Event Equity: Stop Aimlessly Attending Events And Hoping To Attract Clients

It's very likely because you're hoping to make new connections at the events which will blossom into promising leads. That rarely works well

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A few consultants I’ve spoken with recently are questioning the value of attending industry events.

I suspect the problem is the way people expect to attract clients relies heavily on serendipity. e.g. striking up a conversation with a stranger at an event mixer, discovering you can help them solve their problem, and agreeing to work together.

When it doesn’t happen, it’s tempting to question your networking skills or charisma, but the real problem is usually more strategic.

The Problem With Trying To Attract Business At Events

I’ve attended more than my share of events. Many times I’ve paid thousands of dollars from my own pocket to fly across an ocean to attend or speak at an event without seeing any benefits.

It was costly and frustrating. Yet I still felt I had to be there.

I didn’t realise the three big problems with trying to attract business from events.

1. Most people don’t have immediate problems they need consultants for. Think about the hundreds or thousands of people who already read your content. How many of them hire you? It’s only a tiny percentage right? They might be loyal readers and even big fans - yet still not hire you. That’s probably because they don’t have an immediate problem they need a consultant to solve.

   Even if you connect with someone at a networking event, you’re unlikely to make a sale. Often you’re simply adding +1 to the people aware of you. Not a bad thing - but probably not the most efficient way to add a new mailing list subscriber.

2. Events are competitive spaces. You’re not the only person trying to attract someone’s attention. Everyone is slightly on edge about being sold to. If you try to sell at events, there’s a good chance people might avoid you. Some events ban consultants and vendors specifically for this reason. The moment someone realises you’re trying to sell to them, there’s a good chance they start to distance themselves from you mentally (and sometimes physically).

3. It takes time to see results. A relationship which might begin at an event might not result in a client project for years. The process might be working but you might not even know it. Many of the projects I’ve gained over the years originated from interactions or relationships initially formed from events.

So given the cost and time commitment of attending an event? Should you even bother?

Should You Still Bother Attending Events?

Aside from the talks, which are sometimes worth attending, there’s still huge value in attending events (especially if you’re speaking).

The biggest value is lots of people you want to work with are going to be there.

Attendees have the two biggest things that matter to B2B consultants looking to attract clients:

1. A desire to learn how to be better.

2. A budget to spend on non-critical activities.

Events naturally filter out people who wouldn’t be able to afford you and put you in a room with many of the most likely clients. It’s hard to replicate that anywhere else.

The amazing thing about events is you can make and strengthen connections far, far, quicker than you can do online.

It might cost you a few hundred dollars to attend (or even a few thousand), but it’s almost always worth it given the amount of time it saves you trying to connect with folks through other channels. (and who it puts you in a room with).

How Can Consultants Really Benefit From Attending Events?

Attending events is still a great idea as long as you approach it strategically.

If you simply show up and expect to magically network your way to success, you will be disappointed. But if you’re a little more thoughtful and strategic, you will start seeing greater benefits.

The best way of thinking about this is from a traditional buyer’s journey as you see below. What questions does a prospective client have to answer before hiring you and how many of them can you solve when you’re at an event? The diagram shows the kinds of activities you might take at events to make that work.

Use this diagram to decide how to get the most from your industry events

Awareness / Interest

Making Speaking Work For You

There is a big difference between speaking and not speaking at an event.

If you’re not speaking at the event, the value of attending drops somewhat.

You can discover how to get coveted speaking slots here. But be warned not all speaking events are created equal.

Speaking in a small side room greatly reduces with a smaller audience reduces the value of speaking at the event and being on a panel with three to four other speakers drops the benefits down to zero.

When you do speak at the event, make sure you talk about problems your prospective clients are facing. I’m bewildered by how many people finally get the speaking slot they’ve wanted for so long and then talk about an issue that’s irrelevant to their ICPs.

The benefit of being a speaker is the implicit endorsement by the event organiser as someone who knows their expertise. You stand out from everyone else. Better yet, everyone knows who you are and is more likely to speak to you.

Three key things are important if you’re speaking:

1. Get the recording. The recording will help you later on - you can share it with future prospects, embed it in your customer’s journey, and publish it to attract clients.

2. Share a downloadable resource. Use a QR code to share a resource people can get if they subscribe to your mailing list. Make sure this resource is so powerful that it’s worth the effort. I give away a training course or an entire book for free.

3. Schedule slots people can book afterwards. I’m usually exhausted after my talk but I often have people who want to ask questions. This isn’t the best time. So these days I have slots set up that people can book (ideally at the event, or afterwards if needed). This helps me speak to them privately (instead of giving them a brief answer because there are others waiting to ask a question). This also provides an opportunity to turn someone with a question into a deeper connection.

