Sample Lead Card
This information is only available to individuals who have had at least some basic exposure to the Trade Show Samurai arts. If you have, you know that one of the Trade Show Samurai’s critical weapons is the lead card.
Lead cards are the most important, but often overlooked tools in the trade show exhibitor’s arsenal. Using a lead card to capture data about attendees is essential for the following reasons:
1. It avoids “chicken scratch†on the backs of business card which, if legible, will likely be incomplete and, thus, worthless
2. It ensures you capture the right qualifiable information for each attendee
3. It is quick to complete because it uses a lot of check boxes
Lucky for you I’ve put together a sample lead card that you can download and edit for your own use. To download the lead card click the thumbnail image.
There are three main parts of the lead card. The first part contains basic contact information. If the attendee has a business card I like to staple it to the lead card so I won’t have to fill everything out. However, I always write down their name, company name and phone number in case I lose the card. This first section also contains the contact’s title which can be used to qualify the person later.
The next section is the demographics that will enable you to qualify the lead. This sample card was developed for the 2010 International Home & Housewares Show so it captures demographics relevant to that industry. The categories (job function, type, products, stores, etc.) help the exhibitor capture the right information while they practice the Art of Inquiry.
For those of you who attended the Trade Show Samurai webinar you might remember that we used the example company College Peas, LLC. This company was in the college admissions space so the important demographics included the tax status, number of students, and marketing practices. The important demographics vary from market to market and even from company to company.
The last section is a notes section that allows you to jot down anything that will help your sales team learn more about what the prospect is interested in. It also allows you to record your overall impression of the lead using “Hank,†“Will,†and “Carl†which mean “Hot,†“Warm,†and “Coldâ€. Lastly, I like to check off my initials at the bottom of the form. In case the notes are hard to read the salesperson can always follow-up with me or whoever made the notes. The initials also come in handy if you want to do a little in-booth competition. Like an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii for the person who gets the most leads, for instance.
Feel free to adapt this lead card for your own use. Make plenty of copies, bring enough clipboards and staplers and get ready to rumble Trade Show Samurai-style!