Trade Shows and Events: From Booth Conversation to Order

Why do so many trade shows bring business cards but no orders?

Three days at the booth, twelve employees in rotation, 140 conversations, a stack of business cards. On the Monday afterwards the stack sits on the sales manager’s desk. Two weeks later a third have been called; there is no time for the rest. And for the cards that do get called, nobody remembers who spoke with whom at the booth about what.

The problem is old. Three decades ago, Gopalakrishna, Lilien, Williams and Sequeira (1995) already observed that a trade show’s success depends on follow-up, but that most companies do not track their contacts systematically. What was and often still is measured is only the number of contacts at the booth, not what becomes of them.

Yet trade shows and industry events are a powerful tool in business-to-business sales. Nowhere else do you meet so many people in two days who deliberately take time for your field. The mistake almost never lies in the show itself but in the process around it. The central question, then: how does a trade show become a measurable contribution to incoming orders? To answer it, we first look at whether trade shows still pay off, then go through the three phases before, during, and after the show, calculate the cost per order, and finally look at alternatives to the large booth.

A trade show is not an event but a project with three phases. Only the middle one takes place at the booth.

Are trade shows still worth it?

Many owners ask this since webinars and online advertising seem cheaper. In the end, only your own calculation can answer it, but research shows it can come out positive. Gopalakrishna and colleagues (1995) studied a manufacturer of laboratory equipment for gas chromatography. They compared customers and prospects who had visited the booth with those who had not, and tracked subsequent sales.

The result: the show brought the company a positive return. It also increased awareness of and interest in the products. The authors themselves stress the limits: one company, one show, a situation in which the company did little other advertising, so that the effect could be attributed well. Their most important contribution is proof that a trade show’s return can be measured if done carefully.

Another finding seems to contradict this. In a four-year analysis at a large consulting firm, Wang and colleagues (2019) found a relationship between digital events and sales leads, but not for in-person events. The article Webinars and expert talks describes this study. The two results do not exclude each other: it depends on whether the event is part of a sales process with follow-up. That is exactly what distinguishes trade shows that pay off from those that do not.

The trade show rule of three: before, during, after

Li Ling-Yee (2008) surveyed 444 exhibitors at a large Chinese export fair. The resources invested affected trade show success only partly in a direct way. Another part worked through three processes: promotion before the show, selling at the booth and follow-up afterwards. I translate this into a simple rule, the trade show rule of three.

1. Before: set appointments

   Four to six weeks before the show, personally invite existing customers and target contacts and agree fixed meeting times at the booth. One appointment at the booth is worth more than ten random visitors.

2. During: record conversations

   Every serious conversation ends with a short note in fixed fields and an agreement on the next step. The note is recorded immediately, not in the hotel in the evening.

3. After: follow up

   Within two business days of the show’s end, every contact receives a personal message, tiered by rating. The most important contacts get a call about the agreed next step.

An existing mailing list is particularly well suited for the advance invitation because it reaches people who already know you. How a newsletter should be set up for this is described in the article B2B newsletters. Personal messages to individual target contacts, however, work better than any mass invitation.

What has to happen at the booth: conversation, note, next step

At the booth, the same applies as in any first conversation: listen, understand the other person’s situation, agree a next step. The difference is time. A booth conversation rarely lasts longer than ten minutes, and the next one follows immediately. That is why you need a note that can be completed in one minute.

The rating follows the same criteria as for any inquiry. What they are and how to define them is described in the article on lead qualification. What matters is that everyone at the booth uses the same criteria. Otherwise one salesperson rates every contact as A and another rates none.

The booth itself also contributes to the conversation. Sharma, Pandey, Gupta and colleagues (2022) surveyed 400 visitors to a large trade fair. Two things influenced purchase intention most strongly: what you can touch and see, meaning products, samples and demonstrations, and what provides assurance, meaning awards, certificates, testimonials and experienced salespeople. Using eye tracking, Bauer and Hantel (2022) showed that striking elements such as towers, canopies, furniture or interactive stations get more attention than image walls or screens, even though far less looking happens on the show floor overall than in the lab.

How do you follow up after the show?

After the show, the person you spoke to still has dozens of other conversations in their head. The longer you wait, the fainter yours becomes. Two business days after the show ends are therefore the limit for the first message. For the most important contacts: first call within the first week.

This tiering corresponds to what the article Lead handoff from marketing to sales describes for inquiries in general. The only difference: the deadlines start on the first working day after the show, not during it. So plan before the show who will have time for follow-up in the week afterwards. Anyone who is back in full day-to-day business on the Monday after the show will not follow up.

What does a trade show order cost? Calculate instead of guess

Trade shows are expensive: booth rental, construction, travel, accommodation, staff and the working time missing from day-to-day business that week. Only a calculation through to the order shows whether it pays off. The article Aligning marketing and sales contains a worked example with four channels. The trade show there costs 9,000 euros and brings 45 inquiries, 15 conversations and 3 orders, which is 3,000 euros per order. The following funnel shows the same show from the booth’s perspective.

The example shows why the work before and after the show makes such a difference. The costs of the appearance are fixed. Whether they are spread over one or four orders is decided by the process. So that you can calculate this after the show, every contact gets the source “trade show” and the name of the event, and sales maintains the outcome through to the order or the rejection.

Small presence, own event, talk: alternatives to the big booth

Not every business needs its own booth at the leading trade fair. For many small and midsize businesses, other formats are more effective because they are cheaper and the conversations go deeper.

An expert talk often has a favorable ratio of effort to impact. You speak to people interested in your topic and are perceived as an expert, not a salesperson. The talk follows the same structure as a webinar: a real customer question, a good answer, a clear offer at the end. At your own customer event, satisfied customers can also speak for themselves. Why that is particularly credible is described in the article Using testimonials and references.

What you can do before the next trade show

Plan the next trade show as a project with three phases. The following list starts six weeks before and ends two weeks after.

• Set the goal: how many follow-up conversations and orders the show should bring, not how many visitors.
• Six weeks ahead, personally invite existing customers and target contacts and agree fixed meeting times.
• Prepare the five-field conversation note as a form on the phone and brief everyone at the booth.
• Agree uniform criteria for A, B and C.
• Write four follow-up templates and keep the people responsible free of other tasks in the week after the show.
• Add the source “trade show” with the event name to the inquiry list.
• Four weeks after the show, take stock: conversations, proposals, orders, cost per order.

After two trade shows with this process you will have, for the first time, numbers that let you compare shows with each other and with other channels. And you will know whether the follow-up meeting really is the step where things stall. How to hold these conversations is described in the article The first conversation.

Back to the opening question: a trade show brings business cards instead of orders when only the days at the booth are planned. If you arrange meetings in advance, record every conversation at the booth, and follow up within two working days, contacts turn into follow-up conversations. Whether a show pays off is then shown not by the number of visitors but by the cost per order.