Webinar Replay:  Skimming Leads at Tradeshow

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I was in a meeting last month with a very smart marketing company asking my usual questions, one of them being,

“If you capture all of these metrics at your event would you like to pass this data to your sales team?”

The answer was;

“No.  They’ll be at the event with their customers anyway so no need to provide this data.  They will know.” 

Here is another example.  I know a company that produces a world class event while capturing metrics and data that is unbelievable specific to measuring impact against a defined set of goals.  One of these metrics is the answer to this question:

“Would you like someone to contact you after the event regarding our new product announcement?” 

Every event they get a positive response from a percentage of session attendees to this question.  Guess where they send this data; to Product Marketing!   

As a former individual sales contributer and sales leader, I found these examples offensive and love the fact that today many companies are starting to measure their marketing resources on Revenue Impact.  

Let me explain why I found these examples frustrating. 

My company use to produce an annual users conference every year and marketing would spend all year preparing for this event.  New products were rolled out, keynote speakers were prepped and training was provided.  My sales team would work very hard getting their prospects and customers to attend with the hopes that this event might move them along the sales process faster.  I had 25 sale people reporting to me and each rep had at least 6 to 12 prospects and customers walking the show floor.  This can be nerve wracking for a sales person as they cannot be all places at once.  I can confidently say each and everyone of them would love to know where there prospect went, what they thought, what they said and if they are interested. 

In the examples above, both companies didn’t even think to share with Sales what data might be available post event. 

This my plea to marketing.  Please consider collaborating with your sales team when preparing your event? 

If you are you on the sales or marketing side of your business, how do you work together for your events?

SmithBucklin, the world’s largest association management and professional services group, is the only company in the world with a specialized technology user group practice. With its unparalleled skills, best practices and  experience, as well as the industry’s most comprehensive resource base, global software giant VMware looked to SmithBucklin’s expertise to enhance growth and maximize the potential of its fast growing VMware user group program (VMUG). The VMUG and SmithBucklin relationship transformed what began as loosely affiliated groups of VMware customers to a self-sustaining, global nonprofit organization.

Today, VMUG has an independent board of directors and an ever growing number of individual members and regional chapters around the world. With the help of Validar’s resources, including On-site Registration Manager, Exhibitor Lead Capture, and Event Insight Manager solutions, VMUG efficiently executes more than 300 regional events each year. “We love that Validar solutions are scalable for any event size in an efficient, affordable way,” says Victor Bohnert, VMUG’s executive director. “And, at each event, Validar solutions capture metrics that allows us and event sponsors to gauge performance—which is quite unique and valuable.”

With the help of Validar solutions, SmithBucklin and some of its client organizations like VMUG have been able to:

• Reduce overhead costs
• Attract high-caliber sponsors
• Downsize or expand resources quickly to support VMUG growth around the world.

Streamlining World- Class Events

SmithBucklin helped VMUG look for ways to orchestrate dozens of events efficiently and affordably, and using traditional event solutions was not an option. “You’d typically need five to seven temporary staff to check in attendees waiting in line,” notes Bohnert. “The staff would manually sort through stacks of paper and print badges. It’s highly inefficient.”

In contrast, Validar’s On-Site Registration Manager speeds and streamlines the check-in and registration process. Registered attendees quickly check in and print badges at self-service kiosks, reducing the need for staff resources. “The efficiencies and cost savings are huge,” says Bohnert. “We can cut on-site staff resources by up to 60 percent, which drastically reduces travel expenses. The attendees also think it’s cool; it’s amazing how many people comment on it.”

Because VMUG events are admission-free and increasingly popular, they attract numerous walk-ins. With On-Site Registration Manager, attendees can easily be accommodated—without bogging down the registration phase of an event. Validar requires no manual collection of registration information from walk-ins. Staff simply directs walk-ins to designated kiosks to provide their information and print out badges. There’s no interruption to the registration flow.

Hot Leads, No Lag

VMUG finances its events in part through corporate sponsorships. Providing a simple way to capture lead information from attendees is crucial to attracting enthusiastic sponsors. To assist in this process, Validar offers sponsors scanners the size of a USB jump drives, making them unobtrusive for sponsors who may have only a tabletop dispay at their booths.

Sponsors have been impressed by Validar’s Exhibitor Lead Capture.  Sponsors see how quickly and accurately Validar scanners capture lead information and they often ask for more scanners. Plus, sponsors receive near-real-time access to lead information. Validar uploads attendee information from scanners to the Validar Event Insight Manager and provides each sponsor with login credentials to view their leads.  Sponsors appreciate the efficiency and the fact that they can leave an event with hundreds of leads in hand.

Real-Time Event Dashboard

Validar solutions also help on-site and remote staff keep tabs on events in real time. As attendees register at kiosks, the data is sent to Validar’s Event Insight Manager, which can be accessed by VMUG, other SmithBucklin client organizations or sponsors from anywhere with an Internet connection. “Processing and reporting data from events becomes effortless,” says Bohnert. “Validar’s exceptional solutions let you easily determine, at any given moment, who’s attending, where they are, what they thought, and what they’re telling others.”

