ROI = Return On Interaction

Today's newsletter was written by Mike Barbeau , a seasoned leader with over 25 years of experience in sales, client services, and partnerships. With a track record of helping companies scale and reach ambitious revenue goals. Mike’s approach is rooted in providing meaningful, functional experiences that delight customers.

"How many people showed up?"

This has always been the first question I ask my team after an event, virtual or in-person, booths, webinars, roadshow prospect dinners and everything in between. It's the easiest question to ask and the easiest to answer.

But the number of attendees only tells you a smidgen of the quality of the event experience. Much like a college house party, the numbers matter, especially when it comes to whether the police are called, but the experience?matters more.?Oftentimes, the parties with people pouring out of the windows paled in comparison to the ones where everyone decided to move the annoying roommate's furniture into the front yard (again, I'm sorry, Sam). Put into marketing context, we've all been to a crowded event that lacked impact. And we've all been to small events with outsized benefits.

So, how can you measure the efficacy of the experience?

To answer that, let's first look at the metrics for a recent virtual event with a client:

REGISTERED: 57

ATTENDED: 46

ACCOUNTS REPRESENTED: 30

57 registrations when the goal was 25 was a win out of the gates. The client created interest with a topical subject (AI) and spoke to the utility of the solution for their client's business, all without positioning their brand as a necessity to make it happen. In short, they provided value up front, all while allowing everyone to participate from the comfort of their own home.

With 46 attendees and an 81% attendance rate, we could actually and excitedly proclaim "They showed up, they actually showed up!" This was a combination of the content of the event, the promise of libations and maybe more importantly than we originally thought...who else would be there. This last piece is interesting and often overlooked. When hosting an event, the power of bringing like-minded people together can be the?reason it's worth it. Because, oftentimes, shared ideas, fears, challenges and solutions bring people together as much as wine does.

OK, so we got people to show up. But did it have an impact on the pipeline?

OPPORTUNITIES NEXT 90 DAYS: 29

OPPORTUNITIES VALUE CLOSING NEXT 90 DAYS: $1.9M

TOTAL INFLUENCED OPS (# / $ / AVG): 102 / $8.1M

CLOSED-WON INFLUENCED OPS (# / $ / AVG): $580K

I don't think I need to wax poetically on these numbers. For a $25K event to have already influenced $580K…numbers like these make even the stodgiest of CFOs smile. But did we create more interaction?with our client's prospects? Let's take a look what happened during the event itself:

QUALITATIVE JUSTIFICATIONS:

– One prospect asked if they could hold an event like this for their own prospects

– Another brought a peer onto the call mid-stream even though that person didn't get the gift package

– A prospect asked for a proposal on the call, then stayed on an extra 30 minutes when their rep joined the call and outlined it to them in real time

– The client was able to send personalized hand-written notes to everyone based on how they engaged on the call

– The call went over by 30 minutes with over half of the attendees staying on despite a "thanks for coming" message at the original end time

– Our client had multiple instances where their prospects asked to be invited to "the next one"

None of these examples will fit neatly into a business case or ROI model. But they all are great snippets that help answer "how did the event go?" And they're arguably more fun to talk about.

Do they make interaction more important than investment? No. But does it mean that one shouldn't be viewed without the other? Absolutely.

The good news is, that just like wine and cheese, or whiskey and salted nuts, the two go better together than they do alone.?