Have you ever returned home from a trade show feeling overwhelmed? Hundreds of conversations running through your head and dozens of opportunities on which to follow-up? You get back to the office, look at the desk full of business cards or a spreadsheet of leads and just stare at them. You think this one has the new operations manager that loves technology and that one has the need for night vision cameras. But wait, maybe they were the ones that don’t believe in night vision – or were they the ones with the new ops manager … oh no, you don’t remember.
We’ve all been there. You get so busy on the exhibit floor and while entertaining that your head gets maxed out with information. A conversation in which you were completely engaged on Thursday is cloudy on Monday. There isn’t enough time between conversations to take notes, and you might look a little foolish pulling out the tablet at a nice dinner. What can you do?
Idea Tuesday: At the end of every day of a trade show, take 20 minutes to document the discussions you had that day. Why 20 minutes? You’ll make sure you only focus on the high priority discussions. If you give yourself two hours, some of you will take all two hours and feel obsessed with every detail. Just nail the high priority items. Don’t wait until the end of the show, and definitely don’t wait until you return to the office – do this after every day. Don’t get elaborate with your notes – just document the action items and some key words to remind you of your discussion.
Bonus Idea for Sales Managers: Make this activity a team event. Bring refreshments or cocktails to the booth during the last few minutes of the day, and ask everyone to stick around for 20 minutes (you might need to extend it to 30 minutes with a group). Run down the list of visitors and ask each person to identify their top three to five action items (could be less or more depending on the type of show). Control this conversation or it could last way too long.
