Another Compelling Rational for Virtual Events—if Done Right

HOW LONG BEFORE A HOT LEAD GOES COLD?

For most B2B markets, the correct answer is one hour, after which the lead is no longer “hot.” (or it could be what Dennis Shiao calls an “A” lead in his blog The ABCs of Lead Follow Up http://allvirtual.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/the-abcs-of-lead-follow-up-for-virtual-events/). It’s still a lead, but it’s no better than any old lead taken from a list.

Applying a statistical measurement to extract patterns of success and failure, Dr. James Oldroyd of the Kellogg School of Management recently examined data for more than a million sales calls, made by thousands of sales professionals and published the results.

Oldroyd’s study revealed that, in B2B selling environments, the best odds of qualifying a lead happen within 20 minutes after interest is shown. However, calling within 5 minutes is 21 times more likely to result in a qualified prospect than if you wait half an hour.

Though it was the exception rather than the rule, Oldroyd found that some industries weren’t as time-sensitive and you can take as long as 24 hours and still have a good chance to qualify the lead and move it into the pipeline. Following up quickly is always tremendously more effective.

Too few companies are taking advantage of the inherent opportunity to provide quick or even instant follow up to leads with virtual events. On one extreme, I was at an event where Google had a booth at the show and although there had been a number of Google representatives signed up for “booth duty,” none were present on three occasions I went to their booth. Each time, I was not the only person there. At one point I counted ten people in the booth asking if anyone was here from Google because they wanted to find out how to “sign up” for the program Google was promoting. That’s an extreme situation but one I hear all too often with events (it happens with physical events as well as virtual events).

I’ve also been to virtual event booths where the exhibit staff were well trained, organized and seemed to have a game plan. The exhibitor had a short video in their booth that clearly demonstrated what they do. They had someone greet people who came to the booth with a welcome and invitation to answer any questions followed by a general question about the event which tended to get you chatting but without having to deal with specific questions about their products or services. They offered to exchange contact information in case I needed some questions answered after the event.

I had a short email from the woman I chatted with which I may have received while I was still at her booth. The note said thanks for stopping at their booth and had a link to a whitepaper, a newsletter and a free demo that was for 60 days instead of their usual 30 days—a show special. In this case I would have tried the demo but I had recently signed up for another similar service though I did forward it on to a friend that had been asking me about my current vendor.

Only virtual events provide this unique opportunity for rapid or immediate follow up. The exhibitor doesn’t have to wait days until I get back to my office—they know I’m there and accessible. Virtual event producers need to promote this advantage to their exhibitors and help train them how to get the most out of their exhibiting experience. The experience I had at the Google booth gave me a negative impression of the event overall while the latter example had the opposite effect—I thought it was a well produced event. You should require all exhibitors and exhibitor personnel be trained and then test them by having someone visit (incognito) all the booths and see what the experience is like and help exhibitors that are not doing a good job.