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13 tested tips to get prospects to your next event

20 Feb 2015 | By Maven TM Team

13_tested_tips_to_get_prospects_to_attend_your_next_event_Have you noticed how corporate events flourish at the same times each year? Like me, you are probably getting regular invites to attend conferences, seminars, demos, briefings, or even business dinners. How many of these do you attend? How many are actually relevant to you, your function or your business?

If you are an adept at organising or attending events for your company, you know that events can be a fantastic opportunity to talk to your prospects – if they come along! Otherwise, the exercise is simply a waste of time and resources. So what can be done to make sure your prospects attend your events?


  1. Choose a relevant and hot topic. Ultimately, you may decide to organise an event to boost the awareness or sales of one particular offering. However, solely discussing this particular offering is not …well, attractive enough. Be creative and link it to a hot discussion or trend. This requires that you know what your market is interested in. So do your research!
  2. Show the tangible benefits of attending. What will the attendees gain besides having the utmost privilege to meet you? Try to think of at least 1 or 2 benefits that people will gain with practical implementation and focus on these in your communications. Remember: people won’t attend if they can’t see what’s in for them – so find out what they want!
  3. Additional benefits: Does the event allow time for networking? Is lunch provided? Parking facilities? Giveaways on the day? People love free stuff, so make your pick!
  4. Decide on time and place. Take into account your attendees when selecting the time and place. If your potential attendees have to travel, avoid an early start in the morning. Also, you may consider repeating the event at different dates for different locations, to ensure the location/travel is not a stopper. And ensure the date suits your audience, ie. avoid month-end or year-end event if you are looking to invite Finance Managers or Finance Controllers!
  5. Select the right audience. Not everyone has the same challenges or same area of interest or responsibilities. Make sure you define who the best audience for your event is. Avoid the ‘Spray & Pray’ approach – make sure you target the right people!
  6. Consider other events. Your contacts are busy people and will give priority to the events that are most relevant and bring the most value. Make sure that the date you choose does not clash with another major event. We all love a bit of a challenge but you risk missing on good opportunities if you hold your event in parallel to another major one.
  7. Duration. How long will the event last? Does the content of your event justify a full day attendance for example? Unsure about it? Prefer a faster paced event, and if your attendees feel rushed on the day, this may be a good opportunity to organise a subsequent event on a topic that your attendees want more information on.
  8. Bring credibility. Your choice of speakers is crucial. The more subject matter experts your guest speakers are, the better. You will also create more impact if you invite some of your clients to share their experience about using your solution. Making this industry specific is also a very good way of grabbing people’s attention.
  9. Make it easy for people to register. Your registration process will not only help get more people to register but also remember your event. Whether you register them yourself or ask them to register themselves, make sure that your potential attendees receive a confirmation of their registration, but also reminders and/or a calendar invite. If your process allows attendees to invite a colleague, this is even better!
  10. Plan, plan, plan. People are very busy and their calendars fill up very quickly. The longer the time you take to promote the event, the more people are likely to hear about it and this also means that people have a greater perception of the event’s quality. Start reaching out to people at least 6 weeks before your event.
  11. Remind people. Always carry out a sweep of reminder calls a couple of days prior to event. You can use this as an opportunity to confirm attendance or at least to engage with the prospect to arrange another meeting if they are no longer able to attend the event.
  12. As well as targeting potential customers also invite existing customers – this will help you cement relationships with existing clients and will give them the opportunity to tell others just how great you are!!
  13. Never underestimate the amount of work needed to get people to attend an event! Get help – contact Maven TM!

 


Ultimately, the success of your events will depend a lot on preparation and how much time and resources are allocated to it. If you lack on these resources or simply want to ensure that your next event is a success, you also have the option of outsourcing some of the recruitment process.

There are a lot of companies specialising in event telemarketing that can help out. Maven TM also provide event telemarketing services, helping companies recruit attendees for their technology-related events.

What about getting added value and mixing event and lead generation campaign? Many companies use our expertise to gather valuable market intelligence, raise awareness on their events, register people and identify potential sales opportunities!

What about you – what advice would you give to help have a successful event?

 

READ OUT MORE ON EVENT TELEMARKETING

 

Maven TM is a specialist B2B Telemarketing and Sales Lead Generation company. With hundreds of sales lead generation campaigns completed successfully for technology companies, Maven TM consistently helps companies achieve their sales strategy and stay close to their markets. For more information, please contact Maven TM at info@maventm.com.


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Topics: Event Telemarketing

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