 Proven Flexibility and Scalability

SmithBucklin, on behalf of its client organization International Avaya User Group (IAUG), selected Validar to help support the 2011 International Avaya User Conference, 10 times larger than a typical VMUG event.  

In a day and a half, 3,500 attendees’ badges were printed with help from Validar’s On-Site Registration Manager. In addition, Validar drastically improved lead retrieval, which once took a week or two after the event. With Validar’s Exhibitor Lead Capture, leads were delivered to partners almost immediately. Also, Validar’s pricing allows improved capability at a lower cost.

Strategic Partnership

When asked what makes Validar such a good partner, Bohnert explains, “Validar offers a multifaceted solution that not only spurs efficiency, but it also transforms registration from a utilitarian to strategic function. Validar gives us exceptional registration, lead retrieval, and segmented reporting capabilities all tied together in a single environment. Plus, Validar provides an easy way to measure event performance against specific objectives.” Bohnert concludes, “Our events require a high degree of efficiency and scalability, and Validar’s solutions work just as well for 300 attendees as they do for 3,500.”

Event ROI Made Easy – Demonstrate your marketing value

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One customer (who graciously let us tell the story, but only anonymously for good reason) recently spent over $200k to roll out a large exhibit to do a new product roll-out, with engaging content and demos, coupled with several hours of bar time. Overall, it was a “Best in Class” presentation of their brand as an experience. The demographics were ideal and the goal was simple; generating 200+ new opportunities aka attendees that left their exhibit with a renewed interest in buying their new products and services.

What happened?

2000 attendees were scored, 4000 drink tickets were given away, 3 iPads were awarded, and… only 25 attendees left with a renewed interest and distinct follow-up interest. They essentially ended up throwing a great party, which isn’t a problem, if that was your success measure. Obviously, our customer was crushed by the results and immediately started to change their executive debrief to package a good story:

“Look at how many Directors and C Level people were in out booth!”

“Look at how many Fortune 500 Companies were represented!”

Can measurement be bad?

Of course not, but in this case, our customer thought so. In reality, these metrics will be a tremendous value as an input to adjusting their strategy the next year. At least now, they can start to evaluate the following:

1. Perhaps their party overwhelmed their product announcement.
2. Spend less to get the same results
3. Perhaps the booth workers were a distraction versus traffic driver.
4. What value can they leverage these 2000 attendees through effective nurturing?

Regarding that last point, I’ve learned a tremendous amount from marketers who have built elaborate campaigns with unqualified names (the 1,975 party attendees) using Marketing Automation. Perhaps I’ll post on this topic next.

I can tell you this, had this data not been available, they may very well have gone bigger by giving away more iPads and bringing in more booth incentives. This is every CFO’s nightmare and one of the reasons many marketing budgets are first to be cut.

Who would you rather have as your event marketing leader; one who is covering or hiding their bases or one who is willing to admit their failures and adjust to improve results?

• What is the purpose of your event or event series?
• How will you determine if it was a good one or bad one?
• What are your goals for the event?

These are simple questions that we ask our customers when working with them on customizing tools to measure their performance.

Getting customers to describe the purpose of their meeting is usually a natural response.  We are launching “New Products”, “New Branding” etc.

Finding an answer to the question “How will you determine if you had a good or bad event?” takes a bit more thinking, especially if their event goals are nebulas or undefined.  I know what you are thinking… How could you plan an event without knowing the goals?   Let me explain…

I am a big proponent of surveying to gauge event performance during and after the event.   Asking questions like “Did you like the venue?”, “Rate your satisfaction with the keynote” are helpful in future event planning.  But you can’t stop there.  You have to align your feedback with questions that are relevant to the attendee and focused on gauging performance against your event goals.  Many companies miss the target here.  For B2B lead generation events,  “goals” in this context, align with creating new leads and opportunites for new business and upgrades to existing business.   Here is an example of a survey that misses its target.

This is a post event survey for a one day B2B lead generation event.  This is a very smart high tech company producing an event with the primary purpose being generating renewed interest in their products and services.

How satisfied are you with:

The quality of the overall event?

Very Satisfied       Very Dissatisfied

The scope of the information presented?

Very Satisfied       Very Dissatisfied

The usefulness of the information?

Very Satisfied       Very Dissatisfied

The usefulness of the networking opportunities?

Very Satisfied       Very Dissatisfied

The quality of the keynote presentations:

James Jones

Very Satisfied       Very Dissatisfied

Jim Smith

Very Satisfied       Very Dissatisfied

Usefulness of the Roundtables?

