with lead quality, but with following up effectively and closing the loop so they can tie show activity to sales conversion. (Global Pet Expo)s
Sales forces and reps often see show leads as:
- badge scans with no context
- “Information gatherers” (not buyers)
- a distraction from active deals
So they cherry-pick the ones they know and hope they buy again and ignore the rest. Result: lots of “captured” leads, few “worked” leads.
EXHIBITOR magazine has reported (from its Sales Lead Survey) that at least 40% of leads generated at the show go unfulfilled. (exhibitoronline.com) That’s not a tech problem. That’s a “human priorities” problem.
3) Speed-to-lead collapses after the show (and the leads go cold)
Here’s the ugly truth: most companies respond to leads wrong and way too slowly.
Multiple B2B lead response studies put average response time around ~42 hours (nearly two business days). (Amplemarket) And if you’ve been around sales long enough, you know what that means: your prospect forgets you, your competitor beats you, or the moment passes.
4) CRM’s today are a “dumping ground,” not a follow-up engine
A CRM can:
- store the lead
- route the lead
- remind people
“But it can’t make someone care.”
If the culture and incentives don’t demand follow-up, the CRM is just a fancy and expensive filing cabinet.
5) Incentives are misaligned (this is the big one)
Marketing is rewarded for:
- leads collected
- booth traffic
- MQL counts
- “engagement”
Sales is rewarded for:
- closed revenue
- pipeline that’s already moving
- accounts they already own
So trade show leads become “extra work” with unclear payoff — and extra work rarely wins.
6) Lead quality and notes are inconsistent (so sales has no confidence)
Even with scanners and apps, the missing ingredient is usually context:
- what was discussed
- why they stopped
- what problem they’re trying to solve
- timeframe
- next step promised
No context = no confidence = no follow-up.
7) Nobody measures the one metric that forces behavior: lead fulfillment
Most teams measure “leads captured.” Few measure:
- % contacted
- time to first contact
- # of touches completed
- meetings set per 100 leads
- pipeline created per show
What you don’t measure, you don’t manage.
A quick reality check on the famous “80% never get followed up” stat
You’ll see “80% of trade show leads receive no follow-up” quoted all over. Some sources attribute it to CEIR, but even industry folks admit it’s hard to trace to a primary CEIR publication. (American Image Displays) It has been my personal experience that that number is close to accurate.
The safer, well-sourced point is: a huge chunk of show leads are not acted on, and EXHIBITOR’s survey example puts it at ~40% unfulfilled — which is still catastrophic. (exhibitoronline.com)
What exhibitors can do about it (people-first fixes that actually work)
Don’t simply give all the leads to the sales force after the show. Marketing should respond to the leads, qualify them to identify those worth of immediate follow up attention, and get those best leads to the sales force, first. Then marketing should also nurture the rest of the leads for any future protentional and eventual disqualification so as not to clutter the database.
“How that should all be done” also took me 50+ years to learn, prove, and teach.
My question is… would you rather a) learn how to DIY, or b) have a service company do it for you?
Richad Erschik – Richard@ExhibitorTrainingWebinar.com Phone/Text 630-642-6500