David Anderson of Colonial Chemical : Following Up After the Show

As some of you who are subscribed already know, I send out a bi-weekly E-zine,and a lot of the content is taken directly from this blog...generally, it's a matter of only having so much time available to write each week.

Well, last week on the E-Zine, I mentioned a slight change was imminent-that I would be expanding thing to include articles from contributing writers. Generally, these are folks who are involved in the trade show industry in one manner or the next...some of them are insiders, some of them are exhibitors themselves. What they all have in common, is that they have been kind enough to share their experiences, their insights, and their time, in an effort to improve your chances of getting the most out of your trade show and event program.

To that end, this week, I spoke with David Anderson- President of Colonial Chemical in southern Tennessee. Colonial is a leading manufacturer and supplier of specialty surfactants, which are found in some of the nation's most popular personal care and beauty products, as well as several industrial lubricants, and a variety of other products.

David spent several years as a salesman before becoming President of Colonial, and that's given him the perspective to see the trade show experience from several different angles. Today, David shares a little about how Colonial has adapted their post-show follow up procedure to reflect recent changes in technology.



Ryan: Dave, you’ve been attending trade shows for a few years now…obviously, the industry has changed quite a bit over the years though. One of the biggest changes for the better has been in the art of lead retention. How has your follow up process been changed over the years to reflect the larger changes in the industry?

Dave: Well, in our early beginnings at trade shows, we simply jotted down names, took business cards, and had a vast number of names in other disjointed different forms. Follow-up was difficult.. and sometimes… simply did not occur.

With the advent of badge scanning devices though, we have had a lot of success by pre-appointing someone in the booth to scan everyone that walks up. Sure, we still end up with a few cards and a few scratched notes- we probably always will, but with the badge scanning device, We always end up with a nice list of names, and that list is complete and easy to import into Word.

Ryan: So right off the bat, things are more organized, which helps. Okay, so you have the names in one place- now what?

Dave: Now, our follow up practice on leads from trade shows has been to record the name in an ACT file for future reference by the salesperson in the territory. Having quick access to all the information in one place, speeds up the process considerably. In addition, we have also sent the person who's badge we’ve scanned a personalized letter thanking them for stopping by the booth and spending a little time with us. Included with that letter, of course, is our general product brochure, and then a copy of the letter is sent to the salesperson in the territories as well. By doing this, the sales person in the territory has a new lead to
follow up on, and the potential customer has a letter from our company, acknowledgement that we appreciate their time and interest, and they also have our company brochure to review in the comfort of their own office.

Ryan: Which is always important of course. One of the biggest problems I have run into with people is that they complain about how effective…or UNeffective that their efforts have been at shows, but when you start asking tough questions about how they follow up with “Probable Purchasers”, you realize that most of them AREN'T following up…and especially not in anything resembling an organized or pre-strategized way. It’s one of those things really…you get out of it, what you put into it, and the follow up can’t just a quick email after the show…it’s a long term commitment to keep the lines of communication open.

Dave: That’s where the sales person really comes in. They follow up…begin to build rapport, and the next time the salesman is in speaking with these individuals about the account, or they are just in the area, they pay that person a visit or give them a phone call.

As a company, we are trying to get people familiar with Colonial Chemical, Who we are, and what we do. We provide our sales force with the tools and the information to begin the relationship building process, and then it is up to the individual salesperson to make the next point of contact...and the next…and so on.


Dave hit the nail on the head here. The follow up process is only successful when your company steps up and does it's part to facilitate interest in it's products, and assists the individual sales people in capitalizing on that interest. That means that a company must PLAN to succeed in it's trade show efforts...you must strategize on how you will collect names and information...and how you will both store and then quickly use that information. It's up to the individual sales person to take this invaluable information, and turn the raw potential into actual results.

So next time you are planning out your trade show, spend a few extra dollars to rent a lead retrieval machine...and then USE IT. For the cost of a nice bottle of wine, you can ensure that your organization is possitioned to capture the maximum amount of potential without the risk of lost busines cards, the bad first impression of trying to quickly jot a name on the back of a scrap piece of paper, and possibly most important, you will have a pre-organized list of interested contacts ready to place into your sales funnel IMMEDIATELY.


To contact David Anderson, please call Colonial Chemical toll free at 1-800-837-3888, or email him at danderson@colonialchem.com . For more information on Colonial Chemical, you can find them on the web at www.Colonialchem.com