Security / Data Loss Prevention

Very Useful               Waste of Time

Enterprise Mobile Deployment

Very Useful               Waste of Time

Compliance / Regulations

Very Useful               Waste of Time

Mobilizing Your Business: Which Apps Are In Your Plans and Why?

Very Useful               Waste of Time

Additional feedback?

As a sales person, I find this survey to be a tad bit offending.  First, it is anonymous which means I’ll never see the data for my prospects, customers or partners.  Second, it provides information to two entities; the speakers regarding their performance and marketing regarding the experience they delivered to attendees.  Nowhere are they asking how they did with regards to their primary purpose.

If the purpose of your event is to introduce new products and services to an audience of customers, prospects and partners with the goal of driving sales post event perhaps you might ask something like this:

Would you like to speak with a solution specialist regarding one of the topics discussed in the round tables?

That’s all that I wanted as a sales person.  I usually received attendance data only.

I can tell you this; those that answer yes to this question have a higher propensity to become a lead, opportunity and sale.  Our best customers know this and have devised ways to deploy event technology to capture, gauge the size and track these from a closed loop perspective.

How do you measure your event performance?

Recently, I have been debating this topic with some very smart B2B lead management experts.  Some leaders within the Marketing Automation space flat out state all leads including surveyed leads need to be nurtured due to attendees lying when completing surveys at tradeshows. James Obermayer from The Sales Lead Management Association states this as well in his book and I respect his opinion greatly.  I have also spoken to many companies who have tried surveying exhibit visitors and stopped.   This due to sales department resistance, on the claim that its very difficult to survey and the data is just incorrect.

Those points made are certainly valid, if the survey questions themselves are poorly written,  and not tuned to their target audience.  What if they are not?   What if things are simplified?

How to get the truth out of your attendees?

Structure your questions in a manner such that the attendee realizes they can control how you treat them post event.

There is one question that most people will respond to in an accurate fashion, especially if you reiterate your intentions based upon this response and provide a distinct and subtle opt-out;

How would you prefer we follow-up with you post event?

You are doing yourself and the attendee a favor by enabling them to tell you if they are ready for sales follow-up or simply curious with no genuine interest.

Here are some simple sample responses we see often to this question followed by how some customers decipher and treat each response:

        Have  sales call right away

• Decipher as – You can help me with a problem I have.  Don’t incubate me..call me!

        Put me on your mailing list only

• Decipher as – Nice product.  I have no decision authority and or am not ready.  Incubate me.

        Just curious no need for follow-up

• Decipher as – I want your squishy ball for my kids.  I will never buy from you and calling me or emailing me would only piss me off.  Thanks for your squishy ball though.

With regards to the opt-out event attendees appreciate it when given  an opportunity to tell you they are just curious and don’t want to be bothered when picking up a trinket.  Knowing the answer to this question as well can be worth a tremendous amount of money to you post event by eliminating bad data from your followup efforts and reducing lead decay.   If they tell you they don’t want to be bothered on their submission, don’t bother them or be less intrusive with your incubation strategy.  This will build trust in your community.

Also, your BANT questions should only be asked if they state they are interested in follow-up.  You’ll be amazed at what a trinket seeker will tell you when you ask these questions.  Don’t.  Attendees do have a tendency to embellish the truth when answering BANT questions, but they do so to a lesser degree if their interest is genuine (“Have Sales call right away!”).

BANT

B – Budget in place for project, or access to funds.

A – Authority to approve and make decisions to move forward

N – Need to take action

T – Timeline is clear

Without asking survey questions you are forcing your company to treat every lead though incubation or as a sales ready lead which can be very costly.

Do you believe people lie when filling out surveys?  Do you lie about surveys?  if so Let me know your thoughts.

It wasn’t that long ago that people weren’t even sure what marketing automation was or how it functioned. Now, marketing teams are aggresively seeking out solutions that help them articulate their value. Why is this happening? 

The B2B sales environment has changed drastically due to technology and wiht the changing economy.  Companies today are dealing with changing buying patterns and are focused on streamlining and justifying their expenditures. 

There are several specific trends that are driving the adoption of these changes, making measurement and automation an essential addition to any marketing organization. Lauren from Software Advice, a free online resource for software buyers, did a good job of outlining seven macro trends that they believe are pushing this growth. 

1. Buyers want valuable content.
2. Buyers are hesitant to engage over the phone.
3. Buyers require marketing accountability.
4. A down economy results in longer sales cycles.
5. Consumerization of B2B sales processes.
6. Marketing channels have transformed.
7. SaaS is the preferred deployment method.

Points three (3) and four (4) particularily resonate with me from an event perspective.  Our customers are looking for solutions that help articulate their event spend from a revenue contribution perspective.  Also, given the longer sales cycles, it is more important now than ever that activity driven to sales from events are relevant and timely.  This helps companies increase revenue production through reduced lead decay, and also lower cost through more efficient post event followup activity. 

For more information on these trends, please visit the original blog post on Software Advice.