New LinkedIn Poll Results Show Exhibitors Want Better Lead Retrieval

Trade show organizers, attendees and exhibitors across a range of industries and show profiles, plus Bartizan's focus groups, have all made it clear: exhibitors like lead retrieval but dislike many aspects of traditional lead retrieval. Bartizan's recent LinkedIn poll asked exhibitors their biggest pet peeves about lead retrieval. Of the received since June 9, 2010, the poll found that the top difficulty, with 36 percent of the responses, was the ability to identify best prospects. Second was the difficulty adding notes (20 percent) and third was scanning the bar codes on badges (19 percent). Unlike traditional lead retrieval, iLeads makes adding notes and qualifiers easier than ever. This helps exhibitors identify their best prospects during and after the show. There is no barcode required, eliminating common barcode headaches.

iLeads is a new and better way to collect data and exchange information. It is the most cost effective and easiest to use lead retrieval product available to exhibitors.
With this ground-breaking app, exhibitors can capture, qualify and manage tradeshow leads anywhere - on the show floor, at the airport or even at dinner. They can also quickly attach notes to leads. With the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, exhibitors can follow up instantly with trade show leads gathered with a text, email or phone call, and send updates right from the tradeshow floor to headquarters, customers and prospects. Exhibitors can also check out lead profiles on Google, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

The application is available now for free download and test drive at the iTunes store. To download the iLeads iPhone App, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users may go to the Apple App Store within iTunes and search for 'iLeads.' To test and see how easy iLeads is to use: simply launch the app and enter event access code: 1006. Then click on the event and enter test badge number: 8188.

iLeads Lead Retrieval App New Video Tutorials

These new video tutorials highlight this revolutionary, easy and fun new lead retrieval system.

Unlike traditional lead retrieval equipment that uses barcode technology, iLeads runs on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. This breakthrough to existing lead retrieval systems makes it easy to add notes, surveys, photos and qualifiers to leads collected at trade shows, making the leads more valuable for sales.

Bartizan debuted iLeads to trade show exhibitors with resounding success at the 5th International Cloud Expo in NYC. An unprecedented 90 percent of Cloud Expo's exhibitors utilized the app to collect their leads. Typical lead retrieval system use is low, hovering around 30 percent. This significant boost in exhibitor adoption to 90 percent illustrates the excitement and interest from show organizers and exhibitors for the latest and very best in lead retrieval.

With the introduction of iLeads, all event participants will experience substantially lower operating costs – no shipping, no on-site techs, no training, and equipment maintenance costs are eliminated. iLeads does not require a bar-coded badge, saving time and money and eliminating common barcode complications.

iLeads was created with consideration for the future and resource efficiency. No shipping means no fuel, but that is just the start of iLeads' greening of lead retrieval. Neither the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad require external power. All collected information is available on the Web. There is no need to print it on paper. No technical staff is required to be on hand to distribute and collect equipment and to train exhibitors. This translates into a reduction in fuel used to move people around and less paperwork generated.

iLeads Lead Retrieval Reveiws on App Store

The first few reviews are in on the revolutionary iLeads App for tradeshow lead retrieval. If you have experience with the App – click here to write your own review.

For a free, demo account: Click Here

iLeads takes the hassle out of lead retrieval. Download the free iLeads app now. Try the demo. If you are an exhibitor and your shows don’t offer iLeads, send us the name of the event and the name of the show organizer to: wewantileads@bartizan.com

How important is it to add qualifiers, survey questions and notes to trade show leads?

We want your opinion! Last week on our LinkedIn discussion group: iLeads: Trade show Lead Retrieval App Fan Page - I posed the question: How important is it to add qualifiers, survey questions and notes to trade show leads?


You see, at Bartizan we have found that most exhibitors, when using our traditional lead retrieval terminals, fail to enhance their leads by adding information, such as qualifiers and notes. With the introduction of iLeads in April, a much different picture emerged. More than half of all leads contain notes and qualifiers. At one event the figure was close to 80 percent.
I was surprised by how many people had a strong opinion on trade show lead qualification. We received 17 comments; here are some of the highlights:

Richard Erschik, Speaker/Educator/Consultant said: “Having processed more than 1,000,000 leads for exhibitors over 22+ years of time we found that it didn't matter if a lead had questions, answers or directions to the prospect's door - lead "follow-up" rates didn't improve.”

Fred Tremblay, Leaders in trade show lead management solutions said: “How important is it to add qualifiers, survey questions and notes to trade show leads? The short answer is “very important” especially for qualifiers. To better understand why just look at what is happening in the broader world of marketing and lead generation. The goal for marketing is to send leads to sales only when they are “READY” and since sales knows that they will not waste their time chasing unqualified leads, they are more than excited about getting them."

"The idea that you can collect a few hundred badge swipes at a trade show and sales will jump all over them is naive. It never happens, especially when the rest of the lead generation process is focused on qualification."

"While adding custom qualifiers to the scanned badge data is a step forward, collecting qualification data does not solve all of the problems with trade show leads."

Steven Shatsoff , Senior Vice President at SmartSource Computer & AV Rentals said: “What ever happened to sales management? The purpose of exhibiting at a show is to increase your business. The more qualified the opportunity the better the opportunity. The problem is as Lew states, what information you gather and how you gather it (qualified discussion) rather than booth goodies which bombard your sales force with worthless information leading to frustrating follow-up. It is incumbent on sales management to easily gather the information, qualified and as complete as possible, and disseminate and manage the data AND the sales follow-up”

Karl Becker, COO at NewLeads Inc. said: “If leads are qualified, your sales team knows a lot more about the new lead, when they pick up the phone and call them after the show. To sum this up: Either qualify your new leads by asking "sales" related questions; while you have a "face-to-face" conversation, or don't bother exhibiting!”

