Five essential things you need to do after SuperZoo to make the most of your involvement.

You signed up, you paid thousands of dollars, you attended SuperZoo, so now what?

The most important steps in attending SuperZoo occur when you return from the event. The following are our top five essential things you need to do to make the most of your involvement and recoup the marketing expenses you incurred to attend:

Send thank yous.

Get out the list of contacts you made at the show, review your notes, and send a thank you note via email to all the visitors to your booth, those that you networked with, as well as the event organizers. And if you'd like to stand out from the crowd, why not send a hand written thank you the old fashion way via the US Postal Service. Sending these notes will keep you top of mind in the eyes of the new and renewed contacts you made at the show.

Follow up, follow up, follow up.

I can't stress this enough with my clients.....make follow up with your leads a priority. According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), nearly 80% of leads generated are never followed up. Start by focusing your attention on the 'big fish' first; the most important prospects, customers and leads that you made and those most seriously interested in what you have to offer; then progress through the remainder of your list. Remember you don't have to completely 'close the sale' at this point, the important thing is to 'close to the next step'.

Keep your promises.

Were you asked to send a sell sheet? A brochure? An order form? A replacement order? Did you receive new orders? Throughout the show, it's my bet that your contacts asked for something. Fulfill all your promises and requests as soon as you return to the office to positively maintain current and new business contacts.

Measure your success.

We recommend a complete evaluation of the success of your involvement in SuperZoo, right after the show and again about 6 months later. Measure the number of qualified and unqualified leads you received, the number of contacts and orders placed immediately and at later dates, the number and quality of other contacts you made, i.e., media, partnerships, private label ops, etc. Then weigh those potential and current sales against the cost of attendance. Did you measure up?

Get social.

Hop on all your social media sites and talk about your involvement in SuperZoo (hopefully you did this during the show, as well). Showcase your booth, talk about those you met, publish selfies with the great contacts you made, re-publish any important announcements you made at the show. etc. Engage your social media contacts, ask questions and more.

The most important thing is do not let people forget about you. Keep up over time with your contacts and leads. Sales don't happen overnight.

For more information about how you can get the most from your the trade shows you attend for your pet business, contact us today for a 30 minute free consultation.