We wasted a lot of time and effort putting on a marketing event that didn”™t produce the results we expected. Our marketing partners invited some of their clients and contacts, but they seemed to be all wrong for us. We didn”™t get the sales results we needed. Help!
Thoughts of the day: Marketing events can be costly in terms of time and effort, as well as cash outlay. Getting the right people in the room starts with having the right marketing partners. Done right, marketing events can build depth in the pipeline, boost sales results and build enthusiasm among your sales people. Perfect a marketing model that you can repeat.
Lay out goals for the event you want to build. Make sure the outcome justifies the hard and soft costs. Before trying an event on your own join forces with another experienced organization. See how they pull off a successful event. Carefully select marketing partners for their match to your target market.
Budget the time needed to prepare for a successful event. Build a checklist of activities and a schedule of what has to happen by when. Start with categories, such as marketing partner selection, attendee list, room and meal details and presentation. Build out duties in each of the categories.
Brainstorm a list of potential partners. Develop a questionnaire to interview partners for fit. Check references on partners”™ past performance. Here are five critical questions to ask before making final marketing partner selection:
- Do they call on the same prospect base, including types of industries, geography, size of client, level of contact?
- Can they demonstrate past results pulling prospects and clients into a room for a presentation?
- Are they committed to pulling their weight on this event?
- Who will be in charge on their side and has this person done this before?
- Do they have similar values in terms of client quality?
Set ground rules and confirm partners are ready, willing and able to participate.
Plan the target audience by assembling a list of invitees, building an invitation with a call to action, gathering emails, sending out invitations, calling targets to encourage participation, calling to confirm attendance and assigning follow up post-event evaluation.
Room details and presentations need their own checklists. Need help? Give us a call. We”™d be happy to share.
Put someone in charge of weekly check-up on the planning details. If you delegate activities to your marketing partners, be sure to have a weekly conference call. Verify everyone”™s on track with their assigned duties.
Putting together a strong group of marketing partners, all committed to making the event a success means you can hit a home run in sales. It”™s like having instant referrals. When someone else”™s clients and prospects hear and see an implied endorsement of your products or services through a joint presentation, they are already connected and likely to open the door to your company.
Build a theme that ties all of the presenters together. If your company is the only one to present, be sure to give your marketing sponsors time to introduce themselves. Recognizing each other helps the audience get comfortable with the connections between you and your marketing partners and increases buy-in to implied referrals.
Make sure your sales people are primed and ready to do their best at gathering leads during the event. Familiarize them with the list of attendees. Set goals, such as who plans to meet with whom.
After the event, focus on adding qualified prospects to the pipeline and getting new sales deals. Remember to follow up with existing clients to assess expansion opportunity. Consider a post-event mailer to people who missed the event. Ask for referrals to add to the invite list for the next event.
Once you figure out your company”™s event model, plan to repeat regularly. Plugging in new marketing partners and new topics gets easier with repetition. Set up a calendar of topics to present during the year. Schedule a 60- to 90-day planning cycle for each event.
Looking for a good book? Try “The Complete Guide to Successful Event Planning with Companion CD-ROM, revised, 2nd Edition,” by Shannon Kilkenny.
Andi Gray is president of Strategy Leaders Inc., strategyleaders.com, a business-consulting firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurial firms grow. She can be reached by phone at (877) 238-3535. Do you have a question for Andi? Please send it to her, via email at AskAndi@StrategyLeaders.com or by mail to Andi Gray, Strategy Leaders Inc., 5 Crossways, Chappaqua, NY 10514. Visit AskAndi.com for an entire library of Ask Andi articles.
