A cursory glance at the sales and marketing budget of nearly any B2B organization will show that while some things have changed – line item for a Virtual Reality experience, anyone? – some things never will. Conferences, expos, and trade shows are still a vibrant part of the sales cycle, and for good reason.
Despite all our love and even dependence on emerging technologies, at the end of the day, we are humans, and people like to buy from people.
We know in our bones that working events works. But is it working as well as it can? These days, simply popping up a few banners and handing out pens will not cut it; not only are your reps on call to engage, they are on the hook to convert.
Are you getting the ROI you want, need, and deserve? How do you know?
The same old event approach is old!
Historically, exhibitors had no way to really obtain quantitative insights into their show performance. Short of counting the number of business cards reps were able to collect during their time on the floor, you often could not tell if any of the connections made were qualified, actionable leads until well after you were home and unpacked.
Since then we have seen the advent of lead retrieval technology and the ability for conferences to provide exhibitors with the ability to scan a badge and digitally capture a visitor to their booth as a new lead.
Depending on your platform not only can you instantly have your leads added to your CRM, but you can add notes about your conversations, have your new contacts qualified quickly and consistently, or automatically enroll them in a nurture campaign.
Advancements? Most certainly. But have they solved the age-old challenge of improving your conference ROI?
Amplify the human touch with tech
These developments in the event space are great, really. But at the same time, we know in our hearts no technology can match the human interaction that happens in and around the booth.
So then why are we spending all this money to go to events and establish that important, real connection, only to record the interaction using a technology that ultimately pushes the action and insights away from this new, budding sales relationship?
The answer, I’d argue, is sales enablement. Sales enablement is the practice of providing your sales team with the processes and the tools to help them sell more effectively. And while, yes, that’s a robust CRM and a new iPad to capture everyone’s contact info, it’s also high quality, personalized content that boosts engagement with the buyer at every stage of the sales cycle. It provides tools and content that don’t follow the human interaction, but that build upon it.
A cross-departmental initiative of both marketing and sales, optimal sales enablement requires not only the right methodology but also the right sales enablement software.
Shifting to Sales X.0
Imagine equipping your team with a sales enablement platform that has been built from the ground up to amplify event effectiveness.
For the team that is at the event, it is a tool that captures and qualifies leads and information in real time. For marketing, it’s the tool that carefully and impactfully builds on that show conversation, providing relevant content of true value to the lead.
And for your sales team, it’s a tool for personalized, helpful, thoughtful follow-up as the conversation evolves. No lead feels abandoned or like they are being sent a generic email follow up, long after the event is over.
Imagine that all this is captured in an event-specific CRM that contains a multitude of engagement insights that are automatically generated in real time. Insights that showcase at the booth and beyond the booth engagement, highlighting the ripple effect of the interaction post-event. Insights that are actionable and shared with the sales team in real-time.
Introducing momencio
Our event focused, sales enablement platform provides alerts and real-time insights to your entire team, streamlining presentations and follow-ups, improving activation, and tracking engagement through the entire lifecycle.
You no longer have to imagine. Experience momencio and get more ROI out of your event effort than ever before.
