How far ahead of the fair to prepare your lead capture
A practical timeline for exhibitors: what to do 6, 4, 2 and 1 weeks before the fair to capture contacts with permission and follow up afterwards.
Most exhibitors start preparing for a fair with what is visible: the stand, the transport, the tickets. Lead capture is left for the week before and often ends up as a notebook. If you want every visit to leave something useful, some things need days of margin: printing material, testing the form, preparing the messages for afterwards. Here is a realistic timeline, from least to most urgent.
6 to 4 weeks before: set the goal and the offer
- What you want to achieve: meetings, quote requests, new distributors. Pick one or two metrics, not five.
- Who you expect to see: end customers, distributors, specifiers. The message depends on this.
- The offer: a catalogue, price list or sample that only interests people with a real need (more in how to capture contacts at your stand with permission).
- The accounts you want at your stand: if you have specific target companies, now is the time to write and invite them.
4 to 2 weeks before: build
- The fair page with your brand and a short form that loads fast on mobile.
- The permission wording and the unsubscribe notice, reviewed with your adviser.
- The stand kit: poster, cards or a box with the QR code. If you are printing, order with margin: printers have lead times and so does delivery to the venue.
- The follow-up messages for the different types of visitor.
- The fair's regulations: what material can be handed out and where.
2 to 1 weeks before: test
- Scan the QR from two or three different phones, including one with weak signal.
- Fill in the form like a visitor would and check that the alert reaches your salesperson.
- Check that each QR leads to the right page and that you can tell which piece it came from.
- Gather the stand team for 15 minutes: what to say, how to note what each person asks for and who takes the hot leads.
During the fair
Check the alerts every day. A contact who asks for a price on Tuesday should not wait until Monday. If someone left details at the stand, a short message that same afternoon (“Great to meet you today, here is what we discussed”) makes a difference.
Afterwards: the 30 days
Follow-up starts the day after the fair closes and lasts about four weeks (the full calendar is here). If you arrive late to everything above, that is fine: a follow-up-only version can be set up from the cards and the scanner file.
What if there are fewer than 4 weeks left?
A reduced version is possible: a simple form and QR, a printed poster and a short follow-up sequence. What you lose is the more elaborate kit and the early invitation to your target accounts. For more margin, decide about 6 weeks ahead.
What you can do and what we can do
With one dedicated person and a spreadsheet, it can be done. What usually fails is that this person also has the stand, the transport and the orders. That is why we offer the full trade fair lead capture and follow-up system, covering before, during and after, and a follow-up-only version for those who arrive late. For manufacturers, this is how we plan customer acquisition for manufacturers.