event marketing « Dave Stelzl's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘event marketing

Feb

The One Day Sales Cycle

Categories: Demand Generation and Sales Strategy
Tags: cold calling, event marketing, selling firewalls, selling security

I just got off the phone with an excited client – owner of a solution provider company in the north. He called just to tell me about his one day sales cycle - about a month ago his team did an event, targeting asset owners, focused on assets, revolving around risk and security trends and threats; the sames stuff I have been writing about since I started this blog. Yesterday, he and his sales rep went in to meet a business owner who attended the event. They have never met with this business owner – he is pretty much a cold prospect, except that he did attend the event.

The Aftermath

1. They discovered in their meeting that his company is required to meet PCI compliance regulations – however, following my training workshop guidelines, they asked anyway; “What are you trying to protect?” The answer was somewhat surprising – The owner knew his company was out of compliance, and in fact, is paying a monthly penalty for it; but he doesn’t care. His real answer led them to the deal.

2. They “focused on the assets” – went through the discovery process I outline in my new book, From Vendor to Adviser, and identified his major areas of risk.

3. They could have done an assessment, but he was ready to buy. So instead of moving ahead with the assessment, they listened, learned, proposed, and closed, all in the same day. It took them one hour to go from not knowing anything, save the prospects name, to getting a signature. This is smart business.

I am looking forward to today’s Making Money with Security Workshop – starts at 1:00 ET. If you didn’t sign up, there may be a seat or two left: Check it out at http://makingmoneywithsecurity2.eventbrite.com/

Feb

Event Marketing Webinar Follow Up

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Channel Management, Marketing and Opportunities
Tags: educational marketing, event marketing, marketing ideas, sales training, Technology Sales

This afternoon I had the opportunity to present Event Marketing tips to a large group on Webex. This is such an important topic, it needs more time. For those who missed it, and perhaps a refresher for those who attended:

1. Getting the right people is both the most important part, and the most difficult part. But, contrary to what most sales people believe, it is not impossible, and not even as hard as you might think. It just takes some strategy and time. While most people don’t really like call scripts, a well rehearsed script can do wonders. Some have accused me of making this into a robot sounding message, but far from it…you would never accuse Russel Crow or Brad Pitt of reading from a script, but they do it all the time. It’s just that they have practiced to the point of sounding natural. The fact is, if they just did their own thing, the movies they are in would fail. They use a script, but add their own personality to it. Once practiced, this is not hard to do.

2. Mistakes are common. I reviewed several serious mistakes even the most sophisticated companies make. Why do they make them? Simply because no one is really studying and optimizing this process. One simple mistake is not gaining commitment there in the meeting. A follow up program that starts an hour after the event will take a 75% response down to a 5% response and you’ll never really know what happened. You don’t want this to be salesy – but that doesn’t mean you don’t sell anything. I heard one woman refer to this as the Invisible Close. By educating attendees, and providing a place for them to get more of what you are talking about, you help them get what they need. This can be done professionally without sounding like an encyclopedia sales person. Much more of this is addressed in my audio series – Important topics from Vendor to Adviser…in fact there are 5 hours of critical concepts in this series.

3. Conversion is key. If you aren’t focused on conversion rate, there is no reason to do this event. There are customer appreciation dinners, but you don’t really need to spend this kind of time and money on IT level customers…there are a handful of customers that deserve this type of treatment, but not many. Instead, measure your conversion, and work on building the percentages. Focus on getting the right people, and test your messaging, repeating the same kind of program over and over. Make minor changes – and there are millions of secrets I have discovered, including reducing attrition, getting higher level audiences, using better topics, etc, that draw the right people and increase the rate of conversion. This is a science, not a hope…don’t be fooled into doing the event for as little as possible. Make a wise investment and get a strong return. That is good business.

Jan

Building the List

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation
Tags: call list, event marketing, lunch & learns, networking, rolodex

Two of my children have started a business selling holiday baked goods (note: these are their pies!) Valentines Day is right around the corner, so it’s a good time to be marketing chocolate and cookies, or anything family members might gravitate toward, to express appreciation to each other. But how do my children build their call list? The food is great (see picture), but getting the word out is difficult. “It’s a process of list building,” I tell them. “If you spend all of your time in the kitchen, experimenting with truffles and flavors, you’ll never sell anything”. But, no matter what I say, their tendency is to spend their time on the part they love, sometimes letting the business die a slow death.

