All the hard work to prepare for the Big Event is done, thanks partly to the knowledge you gained from Part 1 in our series, 5 Must-Know Tactics to Drive More Sales-Ready Leads from Events.
Your organization ran a strong campaign to get existing prospects excited for your event. Key prospects that are expected to attend are identified, and you know who’s hot and who could use a little warming up. Your booth staff is prepared for how to communicate with booth visitors, thanks partly to the event lead management app your company just loaded onto their phones and tablets. Now you are all ready to capture information on prospects that could lead to more sales. And, to cap off a busy day of handshakes and information sharing, you set up an invite-only happy hour for after the event.
So as you stand in the conference center lobby with your lead management event app in one hand and your morning coffee in the other, you wonder, “What’s next?”
Don’t panic--we’ve got your back. In Part 2 of our 3-part series on maximizing sales-ready leads from events, we will show you what a day in the life with an event lead management app looks like. Read on to follow our sales rep as he shows you that, with the right app loaded with some killer features, you could walk away from your event with more sales-ready leads than you’d thought possible.
9:00 am: Breakout Sessions
You’ve arrived early at the first session because you know it provides ample opportunity to chat up other attendees that could become valuable leads. Fortunately, you’ve ditched the cumbersome notepad and overstuffed business card holder and are ready to rock your new lead management event app.
After chatting with your tablemate about your company’s solution, you scan their business card directly from the app (gone are the days of renting scanners from the event organizer!). Your team set up a list of a few lead qualifying questions directly in the app, so at the end of the conversation you seamlessly add that info in the app based on what you heard from the prospect, capturing valuable information that will go directly into your company’s marketing automation system. You also remember the prospect would love to see a solution brief, so you check that box directly in the app.
12:00 pm: Lunch
Though your stomach’s been growling for a while now, you know that now is not the time to rest on your laurels. After grabbing a quick lunch, you sit at a busy table and start talking to your tablemates. You discover that two of them are very interested in your product and would love to set up a demo, so you quickly scan in their badges from the app. Because everyone is anxious to move onto the floor to check out some booths, you skip the questions and capture the key follow up action to let the team know to set up a demo. You walk away from lunch with two new qualified leads and a full belly.
2:00 pm: Cruise the Booths
Thanks to your marketing department’s brilliant demand gen campaign, you have appointments with a few prospects at their booths. They are already on your list of attendees in your event lead management app, so you go to the Check In screen to check them in. One seems like a hot prospect, but needs your white paper to feel really good about your product, which you note in the app. This automatically triggers an email to the prospect via your marketing automation system so your team won’t miss this opportunity for a sale.
You swing by your company’s booth to check in on the attendants manning the demos. Just a few months ago, you would have been in a panic to leave your booth attendants in charge of qualifying leads, but not anymore. As you approach the booth, you see she is already in a conversation with a visitor, and entering information into the lead management event app. You overhear her walking through the questions in the app like a pro, and you walk away confident that the booth is in good hands.
4:00 pm: Happy Hour
It’s been a long day, but you’re excited for your company-sponsored happy hour. You have high hopes that a few key prospects will be in attendance tonight. You know they are planning to come, thanks to your RSVP list in your event lead management app, but you haven’t seen them yet. You’ve set up an alert in your app for three key prospects. If anyone marks them as checked-in in the app, you’ll get notified.
As you get into the miles-long line at the bar you feel a buzz in your pocket; your hottest lead has arrived. You seek them out at the party and five minutes later, you are talking to them over cocktails about their business need and how your solution can help them. When they walk away, you pull out your event lead management app and update the prospect follow-up actions.
You relax, knowing that thanks to your new event lead management app, there will be no typing up notes in the hotel room; your hard work is already captured in your marketing automation system back home. You pat yourself on the back for a successful day of finding new prospects and nurturing existing ones.
With the right event lead management app in hand, you’ve got your next event in the bag. Features like in-app scanning, lead-qualifying topics, and attendee check-in will allow you to spend less time juggling business cards and notes, and more time doing what you do best: turn prospects into sales-ready leads.
