Hi friends - Today, we’re wrapping up part 4 of our four-part series this month to prep you for conference season!

Next month - we’re talking about all things marketing. And you don’t want to miss it. 👀 

Preview: You’re never too early to start marketing. There are low-cost, still highly effective things you can do, even as a pre-seed or seed-stage startup.

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Ok, ok, let’s get into it.

What to do after the conference

Follow up

Thoughtfully, more than once, and right away.

We have a saying in sales…”Time kills all deals”. And it’s freaking true. Aim to follow up within 48 hrs of the conference ending.

Hit them with the LinkedIn connect first, personalized with a note -

• “Great to meet you at [Conference]! Sending you an email now. Look forward to keeping in touch!”, or,

• "Sorry I missed you at [Conference]! Would love to find time to get acquainted. Sending you an email now.”

Give them a face with a name, then follow up with an email.

To standout + make it scalable, consider sending a personalized follow-up first and then possibly enrolling the contact in a more generic automated sequence for touches 2-3 over the next 2-3 weeks (but no more than 3 touches; we don’t want to look thirsty).

The first personalized note should have -

1. A clear subject line - maybe if I met someone who was a fellow wine lover at Inbound I’d use ‘Vino + Inbound follow up’ as my subject.

2. Remind them who you are (name, title, company).

3. Connect the dots. Include where or how you met or maybe what you talked about. If you didn’t meet, reference a mutual connection or your favorite session/takeaway.

4. Add value. If you talked about wine, maybe include the name of your favorite subscription service. If you talked about something else related to your product or a problem they have, include a helpful resource.

5. Call to action (CTA). Depending on their observed level of interest, act accordingly. If they seemed pretty interested, I’d go ahead and suggest a meeting or demo soon very directly. If they didn’t express clear interest, you may be better off closing with a softer CTA. Something like…

“I’ve included a link to a quick demo here for you. If it looks interesting, would love to reconnect sooner than later. Either way, grateful to have met you and look forward to keeping in touch. If I can ever be a resource, please don’t be shy.”

Nurture it

Now this is the important part.

If there isn’t an immediate opportunity, you need to nurture the lead. Make yourself a task to follow up in 2-3 months with new information, a helpful article, or something that made you think of them. Get creative.

If you have a newsletter or other email you send out regularly, subscribe them.

The goal is to stay in their peripheral view so that when they are ready, you are the first person they think of.

Not now doesn’t mean never.

Track it

Make sure you put all your notes in your CRM. Who you met, what you talked about, how many dogs they have. Get it in there.

You are leaving breadcrumbs for your future self and your future hires.

Use campaigns in your CRM to track the ROI.

Timely, personalized follow up + nurturing + tracking = conference season $$ outcomes. You got this.

See ya next week!

Want to learn more about how I help startups increase their revenue by 150-590%? 👀 

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With love and gratitude,