Follow up after a conference - 12 tips

So you made it through the conference, you have a pile of business cards and a mound of work to do, and yet you know you need to follow up. Here are a few, easy to read tips and suggestions for you. 

Top tip: Don’t write a follow up email when you’re tired, hungover or jetlagged. 

1. Be polite (please).

Don’t forget to thank your hosts. Conferences take a lot of effort to put on and they try hard to make it work for everyone. Be sure to send a note of thanks and use their hashtags etc in your posts. If you were given good feedback about the event by other delegates you chatted to, pass that on to them.

2.  Be inclusive.

Generally not all of your team will have gone to the conference, and certainly not the whole office so share information with them. For the budget-setter make sure they have an overview of the validity of attending. For those whose clients you met, make sure to get them up to speed.  If you have KPIs for the conference, report back on them. For example were you tasked to meet 5 new potential suppliers of X, get some new ideas on X, or have a meeting with the head of XX company? Surely you had some goals… report back on them. I’d also highly recommend taking the office some goodies from the conference, especially if abroad. It’s not all glamour and socials at the bar but that’s what the colleagues back in the office think you’re doing so show them a bit of love – worth it for the price of a pack of mini Toblerone. 

What to do..?

3. CRM.

It may not be your favourite thing, but load your contacts and leads up, properly, on your CRM. Don’t leave a pile of business cards on your desk without logging them. You or your company spent money getting these contacts, now its time to put them to good use.

If you captured details in another way, don’t forget to load these too. For example, if you met someone in the bar and didn’t exchange cards, but did catch their name or company – do your research, load them up and follow them up also. A lot of networking is done away from the formal times and areas and sometimes these can be tricky to track – but that’s why you’re there, so nip to a quiet corner and jot down names/conversation points/ company etc as you simply won’t remember everyone you met over a few days’ worth of conference.

When you’re loading onto the CRM make sure you’ve loaded it all properly, and that you have diaried the next step with each.

4. Connect.

Something I often do on the way home if I have time on a flight or train is connect with those I met on social media channels. I connect and I follow their pages. When I connect I generally add a very short note (as I will follow up properly via email usually), mentioning the conference name.

A good way to interact on social channels is with any photos you may have taken with them, tag them in, but don’t be too revealing if it was a drunken photo at the bar, use your discretion! If it’s not something their boss would appreciate seeing, do it via private message. 

5. Non-leads.

Those that you met that aren’t your target market, you’re unlikely to buy or sell from them so what’s the point in following up, right? Don’t be so quick to dismiss them – they may have a network of your buyers in their social media pages, they may move on within the industry into a buyer’s company.. so don’t discount them completely. Know your process on this – do they go onto the CRM? On a separate spreadsheet? What is your company process? Follow them up in a different way, connect with them on social media and be polite and tell them it was good to meet them. Ideally, put them in touch with someone else you know that they might find an interesting contact. Be helpful, and believe in karma on this one.

6. Non-meets.

If you didn’t meet someone that, for example dropped a business card into your booth, make sure you know to message them differently. I had a lovely message the other day from a representative of a company booth that I passed by and gave my card to the attendee. Their colleague emailed and  asked if I found everything I needed at the booth, did their colleague treat me well and could they do anything else to help? It wasn’t at all intrusive and I left with a positive impression of their company. If they had said ‘it was good to meet you’ then I’d know I was on a blah blah list and would have had a different impression. If you had any good give-aways and have a few spare, ask if they received one and if not, offer to send one over.

7. Leads. 

Identify which contacts are cool, warm and hot leads and make sure that is also on your CRM.

Identify your leads – if not already in your CRM make sure you are clear about the type of client they are, particularly if you have different buyers. For example, if you’re a dog clothing manufacturer you may segment independent pet shops from chain stores or grooming salons. This will make it easier in the future. If you aren’t sure.. do your research before you load them up. How are you going to follow each up, the cool, warm and hot leads? What is your process here? Calls? Emails? How are you going to approach them in the best way?

8. How to follow up?

Soon. Don’t leave it too long, preferably within 48 hours of meeting them. Know your process (you don’t have one… why not?). How many times and in what ways are you going to get in touch post-event? What has worked in the past? For which type of meeting – those you already know or those you just met? Define the process, follow it and adjust as you go. If this is your first event – ask your colleagues.

Mostly we email a follow up – and that’s a good way of getting in touch and attaching information or photos. However, it is a noisy space,  despite new GDPR rules we have busy in-boxes, so you need to make sure you stand out, even if your personality was sparkling at the time you met in person. Depending on numbers and time, a hand-written note (or postcard perhaps) never goes amiss but it can take a while to reach them if they’re overseas. Social media messages are also a good idea, but if it’s a new prospect then perhaps email or mail is better to start.

OK – so stand out.. how?

9. Personalise. Personalise. Personalise.

Always make notes as you meet people – I have a good memory but when I’m at a conference of 2000 people I will definitely struggle. I’ve already talked about note-taking as you go, and this is where it is golden. You may well have a standard template to send to different types of leads at the event, and to some extent that’s acceptable, but in the first few lines it’s unforgivable to sound like an automated message to someone you met in person recently. Personalising the message helps jog their memory (as does a photo on an email signature…) and reminds them of that fantastic impression you left on them. It can be business related, or it can be random. I have clients who told me about their kids, their dog, their journey, their lost luggage, their country.. I am fascinated by these titbits of information and love them so I just need a word or two on their business card or tapped into my phone notes and I’ll remember the chat and then refer to it in my follow up. 

What else?

10. Don’t oversell.

There’s a temptation to list all your products and services in the follow up email, but this is likely to be a bit annoying when they’re receiving loads of follow ups. What is your goal..? Is it to establish a rapport with a B2B client? Or is it to give them a special offer for a B2C prospect? Decide on your best soft pitch and usually I’d recommend a little info, not the whole lot, and an offer to have a chat/meeting soon when they’re less busy. That way you have left a door open for the next step but you’re not rushing it. 

11. Share information.

Ideally business-led, but establish yourself as a valued contact, a trusted advisor.. it’ll hold you in good stead. You may have a company blog that you think they’d find interesting, or a business website in your sector that would be handy. It might be that you know of someone to fill that position they mentioned or a social media group they could benefit from. If it was more of a casual chat and therefore a casual follow up, you can still share information – but it could be something more personal – say they mentioned their skiing hobby or lost luggage – send them a link to an article about the top ten skiing destinations or an ad you saw about luggage tracking software. Make the connection personal and you’ll be remembered. Make it personal AND become a trusted resource and that’s even better.

12. Keep going..

That initial follow up should have included an open door for further communication with your prospects. They may not reply, however, so what are you going to do next? Leaving it a week or so and then getting in touch again, perhaps via a call or other method. That done.. what next? Be clear on your process (can you tell I’m a firm believe in a sales process?) and go through it. Most salespeople give up after one or two attempts at contact and this is the same after a conference. However, no rapport is build that quickly, so keep on, adjust your approach and be persistent (though not a pest).  Plan in at least 5-8 check-ins as a rough guide. 

Then you deserve a cuppa. For more No Fluff tips go and check our past blogs or book us for some ‘Max your conference returns’ training for your team. If you have any further tips I’d love to hear them! Let’s have a chat – book in and we’ll put the world to rights

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