Converting Event Leads into Qualified Sales Opps

Business events and tradeshows are back in full force. Whether you are splashing out on a booth or just going to an event to network, you may be wondering how you can convert more event leads into qualified sales opportunities.

Here are my 4 tips:

1. Create a pre-event cadence to book meetings in advance

You should build a list of all the sponsors and attendees at the event, and identify which ones match your ideal customer profile. It’s typically much easier to book a meeting at an event than when someone is at an office. CEOs who are typically impossible to get hold of when they are in an office, are either more relaxed at tradeshows, or they are walking around awkwardly and are happy to chat to anyone.?

Here is an example of a pre-event email I used to book dozens of meetings when I used to go to Boston for HubSpot’s annual conference:

“Tim - noticed you use HubSpot at Growth Gazette and that many of your team will be at INBOUND in Boston.

As a HubSpot partner, we’ll be flying our next week for the full 3 days of the event.

Open to a coffee to brainstorm best practices for HubSpot?”

2. Send out SMS texts at the event

The average open rate for a cold email is just 20%, compared to over 90% for cold texts. In addition, attendees will be walking around with their phones and not on the laptops, so SMS is naturally easier.

It can be as short and simple as this:

“Tony, this is Michael from Growth Genie. Just arrived at INBOUND. Any gaps this afternoon for that coffee?”

3. Send out follow ups within 48 hours

It’s really important you contact leads within a few days of the event finishing. If you wait too long, they will have firstly, forgotten about the event itself, and secondly, almost certainly forgotten about that conversation with you.

A key tip is to write notes for every person you meet at the event, so that you can personalize your follow up based on what you discussed.

Here is an example of a follow up email sent within 24 hours of meeting someone:

"Tony - great to meet you at INBOUND. You mentioned that converting more marketing leads into qualified sales opportunities is a goal for Q3.

Imagine you’ll have a lot of marketing leads as your booth was busy.

I can run you through the playbook template we have for converting a higher % of leads from events.

How is Friday morning EST for you?

4. Follow up on all your messages

Whether it’s the pre-event email, the SMS at the event or the post-event cadence, always follow up on your original messages. C level decision-makers are busy and they may miss your message as they were travelling or busy with internal discussions, so it’s vital you bump those messages.

The message should be one line so they can see your previous email and can be as simple as:

“Tim - any interest in meeting at INBOUND?”

If you're interested in more event conversion tips, feel free to DM me.