Building the list takes time. In fact, you can’t really wait until the list is built, because it never is. It’s a process that takes a lifetime. Every contact should be a consideration, and every contact is, or knows someone who is. With this in mind, we have developed cards with pictures of the treats they prepare, with simple directions to access their “Buy Now” website. And every time they enter a store where they know someone, or meet a new prospect, they should be asking for referrals, handing out extra cards, and collecting more names. It must become their passion to collect and maintain these names, treating each one with respect and gratefulness.

This is the process every sales person must go through as they look to spread their value and identify new prospects. Event marketing depends on it, in fact, any marketing today depends on it, simply because people don’t want to hear from someone they don’t know. In 2012, your business depends on great marketing – events, webinars, campaigns, and referrals…

PS. Don’t miss my upcoming webinar (FREE) – Unlocking the Secrets of Event Marketing (Sign up Here)

Dec

Collecting Names

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation and Marketing
Tags: event marketing, lists, marketing event, sales genie

Don’t stop collecting names! The success of any marketing program or sales campaign will depend on the quality of names you have in your database. Linkedin, Facebook, tradeshows, or free webinars, I don’t care where they come from; you need them.

When I meet someone, I want his or her card. Everyone I meet is either a prospect, or knows of one. Both are valid reasons to keep in touch. Occasionally I meet people who don’t have a card on them, or at least claim they don’t. A simple strategy helps remove this obstacle…make sure you have something of value to pass along. If I ask you for a card, it may just mean I plan to make a sales call on you later this week, or add you to a spam list. But if I have something of value to send you, I have created justification for my request. I find people are more than happy to Link or hand me a card, as long as they see some personal benefit.

Once back in the office, I will immediately follow up, sending them whatever was promised, but don’t stop there. Periodically send them information they can use to grow their business or address some personal need. People forget over time. In my own business, I have found that a quarterly mailing works well to keep people up to date, but not overwhelmed. Too much, and they will be asking to unsubscribe, but too little, and they will soon forget.

On occasion, I will find I have not been in touch with someone, only to find that they don’t remember who I am. When I finally get around to sending an update, they reply back in an irritated sort of way, wanting to know how they got on my mailing list. I can remind them, but at this point, it is too late.

If your content is good, over time they will grow to appreciate your perspectives. Then, when you include them in one of your events (online or in person), your chances of having them participate greatly increase.

Nov

Contracting with Call Centers – Often a Big Mistake

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Demand Generation
Tags: call center, cold calling, David Stelzl, educational marketing, event marketing, marketing speaker, outbound marketing

How do you get people to attend your next marketing event?

Recruiting attendees for your next marketing event may not be as simple as it looks. The tendency here is to assume that you know how to do this, and when everyone seems too busy to get involved, to assume that a call center is a great alternative. The problem is, I have yet to see this work. Since event attendees really need to be management level, and if possible, senior level – asset owners, there is more selling required here than might be obvious. A track record from past events suddenly becomes irrelevant when you look back and realize, most of your events have been sold out to IT and other non-asset owners.

In a recent event, where the invitation process was contracted out, I was told by the manager of the call center, “We are professionals and don’t require any input.” Wow! That’s great, so I can stop worrying about attendance, and just show up to speak on the appointed date? Far from it. Instead, their response turned into a last minute fire drill, with rooms rented, food ordered, speakers paid for, and only 2 qualified attendees signed up. With two weeks to go, this solution provider was forced to either cancel and take a loss of the committed expenses, or open the doors to unqualified IT-level attendees. The lesson here is this; the call center can fill seats, but it takes a higher level of expertise to reach people who can actually buy something. Our event went forward, with predictable results. A long list of attendees, high attrition on the day of the event, and very few resulting sales. Event marketing can be highly effective, but when approached incorrectly, can produce “nothing” at a great cost.