Trade Show Lead Forms

What is more important for your business than new leads? The answer, is “not much.” New leads are, of course, the lifeblood of business, as they allow you to acquire new customers or clients. This means growing your business.

Choosing the Right Trade Show Lead Form

Attending a trade show, simply stated, is an investment in your business, and you want to do everything possible to get the most out of that investment. This means that is is essential that you effectively capture your trade show leads. Letting your trade show leads slip through your fingers is paramount to letting money slip through your fingers!

Paper vs Electronic Trade Show Lead Forms

You can capture your trade show leads through paper or electronically. There are pros and cons to each of these approaches. Paper forms are a little more personal, and there is no doubt that this approach, is of course, inexpensive. Also paper forms will continue to work even if the Internet goes down, which should always be treated as a possibility. Plus, you can easily write notes on a paper form or attach a business card. With paper lead forms, you can use checkboxes so people can quickly fill them out.

With a paper trade show lead form, don’t waste your space on pointless questions like “Are you interested in our products? If they weren’t interested in the products, they wouldn’t fill out the form. Asking these kind of questions don’t serve to put you in the best light. Instead ask questions that will help you decide what approach to use with them in the future and what their current and future needs may be. With your paper lead forms it is possible to ask prospects about their budget, purchasing timeframe and preferred contact method. In general, this is the kind of information you should be seeking.

Lead Retrieval Systems

There is also the possibility of a lead retrieval system that you can rent from the trade show organization itself. This will scan people’s badges, and you will be able to print a form with contact information. This procedure can make things more accurate. That is unless the basic attendee data is wrong. Another potential issue with a lead retrieval system is that you won’t be able to customize the information you get. Of course, you will also be at the mercy of potential power issues.

Software and Lead Generation Apps

Another way to handle the trade show lead form is through computer software. In recent years, the introduction of the tablet computer and smartphones have served to make this process a bit easier. Nearly everyone is online so being able to get Lead generation for contractors on the web too can make contacting potential clients much easier. Either your staff member or the visitor can fill out the form. However, if you have a computer crash or an Internet failure, you won’t be able to use the form. This is why a good old-fashion paper backup is a good idea. If you do choose to use a software approach, it means that all of your data is in one place with easy access. You could also then put all of that data into a PDF for an easy read too, making the lead generation process a little simpler. You could use a PDF splitter between each lead so that you know which information goes with each lead but still have all of your leads in one place. The data is also less likely to be damaged in any way, compared to a piece of paper that will degrade if it accidentally gets wet or may get lost.

Of course, there are also lead generation apps on the iPad. Also with an iPad, your staff can conveniently carry a tablet around to grab leads throughout the trade show, while demonstrating that you are up to date on the latest and greatest consumer technology.
The bottom line is grab your leads. Further, it is necessary that you take steps to have a backup method of gathering leads. In this regard, paper will never fail you. Just don’t lose your paperwork!