In the case of Global LINKS, another event management program, the technology allows event attendees to manage hotel reservations and the scheduling of private meetings. “All of our products are accessible via the Web. They are mobile,” said Shannon L. Ryan, director-product marketing worldwide at George P. Johnson Co., which created the software. “That’s a key element because we understand that people are on the go. Having the real-time data enables them to make more strategic decisions.”
Using systems such as these can allow organizers much more freedom for change. As the technologies track every aspect of an event, they allow event auditing while the event is taking place.
“Networking is more targeted and more interactive,” Crerar said. “Then the attendee can provide instant feedback in the form of electronic survey, or through live voting or audience response.”
Global Links allowed Cisco Systems to have an immediate understanding of traffic patterns and session attendance, as well as an improved registration process, at its August Global Sales Meeting. The integration of the management software also allowed Cisco to enable organizers to communicate with each other more effectively, said Angie Smith, manager-operations and event management at Cisco.
“We have metrics built on just about everything,” Smith said. “The return on investment for me was that I had one full-time head-counter. Moving to the integration of Global LINKS allowed me to eliminate the person. I no longer needed that person—a piece of technology could do that for us.
“I would like to use it from now on,” she added. “The tool is just global. It takes into account and streamlines every piece of the event management business.”
Following
leads critical
to trade show
success
BY ERIN BIBA
As marketing managers begin to look more closely at their portfolios, narrowing their range and cutting out less effective events, technology can help them prove the large expense is worth it.
The ROI Tool Kit, created by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research and Exhibit Surveys, is a Web-based calculator developed to assist marketers in determining trade show ROI.
“Everybody is focusing on ‘What are we getting for what we’re spending?‘ ” said Skip Cox, president-CEO of Exhibit Surveys. “Large companies have programs in place and are measuring investments. But this tool is focused on exhibiting in trade shows. There’s a whole group of exhibitors out there with 10-to-20-foot booths, 80% to 90% of exhibitors, who don’t measure.”
The free tool, which can be accessed at roitoolkit.exhibitsurveys.net, was designed with the hope that it would facilitate an organized system of metrics and measurements Cox said. “We need something that measures not just ROI but helps exhibitors do a better job,” he said. “Too often we see smaller companies underspend and larger companies overspend. Part of ROI is investment. [The tools assess] what companies need from an investment standpoint to maximize ROI.”
Additionally, Cox said, the tool has a tu-
torial to teach companies how to use the information the calculator provides. “How do you define ‘attendance‘? What do you do with the information? Should you even exhibit? How do you reach your audience if they are only a small portion of the attendees? It’s not just the calculators, it is the tutorials as well. A company may say they can’t afford what the calculator tells them, but that’s fine—they can reduce the size of their expectations,” Cox said.
An even more in-depth and specialized approach, software management technology, can also provide a real-time picture of an event. This means constantly updated access to registration, presenters, scheduling of speakers and session attendance. Measuring every aspect of an event and collecting data for the long term can quantify the event, allowing for past/future comparisons so marketers can judge value over time.
“We improve measurement and automate meetings and events in real time,” said Paula Crerar, VP-marketing at n Tag, an integrated event management technology company. “Today’s audience is so used to manipulating the information they get and experience, they expect an immediacy. They expect to change the event based on the shared experience. We think of ourselves as bringing the online world to the face-to-face event.”
BY CHARLOTTE WOOLARD Howard, who has looked at the impact of E-MAIL ARCHIVING AND storage manage- webinar titles, e-mail subject lines and regis-ment company Mimosa Systems did tration questions to determine how to get not expect a webinar entitled the best lead—not necessarily the most “Strategies for Eliminating .PST Files” to leads—forherefforts. become one of its top draws. Those efforts have paid off, allowing the
The hourlong event focused on only one company to brand itself and educate cus-feature of Mimosa’s product, and case study tomers through a webinar cam-its title did not boast the catchy paign that, over a seven-month marketing lingo of other productions in the period, generated a minimum of 530 leads company’s webinar archive. per event and saw an average of 45% of reg-
But .PST files turned out to have star istrantsattenditslive webcasts. power. The event piqued the interest of Howard works withthird-partydatabase about 1,300 information technology profes- providers to generate new leads, spreading sionals, the largest draw of any previous her marketing dollars over a variety of ven-Mimosa webinar. dors in an effort to grow the company’s in-
“We had underestimated how much of a house database. pain point it had been,” said Sarah Howard, The company recently began scoring senior campaign manager and acting direc- leads, she said, working to create a system tor of corporate marketing at the start-up that not only helps the sales force target the company. “We usually try to be more best prospects but also helps marketers de-broad. We learned from that.” termine the most effective lead-generation
Mimosa regularly looks for those kinds tactics. “Next year, we’ll be able to look at of lessons, part of an ongoing adaptation of a the scores before we choose vendors,” she webinar campaign that has become one of said.
