For years, tradeshows have provided a venue for sales and marketing teams to put themselves directly in front of customers with the rest of their industry.  Ultimately the goal for both the marketing and sales team is to interact with potential customers and sell their company’s products.  However, the definition of a successful tradeshow varies for each role.

The sales team strives to attend a tradeshow and come home with a few highly qualified leads that will help them hit their sales targets within a month or two following the show. To that end, they will instinctively sort through the people to step onto the booth carpet quickly to grab the low-hanging fruit.  Closing these sales equates with success at the show for the sales team.

The marketing team on the other hand views all tradeshow leads as valuable, and the more the better. Marketing success at a tradeshow means that everyone attending the show not only knew your company was exhibiting but knew it was the hottest thing going. Marketing loves to bring leads home from half the attendees. They will meticulously mine all of the leads they collect, viewing each lead as a chance to nurture a conversation and sell future prospects for months or even years to come.

Time is the differentiator. Sales teams need to hit numbers next month by closing deals with those who are ready to buy now, while marketing wants to build relationships with prospects long term and extract qualified leads for the sales team to close when those leads are finally ready to buy.

Tags: Marketing | Public Relations | customer relationships | tradeshow planning | tradeshows | leads | brand positioning | category leadership | brand building | marketing tactics