The Post Show “What If” Game

Let’s say Bill comes into your booth. He spends a fair amount of time talking to a salesperson about a specific product. Bill then chooses to email himself links to brochures and videos on several other products. Then because you are also tracking what he actually looks at when he gets home, you see he’s clicked to open one of the videos several times. Great, you now know some important stuff about what Bill is and isn’t interested in, or what some call his “demonstrated intent.” The big question is what do you do with that knowledge?

A lot of data supports the idea that the company that responds first after the show wins the sale. But it is also the company that responds with the most relevant content to help Bill get from where he is now in the purchase decision to where you want him to be. So here’s the suggestion.

Before the show, play the “what if” game. Identify some likely post show scenarios, like Bill’s, and instead of having the same action point for each (e.g., the salesperson calls), create a different and specific follow-up response for each scenario. For instance, in scenario A, Bill gets an email listing the top 3 benefits of the product featured in the video he watched. In scenario B, he gets a call from a salesperson with an offer of a free trial for his product of interest. For scenario C, a link to a free white paper on how to choose products in that category. In any case, the key ingredients are to track demonstrated areas of interest, have a pre-prepared, highly relevant response for each area, and get it out fast.