6 Reasons Why You Should Capture Your Trade Show Leads with a Lead App Instead of Your CRM App

CRM App: A Centralized but Inflexible Approach

CRM apps are typically managed centrally by the IT or CRM administrator. This means that any modifications – from adding new fields to customizing questionnaires – must go through the IT department. Spontaneous adjustments by the trade show team, marketing, or sales are often not possible. This can significantly slow down processes and limit the flexibility of sales teams.

The more trade shows you attend, the greater the administrative burden. While a single event might still be manageable, the workload quickly escalates for companies that frequently participate in multiple trade shows, each requiring specific adjustments.

snapADDY VisitReport: Quick Adjustments Without IT Effort

Unlike CRM apps, snapADDY VisitReport offers decentralized management. Control lies directly in the hands of marketing and sales teams.

Trade show teams have direct control over the application, allowing for faster adaptation to different events and target groups. This flexibility is particularly beneficial when last-minute changes are needed or specific information must be captured for a particular event. Teams can respond immediately on-site and tailor the lead capture process to their needs without requiring technical expertise.

CRM App: Error-Prone Lead Capture with High Post-Processing Effort

Many CRM apps struggle with accurately capturing contact information from business cards, requiring manual corrections. Even many dedicated lead apps fail to reliably recognize contact details, as our business card scanner test has shown.

CRM apps often provide only limited lead capture capabilities, as they are primarily designed for internal CRM processes. While this may work for a small number of leads, it quickly becomes a burden when handling hundreds of contacts at a trade show. The app’s limited functionality is not suited for fast and efficient bulk data capture. This forces sales teams to spend unnecessary time on administrative tasks rather than focusing on valuable customer conversations.

Integration with external sources such as LinkedIn or trade show badges is often inadequate. CRM apps typically rely on a single data capture method. They usually cannot scan trade show badges, integrate LinkedIn profiles, or enrich company data automatically, leaving valuable information unused and making the lead capture process inefficient.

snapADDY VisitReport: Accurate Lead Capture with Intelligent Features

The snapADDY VisitReport lead app offers the world's best business card recognition (almost 100% accuracy), including support for multiple character sets. This significantly reduces the need for manual corrections.

Beyond simple business card and QR code scanning, snapADDY VisitReport provides:

• Direct API-based scanning of trade show badges.
• Intelligent company data search that automatically enriches leads with relevant details. In addition to the contact’s name, the system adds firm names, locations, industries, and other business-relevant information from publicly available sources, eliminating the need for manual research.
• LinkedIn integration for fast and complete contact data capture.
• Direct CRM data lookup within the app to avoid duplicate records and update existing contacts.

This saves valuable time and ensures high-quality data for follow-ups right from the trade show floor.

CRM App: Dependent on a Stable Internet Connection

Many CRM apps require a constant internet connection to access CRM data and capture new leads. This can be problematic at trade shows where Wi-Fi connections are often unstable or overloaded, leading to delayed data entry or, in the worst case, data loss.

snapADDY VisitReport: Seamless Lead Capture Even Without Internet

With snapADDY VisitReport, you are not dependent on an internet connection. The app works fully offline, allowing lead capture, editing, and storage without internet access. This ensures that you can collect leads anytime, even in areas with poor Wi-Fi.

Once a connection is restored, the data automatically synchronizes and transfers to your CRM.

CRM App: No Support for Trade Show Team Coordination

CRM apps are primarily designed for long-term customer management rather than trade show-specific needs. They typically lack features for coordinating trade show teams or scheduling meetings. Sales teams often need external tools to manage appointments and resources.

snapADDY VisitReport: Efficient Organization of Your Trade Show Team

snapADDY VisitReport helps you keep track of your trade show team. The app shows which team members are available or in meetings, enabling efficient delegation of leads to the right representatives based on language, industry expertise, or job role.

Meetings can also be scheduled directly in the app, and meeting rooms can be managed efficiently. This ensures that important appointments are not missed and that booth staff operate in a coordinated manner.

CRM App: Limited Accessibility for External Users

CRM apps are often only accessible to employees with CRM credentials. This can be problematic for external partners or team members without a CRM license. Data export options to other systems are often limited, making it difficult to process leads flexibly.

snapADDY VisitReport: Flexible Use, Independent of CRM Systems

snapADDY VisitReport is a standalone solution that can be used independently of CRM systems. Leads and captured data can be flexibly exported to various CRM or marketing automation tools. Even external partners or sales teams without direct CRM access can collect leads. Beyond potential customers, you can also register suppliers, job applicants, or other contacts and export their data as Excel or PDF files without adding them to the CRM.

CRM App: Slow development and limited support

Maintenance and further development are handled exclusively by the internal CRM team, often with long lead times. There is no dedicated support for trade show scenarios provided.

snapADDY VisitReport: Continuous optimisation and specialised support

Continuous development and regular updates are based on customer feedback.

Dedicated support for trade show teams is provided, including on-site assistance at major events such as BAU, Get NORD, elektrotechnik, and Intersolar.

Companies that regularly attend trade shows and want to capture their leads professionally will greatly benefit from a specialized solution. snapADDY VisitReport ensures that no valuable contacts are lost and that your sales team can work efficiently.

While CRM apps are primarily designed for managing existing customers, VisitReport offers numerous advantages specifically tailored to the needs of trade shows – while also incorporating the strengths of lead apps:

• Highest capture accuracy through excellent business card recognition, API-powered badge scans and LinkedIn integration.
• Automatic duplicate check: Before exporting data to your CRM or marketing automation system, the app automatically checks whether a lead, contact, or account already exists.
• Offline functionality, allowing seamless lead capture even without an internet connection.
• Effective team coordination and meeting management: The integrated feature connects your booth staff and displays which employees are available or currently in conversations.
• Detailed reporting: Analyze the success of your trade show presence in real time via the snapADDY VisitReport dashboard.
• Flexible and dynamic questionnaires that adapt individually to the course of the conversation.
• Independence from the CRM system, allowing even partners and non-leads to be efficiently managed.
• Automated lead follow-up: Immediately after leaving your trade show booth, your conversation partner receives a follow-up email with attachments and appointment suggestions – ensuring a fast and professional follow-up.
• Media library for presentation materials: Store videos, images, and PDF documents in the media library and present them directly from the app.
• Comprehensive support, including on-site assistance at major trade shows.

With snapADDY VisitReport, you can optimize your trade show processes, save valuable time, and ensure that no potential customers are lost – for a sustainably successful trade show experience!