We want to know your opinion; do you think it’s important to send qualified leads to sales? Do you have success with just a mailing list? Let us know your thoughts, join in on our Linked In discussion here or post your comments below to our blog.

Coffee Shop as an Exhibit

Every business needs qualified leads. Trade shows are an effective, efficient venue for lead retrieval, of course, but if you look around, you will see other examples of how businesses generate leads through face-to-face marketing.

I live in Manhattan. People who don’t live in New York City think of it as a big, impersonal place, but the fact is, New York City consists of dozens of neighborhoods, each with its distinct character. Each neighborhood, in turn, consists of blocks, each with its own characters (residents). Using trade show parlance, think of each resident as an attendee and each merchant in the neighborhood as an exhibitor.

My particular block has just two merchants, each at its westernmost end. One of the two merchants is the Mansion Coffee Shop. My guess is that it is probably the most successful coffee shop in Manhattan, which is saying something since there are some 19,000 restaurants in New York City, of which at least 1,500 are coffee shops.

Why is The Mansion so successful? The owner, Phil Phillips, is a master marketer. My guess is that Phil prefers to be known as a restaurateur, but as excellent as his food is, to my mind what sets him apart is his marketing ability. You only have to walk by The Mansion to know the season or holiday being celebrated. The windows are painted with images that convey the spirit of the occasion. Often there are decorations on the adjacent sidewalks, as well – pumpkins, haystacks, decorated Christmas trees, American flags, Valentine hearts – my words can’t do it justice. On New Years Eve Phil has his own version of a hospitality suite. He throws a formal party, complete with Champagne, for his customers – on the house.

What really sets Phil and The Mansion apart is that he knows darn near every resident on the block, no small feat since most of the buildings lining the street are 20 stories tall or more. Not only does he address each either by name or by some honorific, such as “doctor”, “judge”, or “counselor”, but he has “qualified” them. That is, he knows something of their personal history and their likes and dislikes.

Phil will point to an apartment across the street and relate that Margaret Truman used to live there. When she came in to the Mansion she would order such and such. As a passerby ambles past us as we chat, Phil will relate that he is a professor at Columbia. And the young woman that gives him a wave? An actress in a Broadway show.

What if each of us, as trade show exhibitors, took the same pains with our booths and made as much effort as Phil Phillips does to know our prospects and customers? The effort certainly pays off for Phil. His place is busy from 7:00 am until at least 10:00 in the evening, later on weekends. At a trade show, we should be engaged beyond the exhibit hours. Phil has a 365-day challenge. At any given trade show, we as exhibitors typically only have a 72 hour challenge.

If a coffee shop can be made to stand out, why not your exhibit at your next trade show?

Bartizan’s iLeads Mobile App Now Available on Apple iPad

New iPad Platform Offers Exhibitors First-Of-Its-Kind Lead Retrieval For Collecting Leads at Tradeshows.

Bartizan Connects is pleased to announce that iLeads, the new iPhone and iPod touch App for tradeshow lead retrieval, is now available for Apple’s iPad.

The iPad’s touch screen, advanced capabilities, vivid LED-backlit IPS display and expansive onscreen keyboard are perfect as a self-service kiosk for lead retrieval, surveys and product demos. Exhibitors will find that the iPad enhances their trade show experience. Certainly for shows over the next few months exhibitors will attract attention just by having an iPad running iLeads in their booth.

iLeads is a totally new way to collect and manage tradeshow leads. It is cost effective and easy to use. To start, iLeads offers substantially lower operating costs for show managers – no shipping, on-site techs, electrical hook ups or training, and equipment maintenance costs are eliminated. iLeads does not require a bar-coded badge, saving time and money for organizers and eliminating common barcode complications. iLeads requires only a simple number to be placed on attendee badges. At the end of the show, there is no need for equipment pick-up and return and there are never too few or too many terminals available to exhibitors.

“Apple’s superior interface works for off-the-floor lead capture – and follow-up is enhanced by iPad’s capabilities. Since no on-site technical support staff is needed, iLeads is a better solution for shows with no budget for lead retrieval,” said Lew Hoff, president, Bartizan Connects.

On April 3, 2010, Apple launched the iPad, providing consumers and businesses a new platform to stay connected and informed. With iPad’s web browsing capabilities, exhibitors using iLeads may follow up instantly with tradeshow leads they’ve gathered with a text, email or phone call – and send updates right from the trade show floor back to headquarters, customers and prospects. Exhibitors may also check out lead profiles on Google, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

“iLeads takes the hassle out of lead retrieval. Download the free iLeads app now from iTunes and try the demo version,” said Elizabeth Mazei, executive vice president & COO, Bartizan Connects. “If you’re an exhibitor and your shows don't offer iLeads, send us the name of the event and the name of the show organizer to our rapid-response iLeads email: wewantileads@bartizan.com. We will let the organizer know of your interest.”

According to Mazei, the benefits go beyond efficiency. “With the introduction of this app, we have made lead retrieval more cost effective, easier to use…even fun.”

To download the iLeads iPhone App, go to the Apple App Store within iTunes and search for 'iLeads'. To test and see how easy it is to use: simply launch the App and enter event access code: 1006, click on the event, then enter test badge number: 8188.

iLeads iPhone App for tradeshow lead retrieval featured in Expo Magazine What's New in Technology

A new app, iLeads allows exhibitors to collect trade show leads using an iPhone or iPod Touch. It is also featured in this week's edition of featured in Expo Magazine's What's New in Technology.


iLeads is now available on the iTunes store – check it out: http://tinyurl.com/yeselwt
To see how easy it is to use: launch the app and enter event access code: 1006, click on the event and enter new lead badge number: 8188