What To Do If You’re Not Speaking

If you’re not speaking, but still want to build awareness of yourself and your services. You have a few options.

1. You can always host your own events. Hosting events are a surprisingly great way to build awareness of you and your brand at speed. But they have a huge time and resource cost.

2. Sponsor the event. If you don’t have the budget to sponsor a large event, consider sponsoring a small event. The key to sponsoring an event is to ensure you’re able to contact attendees (you need their opt-in) or focus on small events which come with a public speaking slot for sponsors (I dislike this, but it works).

3. Partner with a sponsor. Another great idea is to partner with a sponsor. If you have a book, let them give away copies of your book if you drive people to their booth. I did this at GDC once and it worked insanely well. Everyone wins. The person gets a book for going to the sponsor’s booth, the sponsor captures the information, and you get a potential lead (as well as getting your philosophy out there).

If you’re looking to build awareness of your brand and services (without speaking) these are the most effective ways to do it from events.

Evaluation

Events are fantastic for speaking to people already in your sales pipeline

The absolute best way to gain value from events is to use them to strengthen the relationships you’ve already formed elsewhere - especially with people in your sales pipeline.

At the evaluation phase where your proposal is being considered against other consultants, the client doing the project themselves, or the cost of not doing it at all.

This is what you need to consider when engaging these folks at this stage.

Engage these prospects intentionally. Invite them to the event (if you’re speaking, give your +1 ticket to these folks). Set up a specific time during the event to meet up, grab a coffee, and talk through the project. Make sure you’re prepared with examples you can share and prepared for common questions you can address.

Another useful tactic here is to host your own side event and invite past clients, prospects, and industry peers to attend. Keep it exclusive.

This is a great way to:

1. Provide prospects with value they’re not getting from anyone else. They can connect with the very people who will be of most value to them in the long term.

2. Surround prospects with happy clients. Can you imagine a more powerful way to increase preference for you than surrounding prospects with past clients you’ve worked with?

Decision

Building trust and certainty

It’s possible to combine the decision and evaluation phases, but many of the tactics overlap. I’m separating them because there are moments right before the contract is signed when a prospect needs to have complete confidence you will do a great job for them.

In this phase, I like to intentionally set up a dinner away from the event where the prospect is my focus for the evening and we can go deeper than we could at a side-meeting or during the event itself.

I also like to deliberately connect them with past clients we’ve worked with who are also attending the event. There is nothing more effective at building trust than having past clients share the projects we worked on and the impact they had. But we have to schedule these interactions with a calendar invite so they know where and when to connect.

Retention

Sustaining positive long-term relationships with past clients.

We know that the only way to achieve long-term growth is to attract repeat business from past clients.

There are plenty of ways you can leverage events to help them achieve that goal.

1. Get complimentary tickets to events. I’ve often provided past clients with complimentary tickets to events I’m attending or hosting. Sometimes I’m able to ask a favour from the event organiser, occasionally I’ve simply paid the cost to let them attend. Not sure if the latter is cost-effective mind. At the very least I’m usually able to get a good discount code. The goal is to simply continue providing value to past clients in a variety of ways.

2. Help clients secure speaking slots. This is a very powerful technique to build a positive long-term client relationship. I’ve had Microsoft endorse our work on stage in front of an industry of peers. That’s quite powerful - it’s a video I can send to everyone.

3. Co-deliver a talk with a client. I’ve not done this personally, but I’ve seen it work well with others. It is a great way to present a case study in a talk format.

4. Schedule dinners with past clients. Dinners are precious at events - because you only get 2 to 3 of them. So be really thoughtful about who you’re going to spend them with. Past clients and prospects right at the decision phase are usually worth the time (aside, if you just want to have fun and hang out with people you like, you totally have my blessing!)

Your mileage with these techniques will vary and you will have to find the ones which work best for you. Everyone prefers different steps of the process. But if you attend events with a more strategic approach, you will be far more successful.

Design Your Own Agenda

The real key to getting the most out of any event is to design your own agenda.

1. Be clear about your goals when attending the event are (be as specific as possible - where in the B2B sales journey are you hoping to make an impact).

2. Identify what you need to do to achieve those goals. Use the chart above - what are the steps you need to take to give yourself a chance of success?

3. Do the preparation work prior to attending the event. Begin scheduling the meetings, dinners, invites, and more to get the most from the event. Do this as far in advance as possible.

4. Follow up with ferocity. If you don’t follow up with all the contacts and next steps from the event, you won’t get anywhere near the value you should.

Good luck!

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Richard Millington