Skyline Exhibits

We attend 40 shows each year, but three different types: large industry shows, medium b-to-b customer shows and smaller consumer shows. We finally realized that we needed to group similar shows together and compare leads and results within each of the same group.

We gather cost per contact and then work the show(s) the following year to get the costs down and lead counts up on under-performing shows. If we can't bring an under-performing show into parity with those in the same group we re-evaluate our purpose for attending, our costs, who is attending and what our activities might be. If a show routinely falls at the high cost/low lead end of the range of the group it might be eliminated and/or replaced with a bigger presence at those shows that do deliver results for us.

This approach also provides us with "ammunition" to use with event staff to negotiate better costs and better locations to drive our cost per lead to a desirable level. We now have quantifiable information that gives us leverage with show management. We are leaders in our industry. They don't want us to cancel and usually will accommodate reasonable requests to improve our show results.

- Name withheld by request