Should you Scan and Spam?

Scanning & Spamming your prospects could backfire on you.

One of the biggest challenges of attending a trade show or conference is gathering enough qualified leads. After all, for most companies, exhibiting at a trade show is expensive. Besides paying for exhibit booth space, you are also shelling out money for travel, hotel reservations, food, swag, and booth supplies.

To make the investment worthwhile, many salespeople are encouraged to “scan and spam.”

What does that mean?

It means that salespeople will scan everyone using a badge scanner that approaches them at a booth regardless of whether those attendees are good leads or not. So, what happens is that you return to your office with what you think is an extensive list of valuable leads, only to discover after several phone calls and emails, you ended up mostly inferior prospects.

Sure, some prospects may work at first-rate companies where you may eventually find valuable leads to contact. But for the most part, you just wasted your time and money.

Why do salespeople scan and spam?

First, because not all organizations that sponsor trade shows will provide vendors (you) with a list of attendees, thus, you are forced to acquire contact information from anyone and everyone that visits your booth.

Second, even if the organization that sponsors the trade show does provide an attendee list, the purchasing fee for that information may be too high or cost prohibitive. For example, some organizations may require you to become a sponsor to receive attendee lists. On the surface, being a sponsor isn’t a bad idea – it’s good PR – but it could be too costly for your budget.

And finally, laziness. Some salespeople are just too damn lazy to qualify attendees and decide to scan everyone’s badges and hope for the best.

Which brings me to a better solution.

Rather than scan and spam, this is what I suggest you do –

With tight budgets, some companies may feel they have no choice but to scan and spam. Photo by Diane Helentjaris on Unsplash

First, qualify attendees who visit your booth. You can quickly do this by asking a series of questions to determine if you have a hot prospect or a window shopper. Questions can range from “What caught your eye at our booth?” “Why are you attending this trade show?” “What are some of the pain points you are facing at your company?”

Your goal is to quickly determine if you are speaking with a potential key decision maker or influencer, or are you speaking with an intern or a low-level employee who has no clout at his company, and thus, has little interest in what you are selling.

If the person you are speaking with fits your ideal criteria, politely ask to scan his badge. Then, if you’re not too busy, show him around your booth or do a short demo (if you have a laptop and a big screen) of what you are selling.

Second, even if you don’t have an attendee list, if you have been in the industry for a while, you should know who the major players are that you want to target. So, contact potential attendees by email and direct mail, and invite them to visit your booth. Or, better, schedule a one-on-one meeting with them at the trade show. And to make this process even more comfortable, include a link to  Calendarly in your email invitation.

Third, if you have enough employees attending a trade show, encourage them to attend workshops and other presentations, or early morning breakfast sessions, to network to find qualified leads.

And finally, don’t forget attending social networking events which are always prevalent and popular, as another means of finding good leads.

Scanning and Spamming is outdated.

It’s also counterproductive and could hurt your company’s reputation and brand. The better approach is to be more strategic by setting specific priorities on who you should speak to during and after a trade show. In the long run, you will come out ahead.

Sales & Marketing Conferences for 2018

Happy New Year!

And with the new year now here, there are several upcoming sales and marketing conferences you might want to consider.

With so many conferences and so little time, how do you select the ones that will best help you in your sales and marketing career?

sales conferencesHere are some tips

1). Networking opportunities – which event will help you make the right contacts to help your career or business?

2). Good Planning – does the sponsor have an agenda, a floor plan for trade shows (if there are any), and plenty of time to meet people.

3). Discounts – are there any early bird discounts and low hotel reservations available?

4). Speakers – are you going to have an opportunity to finally meet those thought leaders and experts that you read about?

5). Company compensation – if you can swing it, will your employer reimburse all or part of your expenses?

6). Attendee List – as an attendee, your sponsor should provide you with a list of people attending the event. This will help you network better.

7). Location – is the event being held in a city where the location is nice, and you will have interesting sites to visit?

Meanwhile, here are a sample list of conferences for your review –

Sales

AA-ISP Digital Sales World 2018
Dates: Feb. 1st, June 20th and September 6th
Locations: San Francisco, Atlanta and Boston

Revenue Summit
Date: March 1st
Location: San Francisco

Rainmaker
Dates: March 5 – 7th
Location: Atlanta

Sandler Sales & Leadership Summit
Dates: March 12th – 16th
Location: Orlando

Sales 3.0 Conference
Date: March 12th – 13th
Location: San Francisco

Inbound
Dates: September 4th – 7th
Location: Boston

Dreamforce
Dates: September 25th – 28th
Location: San Francisco

For a more comprehensive list of Sales Conferences, please go to this link –

16 Top Sales Conferences You Should Attend in 2017 & 2018, by Leslie Ye for Hubspot

Marketing

GrowthHackers Conference
Date: February 6th
Location: San Diego

SXSW Conference & Festivals
Dates: March 9th – 18th
Location: Austin

Social Media Week
Dates: April 24th – 27th
Location: New York

Gartner Digital Marketing Conference
Dates: May 15th – 17th
Location: San Diego

DigitalSummit
Dates: June 12th – 13th
Location: Portland, OR

Growth Acceleration Summit
Dates: June 18th – 20th
Location: Boston

Seattle Interactive Conference
Dates: October 17th – 18th
Location: Seattle

B2B Marketing Forum
Dates: November 13th – 16th
Location: San Francisco

An Event Apart
Dates: December 10th – 12th
Location: San Francisco

For a more comprehensive list of Marketing Conferences, please go to this link –

2018 Marketing Conferences: The #1 Marketing Events Guide, published by The Bizzabo Blog

Note: If you like this post, please read my book – Advice for New Salespeople: Tips to Help your Sales Career

Sales and Marketing Conferences for 2017

We all have busy schedules. But no matter how busy you are, it’s important to attend at least a couple of conferences or trade shows a year. Conferences and trade shows help you network and stay in tune with the latest news and trends in your industry.

To help you find the best sales and marketing conferences for 2017, I have compiled a list below from several sites for your review.

Here are the links –

Sales Conferences

From PeakSales Recruiting

The Top 14 Conferences to Attend in 2017

From Sales Summit

2017 Sales Conferences

From Maria Milea

The Complete Guide – Marketing and Sales Conferences 2017

From the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP)

AA-ISP Event Calendar

(I’m an active member of AA-ISP. I attended the Boston event last year. There are always great opportunities at their events to network and learn new skills).

Marketing Conferences

From Brafton

12 Marketing Conferences to Mark on your 2017 Calendar

From OnSpot Social

Top 2017 Marketing Conferences to Book Today

From Digimarcon

2017 Marketing Conferences

From RedStag Fulfillment

Ecommerce Conferences for 2017

Tips for Attending Conferences

1). Register early, you usually get better deals.

2). If possible, obtain an attendee list so you can schedule meetings with key people (Note – not all organizations provide attendee lists).

3). Trade Shows are usually part of the event. Review the list of exhibitors and plan which booth you would like to visit. If there is a vendor that you are interested in, try to contact the company prior to the event and schedule a meeting during the conference. Vendors tend to be very busy, so having a scheduled meeting may save both of you time.

4). Make your airline registration early to receive low fares.

5). When attending an event, especially if I’m walking around during a trade show, I prefer using luggage with skate wheels and a retractable handle. Why? Because besides carrying your laptop, business cards, pens and notebooks, you will also be given a lot of swag and free literature to take home with you.

I’m currently using EAGLE CREEK TARMAC 20 LIGHTWEIGHT CARRY ON BAG (BLACK) (see below).

I hope the above lists and my advice will help you.

Safe travels this year!