Conferences

Maximising your teams’ conference presence

Top line – why are we attending a conference?
As a delegate or to host a trade stand?
What’s the conference attendance purpose?

Either way, your company has likely chosen to invest in you attending a conference to enable you to focus on existing top customers (to protect and develop) and business acquisition (new customers). 

Conference attendance investment for most companies is enormous: stand costs, flights, accommodation, promos products, and time off the field.

If you are hosting a conference booth, consider your stand your shop front. It’s all about customer service excellence. We want to be wearing our best game-head.

Besides your website, a conference offers you a real opportunity to connect with your clients and show your value.

Conferences are also a great excuse to reach out to clients, even if neither you nor your prospective clients are going – it’s another topical reason to connect and add value.

1 to 2 months before the conference
What are your company’s conference goals and expectations? Ie To engage with the top 20 accounts and see the top 10 prospects? Attract new customers? What would those connections look like? As a scheduled meeting, a random bump into, a casual catch-up at the stand, etc.

Ensure you are up-to-date about the industry, know what’s newsworthy and who the conference speakers are, and be aware of the latest industry challenges and growth opportunities.

The first step towards a successful conference is connecting with clients, adding value, and setting up a meeting before or at the conference.

Do your homework
Undertake due diligence on your target audience: discover their business and what’s going on for them and evaluate how you can help them.

This means gaining business insights by combining their website, LinkedIn company page, and key contact LinkedIn profiles. 

Look at what they are posting. Can you comment and be part of the conversation? It has to be something worthy and meaningful.

This will give you information on how you can help them and get in front of them at the conference. You might start with an email expressing something relevant and meaningful. Make it short, about them, and give value (be helpful, insights, knowledge that would help them). 

One of our Smarter Selling trainers, Chris Muir, coined the term PREsuasion, meaning getting clients in buying mode before they see you.

The key at this stage is to add value so that they want to see you at the conference – ideally, even BEFORE the conference. 

It would help if you conveyed a good reason for them to see you. A wishy-washy ‘call by our stand’ is like a weak handshake. You need to be secure on how your solution will be helping them.

Be assured and have certainty about what value you will bring. When you exude that confidence, clients will adopt the same and take the meeting seriously. 

Get the meeting in ASAP – ahead of the conference
If they want to talk to you before the conference, take it, grab it with both hands; the more you can ‘bring the meetings forward’, the better.

Think about it: at the conference, they will be distracted and bumping into a myriad of other people, their own clients, plus catching up and building relationships with their fellow team members. You may be engaging with someone else at the very moment your desired client approaches you or your stand.

So, focus on securing that meeting time ASAP. This way, you are selling to them before a meeting and the conference. We refer to that as ‘pulling the sale forward’, which should be your aim. Of course, you may still see them at the conference, which now becomes a second meeting, further developing your relationship and understanding of them. 

Locking in a meeting in advance means there is clarity for you and them around the meeting’s time and purpose. 

At the conference, regard it like a marathon: look after yourself.
The entire time there, be switched ON.
Bear in mind you are about to see more clients in just a few days than you’d see in a few months – take it seriously. Ensure you get good sleep and nutrition.
Have your phone and computer chargers checked and batteries fully charged.

Due Diligence Checklist: Be on the front foot before and at the Conference

–Website: Familiarise yourself with what your clients are doing, what topics they are blogging about.

–Market knowledge: What’s happening, potential pain points, and business activity (new product launches, competitors coming in, acquisitions, mergers, gaining more market share, change of leadership, awards, and more.)

–Li: Review and familiarise yourself with the company page and various individual profiles.

–Company Profile: What do they broadcast and celebrate? What’s important?

–Individual Profiles: What does their ‘about section’ reveal about them, their values, or their role? What are they posting, commenting on, following?
If you’re not yet connected, follow up and then connect with them.

–Orbit: Connect with other company people around that person (other key decision-makers).

–Pain points: Loop back to any obvious and relevant pain points and start posting related content, demonstrating how your business has the expertise and solved similar.

–Email reach out: Remember, less is more.
Ensure it’s relevant and meaningful.
Keep it short.
Have a clear purpose.
Change your signature to be aligned, and add appropriate reviews.

At the Conference

You’re a company ambassador.
Be at your optimum: stay hydrated, be spritely, get sleep, watch your nutrition.
Be professional at all times (no hangovers!).
Seize the opportunity to actively engage at any given time.
Remember, several years’ revenue will be sowed during this time.
Be 100% present. Observe and ‘read the room’.
Stay off your phone, stifle any unavoidable yawns, look out for attendee interest, and be ready for eye contact.
Smile.
Practice your elevator pitch for anyone new to your business.
Keep conversations meaningful and relevant. 

Afterwards

Ensure you remain front of mind.
Be diligent with your follow-up.
Ensure you are well prepared and equipped to write notes soon after any conversation or meeting to keep those conversations ‘warm’.
Do your emails as soon as possible that day or the next day, quoting relevant conversation topics discussed and demonstrating your listening skills and care factors.