80% of marketing leads acquired from shows are never tracked down.

This little tidbit was the headliner of a recent Exhibitor Magazine article. So, what does this have to do with you?

Well, If you are a bookseller, your readers depend on you for the latest information, and the best books. They want to know what books best suit them, when their favorite authors have a new release and who will be the next big hit.

If you are a writer your paycheck depends on getting booksellers and book distributors to purchase your book and readers to take it home. Your bread and butter are the people who get the word out about your books. They are the booksellers that hand sell your titles and the readers who continually support your efforts by buying your work of heart.

The season of book shows is upon us. With many authors and booksellers still reeling from the organized and electric chaos of BEA some things may go to the wayside. The 80% message means DON'T DROP YOUR CUSTOMERS HAND. It means making sure that follow up on your leads, no matter whether they came from the biggest publishing trade show or the smallest booksigning.

For authors, this means growing your market, doing the little things that get big results and one of them is having the courtesy to follow up on leads. In this day and age of electronic media we have forgotten a lot of the common courtesies, including a swift and polite response. Those 80% could mean the difference between making the New York Times list and lagging in the midlist.

For booksellers, it means growing your business. Court your customers and your authors. Creating relationships is the backbone of retail and without your just have shelves worth of books. I know from experience that going through leads, culling out the bad ones and gathering the information into a useable format are time consuming. But the benefit is sales.