Valuable Data from B2B event meetings, and what to do with it

Organizing and conducting meetings at B2B Events is a big undertaking in itself. For all the effort that you put in, it makes sense to extract maximum value from those meetings. Value can mean a lot of different things to different people. But we’re sure that moving your prospect along their buyer journey, accelerating your sales cycle, and getting closer to closing a deal is something all we’d be interested in.

Meetings, simply put, are the best line of communication that we have with our prospects and customers. And the data that we collect from these meetings are a veritable goldmine, riffe with actionable insights, offering a peek into the customer’s mindspace, their needs and wants.

This blog post explores the kind of data that we can collect at these meetings, and how we can put them to good use.

Collecting data

The prerequisite to leveraging the data, is to collect in the first place. This would first entail a reframing of how we view the meeting experience for the the customer, and for ourselves. All meetings are goal oriented, but along with the primary goal of pushing the prospect closer to the deal, the secondary goal of also analyzing  and understanding the prospect’s persona is important.

We’ve moved past physical interactions a long time ago for the sake of convenience and efficiency, but there are more than enough studies that show that face to face interactions are unbeatable. But now that they are few and far in between, that just makes that that much valuable. Both in terms of forming a real connection and the possibility of collecting richer data on our prospects.

What kind of data can we collect?

Meeting parameters:

Meeting parameters like meeting duration, number of internal and external attendees, potential deal size, the position of the customer in your pre-defined buyer journey and so forth, are usually the first thing we think of when we hear the phrase ‘meeting data’.

Meeting durations vary depending on the agenda, number of attendees involved. If you are able to collect enough data over a large meeting data-set, interesting patterns will begin to emerge.

When you map the meeting parameters such as meeting duration, number of attendees (internal and external), you’ll be able to see how these parameters can be adjusted to achieve a desirable outcome for you, which would be closing the deal. It doesn’t always have to be about closing the deal either, you might even pick up insights on how to accelerate your sales cycle.

Business concerns of your prospects:

Chances are you’ve already had this conversation with them, but make sure that you have the complete picture.  This is the only way you can ensure that you’ve highlight all the relevant features of your product. Also probing them about the exact problem the are trying to solve, or the challenge that they are trying to overcome will show that you genuinely  care about them, rather than just trying to make that sale.

This information is also crucial to your product development as well. If there is a common thread that most customers seem to bringing up, that is closely related to your product, it would be a good idea to incorporate it into your product. This way you’ll have  a stellar product, which will be easier to sell.

Identify their biggest pain point:

Each account is going to have a different pain point that your multifaceted product might solve.  A different aspect of the product might appeal to different companies. This helps you tailor your communication, maybe to even take back insights to your product team to tweak the product that ultimately makes it easier to sell, and easier to use.

How does your product help them succeed in the business:

This is a combination the two previous points – you know what your prospect needs, and you tie that in with what your product has to offer. This is going to be different for each prospect, so get ready to be nimble.

Look for personal cues

There are lot of deals that are closed over lunch and drinks. Metrics, RoI aside, the purchase decision is still being made by a human. There are personal cues to why people choose a solution, or even to choose your solution over someone else’s, reading those cues makes it easier for you to connect emotionally with your prospect, build rapport and have fruitful professional relationships.

Why should you leverage post-event meeting data:

We strongly believe that the data and the insights that you glean from  these meetings are unobtainable from any other channel. Because face-to-face interactions occupy the topmost position  in the hierarchy of modes of human interaction in today’s world. Now that we’ve seen how and what information to collect, let’s see what you can do with it.

Tailoring your communication

This is the biggest application of all the data that you’ve collected – communicating to your prospects in a way that resonates with them the most. The two aspects of that are:

Sales Communication

This is all the communication between you and your prospect that is directly connected to selling your product. You know what they want, and what you have to offer. Now, it’s a matter of working those insights into your emails, brochures, product demos and all other lines of communication.

Value Communication:

The communication that you send post this meetings doesn’t all have to be ‘hard-sells’. This is where content marketing comes in. You can send them information that is valuable to them. As before, that you have found out what their biggest pain points are, you’ll be able to send them useful information (Industry reports, white papers and best practices). As long as the information is completely valuable to your prospect, you can be assured that you will always be at the top of their mind.