Events
How to Get the Right People in the Room
Events are a great opportunity to introduce your top accounts to your leadership team, account executives, and their peers. To play a strategic role in ABM, though, your events have to get the right people in the room.
VIP Events: Organize a Nomination Process
Hosting a white-glove event is a great way to give your top-tier accounts the VIP treatment they deserve. Work with your sales team to develop a campaign nomination strategy to identify which accounts to invite.
You can do this by setting clear parameters within your CRM. For example, maybe you only want key stakeholders with a title that is VP and above, an opportunity that is in Stage 2 or above, and an opportunity amount over a certain threshold.
It’s also important to create clear member status labels. As a rule of thumb, these are the member statuses that we use at Salesforce:
- Nominated: Initial status after a sales rep has added a contact to a campaign
- Approved: Status change that signals that this contact meets the criteria set forth by marketing and has been approved to be invited to the event
- Rejected: Status to denote that the contact did not meet the criteria and will not be invited to the event
- Invite Sent: This status lets sales reps know the event invitation has been sent and the marketing team is waiting for a response
- RSVP Yes: The contact has accepted the invitation and will be attending the event
- RSVP No: The contact cannot attend the event
- Attended: The contact attended the event
- Did not attend: The contact registered for but did not attend the event
As sales reps nominate their top targets to the campaign, you can easily identify who should be invited and update member statuses accordingly. After the event, make sure to change member statuses to “Attended” or “Did not attend,” and tag your sales team to follow up accordingly.
Third-Party Events: Plan Ahead and Reach Out Early
Third-party events — where your company sponsors a booth or activation — are great for ABM opportunity progression.
Ask to receive a list of registered attendees ahead of time, and reach out to target accounts to schedule on-site meetings. Calendars fill up quickly, so reach out well in advance, and book a conference room nearby to host meetings.