Remember coming back from SIBOS 2019 with a bag full of business cards and a renewed excitement for all things RegTech? That initial post-event buzz might seem like a distant memory but the opportunities are very much here and now. It’s time to review how well it went, what results came from it and maybe learn some lessons to make the next big event work harder for you.
As any good RegTech marketer knows, getting face-to-face with senior Compliance decision-makers remains THE most effective way to build relationships, start conversations and secure new business. Events such as SIBOS and ACAMS are the perfect platform to get in front of Compliance and AML professionals but they won’t necessarily lead to conversions. To do that, you need to fully optimise your marketing activity pre and post-event. Only then will you start to see new opportunities flooding in on the back of these events.
The key to maximising the impact of SIBOS, and importantly ensuring you generate a strong ROI, is having a plan in place that will make the most of every single stage of the process – that means looking at ways to get conversations started before, during and after the event itself.
To help you create and retain that interest, here are some top tips for boosting your success at each stage:
Step #1 – Ramping Up Your Game Pre-Event
Creating a pre-event calling campaign can start long before the event day itself, so make sure for your next event, you create a plan of attack early! We recommend putting in a call to prospects 3-4 weeks ahead of time to establish whether they will be a delegate (or not). If your prospect plans to attend, this is where you can secure a meeting with them so that you’re not lost as just another face in a sea of thousands of delegates.
If your prospect can’t attend and is restricted by budget or time, use this insight to strengthen your marketing activity and keep up their interest, invite them to meet outside of the event at a time and place that suits them better, or agree to call again in the future. Use the meeting to then demonstrate the knowledge and contacts you developed at the event and show how it helps to legitimise your position as an expert, with your finger on the proverbial pulse.
Step #2 – The Big Day
If the pre-event activity has gone well, the day of the event should lead to lots of fruitful conversations. Prospects will be showing up at your stand ready and keen to meet with you. Think about which sales staff should attend this event and how to motivate them on the day. Make sure they’re on their A-game and put their mobile phones away…..Be personable, be interesting and interested. Get your sales team to think about what open questions to ask and what compliance challenges prospects might be looking to solve.
Think about how to really engage the prospect to keep them at your stand longer and opening up about their pain points. Decide ahead of time how you will capture prospect’s information once they are with you. Don’t forget to ask for their details, make sure you capture their name, title, company and contact details.
Step #3 – Post-Event
Keep up the momentum: The big day may be over but now is when the hard work really starts. And there’s no time to lose! You’re likely to have met some fantastic people and all that’s left to do is to turn those valuable leads into event ROI. The time you leave before you follow up will have a huge impact on your effectiveness, so get on it. No relaxing just yet, it’s time to convert like never before!
Cunning plan: You should already have decided on your plan of action with regards to leads, follow-ups and how to manage the process. All event leads should be followed up in a timely manner – the longer a lead sits untouched, the colder it gets. Decide what will happen to prospects that can’t be reached – when will they be retried? Turn missed opportunities into prospects. Not everyone will have made it to the event but by giving them a call, you can qualify their interest and determine what the next steps might be.
If this all seems great in theory but difficult to implement in practice, talk to us. Lead generation is what we do and we have a team of highly skilled Business Discovery Agents who power through your calling lists like the appointment setting ninjas that they are. Call us on +44 (0) 203 326 8150
