About a month ago, I registered to attend a trade show in Las Vegas.   Doesn’t matter which one, but I was an attendee, not a sponsor.  I received no fewer than 10 emails a day – every day – from the time I registered for the event to the final event day – from companies sponsoring the event.  I stopped trying to read any of them about three days in, and by day five, I just scrolled to the bottom and unsubscribed to all of them one by one as they came in.

I’m the exact target market of the companies who are emailing me.  I’m a C level executive, I hold the pen, and I’m coming to the event to learn more about the services these companies offer.  However, there are so many emails coming in that I can’t read them, and I don’t want to be in their funnel forever after attending the event.

What does that mean for the companies trying to market to me?

Well, first of all, once I hit unsubscribe it means that the company that emailed me can’t email me again.  I don’t know who they are, I didn’t read anything about them, I just scrolled to the bottom and clicked “unsubscribe”.  Done.  I’m no longer part of their funnel.   I’m not clicking “this is spam” because I know how I got on their list, and I am attending the event, so no need to be a jerk about it.  These companies presumably paid a pretty penny to sponsor the event, and they’re paying even more to try to reach out to me prior to the event.

Ten emails a day.  From ten different companies that I’ve never heard of before and have never attempted to engage with.  That’s a couple hundred new emails to weed through once all is said and done.  Far too many for any one person to reasonably review.

Here’s something to consider:

I also had to provide my phone number when I registered.

Guess how many people called me to ask me if I wanted to meet with them at this event?

None.

It’s now been a week since I attended the event.

The scanning system they used at the show allowed any company whose booth I attended to email me immediately upon leaving their booth, and that’s what they did. I didn’t have time to read them while I was on the show floor, and by the time I got home every day I wasn’t interested in reading emails – even from companies that I had an interest in talking to again.  And now I’m back at the office, buried in day to day work, and the trade show I attended is but a memory.  It was a cool show, there was some interesting things there, but it wasn’t a “buy on the floor” type of event.

Guess how many people have called me to follow up with me?

None.  (UPDATE:  ONE!!!!)

My business card has my direct phone number on it.  I don’t have an assistant who screens my calls.  Hell, sometimes I’m the one answering our 1-800 line.  Why is everyone leaning so heavily on email?  I’m genuinely offended that the companies I spent 30 minutes talking to sent me what was so obviously an automated template follow up.

The phone remains the least cluttered path to your prospects.  If nobody else is calling them, why aren’t you?!?

If the answer to that question is “We don’t have time!”, I have an easy solution for you!

Managed Sales Pros can help you connect with potential trade show attendees, and we can help you follow up with your new prospects quickly!  Interested in learning how you can create a more personalized approach to event invitations and follow ups?  Call us!  Whether you have 100 leads or 100,000 leads, our team is ready to call them for you. 1-844-266-2624