Fáilte go Baile Átha Cliath! That’s ‘Welcome to Dublin’ for those of us who don’t speak Gaelic. And what a welcoming city it is – check out our round up video below.
The SalesSeek team recently returned from four days in Dublin for the world renowned Web Summit. November becomes the time of year when startups, tech thought-leaders, VCs and enthusiasts worldwide flock to Ireland for three days of talks, innovation and of course, Guinness.
If you want to exhibit at Web Summit it’s invite only. You can’t just buy a slot, you have to submit an application and be screened by a panel to ensure you meet the cut. SalesSeek was one of 18,000 businesses to apply this year. After several conversations with the WS team we finally got selected to exhibit as an Alpha startup!
So how do we do events at SalesSeek?
The key is in the prep. We arrange as many meetings as possible before the event. Web Summit is very advanced as an event as they have an app which allows you to connect with everyone who is attending and exhibiting. However this isn’t always enough and not every event provides that high level of connectivity.
We also arranged meeting with other exhibitors who are at the event using the public list shared online. Don’t try to speak to everyone. It’s impossible. Of the 2000 exhibitors going to Web Summit we selected 300. The next step is the long and hard one, getting their contact details. This is a manual process; tedious, but worth it. Of the 300 companies we wanted to have a meeting with we found about 250 email addresses. Check out our article on finding anyone’s email address for your own research.
Using SalesSeek’s email campaigns and automation tools we scripted an invitation to meet and sent a bulk, yet personalized email. The open rate and response rates were very good – before we knew it we had meetings arranged for everyday.
The next challenge was our stand.
As an Alpha exhibitor you get a limited amount of room and a lot of other neighbours, meaning we needed to be space efficient and stick out from the crowd.
We took with us:
3x MacBook Pros – starting at £999 from Apple
1x Apple Cinema Display – £899 from Apple
2x LED strip lights – £55 each from Thomann
1x SalesSeek branded floor mat – £100 from MatsNationwide
40x SalesSeek branded organic FairTrade cotton tees – £300 from I Dress Myself
The floor mat defines your area, meaning neighbours are less likely to invade your space. It’s also another billboard for your brand, where you can share your logo, USP or URL, giving you extra exposure.
The LED light strips have the ability to change colour to fit our branding perfectly. We go for a subtle purple/blue/pink colour but you can tailor this to suit your brand. Lighting your space gives you an instant advantage. People are attracted to your stand like moths to the flame because it’s unique. There’s a reason why companies spend so much on lighting at events and it’s because it sets the tone of your brand and exudes a high level of class.
Combine the above with a 27” Apple Cinema Display, a demo video on repeat and live demo just a click away and we were set for many valuable and fruitful conversations.
Web Summit, in addition to their day time summit, have what’s known as Night Summits. It’s a very social evening of drinks and networking in various parts of Dublin, allowing those who didn’t get the chance in the day, to still see the city at night. After day three you can really see that Night Summits had taken their toll on some attendees.
So what’s next?
Our post-event follow up tactic is just as valuable, if not more important than our pre-event prep. We take all our newly found contacts/leads and add them to SalesSeek. There we set the lead source and add any additional notes we may have made. Generally we try to jot a few things down for everyone we meet, that way we don’t forget in a few days, or minutes time.
We then send another bulk follow up email and move forward to getting leads into a trial. As a CRM we suggest that people use SalesSeek to manage their own Web Summit follow up, which has proven successful for many clients and for us.
As Web Summit moves to Lisbon next year the team will look back fondly on our crazy/inspiring/exhausting visit to a city of warm hearts and humour, and world class event shaping the tech event space. We’re looking forward to our next Web Summit and hope to see everyone we met in Dublin in Lisbon.