the 5-year-old company’s most critical tools But webinars do more than build not only for generating but also nurturing databases. The 15-minute question-and-an-leads. swer session that concluded the .PSP webi-
far more than the speaker could answer before the event ended. Mimosa distributed the questions, along with answers from the expert, among the members of its sales force, providing customized starting points for conversations with the new prospects.
Mimosa also responded to the volume of interest with the development of online demonstrations targeting the topic. “One of the things companies drop the ball on is not having a next step in line,” Howard said. Mimosa has found that customers who attend one webinar often sign on for another Web campaign element, she said— something that pushes up their lead score and better defines their interests.
Mimosa’s marketing department produces its own market influence report, looking at each sale the company closes and analyzing the interaction the customer had with mediums like webinars, white papers and face-to-face events. That internal report ranked the webinar as a top marketing tool, Howard said.
“It’s the No. 1 opportunity touch in Q1, more than any other campaign,” Howard said. “We’re using it to build our database. It’s also helping us push things in the pipeline.”
BY MIKE DROHAN
NEARLY ALL TRADE SHOW exhibitors overlook the most important step in the process of generating sales—proper follow-up on every lead. The result is missed sales opportunities and a significantly lower ROI on their trade shows.
There are two reasons for this: First, not all trade show leads are created equal. It’s critical that follow-up takes that into account. Second, sales teams are not equipped to properly follow up on trade show leads.
Let’s break those two concepts out. Understanding the different types of leads will put into perspective what needs to be done to get more sales. ■ Cherry-picks. These are the leads that sales reps handpick for follow-up. This is where most of the sales come from or the company couldn’t afford to do the trade show. Many companies are satisfied with low- hanging fruit and then stop MIKE DROHAN shaking the tree. The problem is president of here is that there are many Lead Generation opportunities that are never Solutions. developed into sales.
■ Hidden cherries. Lost in the leads that are not cherry-picked are great sales opportunities. These are prospects with an immediate need that will buy from a company that takes the time to follow up. These are the leads that the sales team needs help to focus their time on.
■ Interested with a time frame. These are the leads that have a strong interest and represent a genuine selling opportunity, but which need time before they can meet. Initially, these are not the best targets for the sales team but, if you wait too long with them, you will lose the opportunity to your competition.
■ Wrong decision-maker. Often representatives of a desired company stop by the booth, but the right decision-maker isn’t always among them. It is very difficult to find a sales rep with the time to probe beyond the person who stopped by the booth to uncover the real opportunity.
■ Qualified but not interested. These are the leads that meet the right criteria but are just not in a buying mode. These companies should be kept on the radar, but will not result in a sale right now.
■ Not qualified. These leads do not meet the qualification requirements and ultimately will frustrate the sales team and take its focus off the genuine opportunities.
A familiarity with these types of leads allows us to delve into the second reason sales are lost—sales teams not equipped to follow up on trade show leads properly. The different kinds of leads show how important it is to use a dedicated team to qual-ity-grade the leads prior to sending them to the sales team.
Here are three ways to organize staffers to maximize ROI:
■ Marketing team. Making sure marketers have the bandwidth to prioritize trade show follow-up is key here. The other main question is do they have the skills to effectively motivate prospects to take action and begin the sales process.
■ Inside sales team. A dedicated inside sales team is a good way to leverage the time of your field sales team. Make sure they can dedicate themselves to the follow-up process and not be pulled off the phone to help in another stage of the sales process.
■ Trade show lead-qualification specialists.
Partnering with a company to handle this process is a great alternative if the inside sales or marketing teams are not in a position to dedicate themselves to the process.
References:
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