#EventProfs, if you sell Marketing Technology or organize events of  a #TradeShow, and you missed the Meetings Technology Expo, this week in New York City, you lost a great opportunity for learning and sales.  The power-packed one day provided just enough exhibitors with opportunities for break-out demo sessions.  And tables for networking and one-on-one appointments in the exhibit hall made it more like an alumni event at #Meetings Tech University.

Speakers included Tom Wong, the VP of Marketing with Salesforce.com: if you don’t know this guy, you should.  He talks a mile a minute, and he gave me some great ideas I will implement on how Event Organizers and attendees of all sizes should use Social Media and live events to grow and sustain growth.

I also saw Erik Mintz, Constant Contact‘s Event Marketing Director, who gave us some purpose-driven ideas on better email marketing.  Even Rich Stone, President of ExpoCAD, cogently showed attendees “How to Select and Purchase Meeting Technology Successfully“.  Yes, I am praising ExpoCAD’s founder, though I still appreciate my former colleagues at A2Z. I thank all the ladies and gentlemen who spoke, exhibited, and attended the event, but especially Paul Paone (faceless here, not at the expo) and his MTE team.  Each group made the event into an event I can confidently say will exceed all of my Learning, ROI, and Lead Generation expectations.

The proof of high ROI  won’t come with the number of business cards I took home, as you know.  It will be in the follow-up, which I have already begun.

Yet, even a fantastic opportunity like MTE won’t help a sales person follow-up, nurture, and market to hundreds of leads, especially the “B” and “C” Leads.  Your sales team will contact your “A” Leads, maybe in one afternoon.  But how can your sales people market consistently and appropriately to every qualified prospect?  Like SiriusDecisions says,

“Research has shown that 80% of the leads dis-qualified by sales, go on to buy a competitor’s product, or service within 24 months.”

That’s why Mike and I started HATCH Marketing.  We make sure that incredible technology fits your budget, allowing you to find your leads (using live events, webinars, email marketing, social media… I could go on).  Then the technology will successfully incubate the leads and almost completely insure ROI, not just now but for years to come.  The offerings include

• The newest Marketing Automation tools like Pardot and Marketo;

• Customer Relationship Management programs (CRM’s) like Salesforce.com that become your overall sales, marketing, and customer service solution;
• Easy-to-use, yet powerful websites that integrate with your CRM and Marketing Automation solutions!

Click on the links above to learn more about these tools.

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Eric Hatch
Twitter ID: @HATCHevent

“I hope it helps you to receive a little background on my past concerning Lead Follow-Up and Trade Shows.

“Early in my career, I managed corporate trade shows and events for both AT&T and Holiday Inns Worldwide. AT&T’s program included 65 shows and corporate events annually.  Holiday Inns was a unique corporate program; I was tasked to generate sales leads for 1700 franchise properties worldwide.  However, I received no budget from corporate to run the program; it was totally self-funded. I learned how to generate finely targeted, qualified leads because I had dozens of franchisees worldwide who cared for nothing except leads for their five or ten properties in Dallas, California, or Germany.

“After AT&T and Holiday Inns, I started and ran my own exhibit and graphics design and production business in Washington, D.C. for 17 years. Over those years, we served over 5,000 corporate, association, and government exhibitors. The core component of our marketing program was trade show marketing seminars for exhibitors, and I presented an average of two dozen of those for hundreds of exhibitors each year. From both servicing all those 5,000 exhibitors and educating many others, I learned a lot about their challenges and what works, and does not work.

“During this time, I also became involved in the Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA), founded the Washington, D.C. chapter, and served on the Board of Directors.

“Then, I sold the exhibit business and invested in a start-up technology company called a2z, Inc., which developed event management and marketing software for trade show organizers. During the next ten years, we went from zero customers to servicing over 1,000 associations and independent show organizers including nearly 100 of the top-200 shows in the U.S.

“This background, I hope, lets you understand where I come from, as well as the progression of the ideas, concepts, technology, and marketing tools in this blog entry.”
- Mike Hatch, President of HATCH Marketing & Consulting