Even in this day and age, people bring fishbowls to collect business cards at a trade show. What do you have at the end of the trade show? A fishbowl full of cards, nothing else! No one was qualified. No one spoke to anyone from your company. And nine out of ten times, the person putting business card in this fishbowl because they thought they were going to win a prize! They certainly have no interest in your company, products or services.

When you do collect business cards, make sure each business card is attached to a company qualification form. You want to keep track of all of your leads. You need to keep track of your leads so that you can determine your Return On Investment (ROI). Many companies use the ROI to determine of the show was a worthwhile investment, and how much did each lead cost.

One person, if not the booth manager should be responsible for all the leads, and business cards collects during the day. No person standing booth duty should “pocket” a business card because he or she thought it was a very good lead, and they did not want to share it.

I have had situations where I have found a company person standing booth duty, was taking cards and putting them in his pocket, and not qualifying that person or handing in the card to the person in charge of all of the leads. What was more frustrating was that the potential client came back, and asked the booth manager if this person had gotten the information he requested, because he had some decisions to make. The booth manager had no idea what this person was talking about, and since they could not find his card or qualification form, the Manager and the company was embarrassed, and looked to the prospect that the company was not very professional.

From all indication I don’t believe that sales person lasted much longer with the company.