Dan Stratton
Here at Introhive we attend a lot of events. They provide us with great value as they are a excellent source for lead generation, while at the same time strengthening our relationship with the number of customers and partners that we have.
After any event, it’s important to take stock on whether it was a success or not. Here are a few things we take into consideration when deciding on how worthwhile the event was, as well as whether or not we should attend next year:
Pipeline Driven
This is the easiest and one of the most valuable metrics that we track. By creating a Campaign in our CRM around each event, we can track not only how many leads were generated at a particular event, but also the resulting growth of our sales pipeline. This gives us a great indication on how much direct business was generated as we compare and evaluate one event to another.
Relationships Nurtured
We never go into an event and simply put up a booth and hope for the best. Lots of leg-work goes in ahead of time setting up meetings around the event (or at our booth) with key partners, customers, and prospects. After each event we summarize all the meetings to identify a couple of things when evaluating our success:
– Were we able to move existing pipeline along with our prospects?
– Were we able to strengthen our relationship with partners and their customers?
– Were we able to strengthen our relationship with our customer-base?
This analysis give us a good reference point on all the softer analytics that were derived from the event when we look back, which are just as important to us as a booth lead.
New vs. Existing Relationship Breakdown
One of the key things that we always like to track from events is the breakdown between people we met that were brand new to Introhive vs. people we met that we had an existing relationship with. We always record everyone we interacted with at the event in a CRM campaign. Once we have a record of our interactions, we can cross-reference this with our Introhive relationship data, giving us an indication as to the percentage of people from the event that were brand new to Introhive vs. those with an established relationship with our brand that we were able to further the conversation along with.
Taking all 3 of these things into account gives us a good idea as to if an event was a success or not. What are some of the key metrics you use when measuring the success of your events? We’d love to hear them.
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