How to Hack Conference Lead Generation

Conferences are a great place for networking and lead generation. But they don’t come cheap — you’ll have to invest anywhere from $500 — $1,500 to attend a single conference, and that’s excluding your travel cost. So you gotta make sure you get the most mileage out of your conference by going all out to generate leads.

Here’s a guide to maximizing your ROI at conferences:

1. Get the attendee list

Make friends with the organizer, and try to get your hands on the list of attendees, sponsors, exhibitors and speakers.

Some conferences have their own apps which has the list of all attendees. You can hire a VA (virtual assistant) to get those attendee details in a .csv file.

Next, find the attendees on social media as well -

Twitter: Use Followerwonk to get a list of people who are following the conference’s Twitter account and hashtag. Just enter the Twitter account name in Followerwonk, and it will fetch you a list of the followers of that account. You will get a list of their names, location, Twitter usernames and bio.

LinkedIn: Check out if there are any LinkedIn groups created for this specific event. If so, scrape their member list using Dux-soup — make sure you are subscribed to LinkedIn Sales Navigator, then open the LinkedIn Group and click on ‘Members’ — then use Dux-soup chrome plugin to ‘visit profiles’ of the members. You will get a list of member names, along with their companies, job titles, locations and LinkedIn profile URLs.

Facebook: Similarly, check out Facebook groups for the event — and use this Facebook Group Extractor to get list of group members’ Facebook URLs, names, and job titles.

Now you’ve got a solid list to work with!

2. Get the contact info of attendees

Here’s where the magic happens. Enrich your data using LeadCandy, and build out their complete profiles, with verified emails and phone numbers. Just upload your attendee list (from step #1) into the tool, and it’ll spit out a .csv list with all the information you could possibly want about your prospects. We’re talking work emails, personal emails, phone numbers, company details like company size, location and industry…all that good stuff.

Once you’ve got that list, go ahead and segment it. Segmented campaigns have a 100.95% higher click-through rate as compared to non-segmented ones, so be sure you get this right. Categorize your prospects based on their industry, title, location, what product would appeal to them, and so on. When you reach out to your prospects (which we’ll talk about in the next step!), you’ll tailor your pitch to each specific group.

3. Reach out to attendees

Wait till it’s a week before the conference, then start emailing and Tweeting at the attendees.

If it’s a Tweet, remember to keep things short and sweet. Something along the lines of “How’s it going? Looking forward to meeting you at ConferenceName next week!” will do nicely. If they respond positively, start chatting with them, and ask them if they want to meet for coffee before the event — share your Calendly link (have 15-minute slots for meeting at the conference) so they can easily pick up a convenient slot, rather than all that back-and-forth messages in finding a convenient time.

If you prefer reaching out via email, check out this simple, personalized template suggested by Nathan Barry:

Hi [first name],

My name is [your name], and I’m attending the conference next weekend. I run a small digital marketing firm, so I’m really looking forward to your talk on [subject]. I read your recent blog series on X, and it really sparked a few ideas for my own business.

Anyways, I’m sure you’re busy getting ready, so I won’t take any more of your time. Perhaps I could buy you a quick cup of coffee after your session. I’d love to get your opinion on something.

Cheers,

[your name]

Keep it light and friendly — and make plans for something light like coffee (as opposed to something more high-commitment, such as lunch or dinner). The easier and more casual this meetup seems, the higher are chances of your prospect agreeing.

Now, what happens if the conference attendee is not your target customer? In that case, do a little stalking and find out who would be your target customer within this person’s organization. Then dig up their email, and shoot across a quick email to let them know you’re in town, and you would love to meet up with them.

Assuming you’re traveling to another city for this conference, you really want to make the most of your time there. So pack your calendar with meetings (regardless of whether they’re with conference attendees, or prospects who aren’t attending the conference), and keep each meeting to 15 minutes max. You’re not there to sell them on the spot — you simply want to introduce yourself, build rapport, and develop a relationship so you can close them further down the road.

4. Maximize your visibility

You know that saying, out of sight, out of mind? Your goal is to get your name in front of your prospects as many times as possible — this way, they’ll remember you, and be more open to having a conversation.

There are several ways you can do this, including:

• Auto-view their Linkedin profiles using Dux-Soup
• Auto-follow them on Twitter using Jooicer or SocialBee
• Join the LinkedIn or Facebook groups for the event
• Run a targeted Facebook campaign using Custom Audiences (you already got their emails in step #2 above)
• Hire a VA (virtual assistant) to help you with outreach — make a quick step-by-step video (use Loom) of what the VA needs to do.

5. Say Hi at the event

On the day of the event, make a point of introducing yourself to the attendees you want to meet (even if they didn’t respond to your Tweets or emails previously!) Again, don’t start selling on the spot. Just have a nice chat with them, ask insightful questions about their company, and mayyyybe invite them to coffee after the event if they’re vibing well with you.

Also, go to the happy hours, on-site visits, dinners, and coffee sessions that are on the schedule. You’ve spent a fair bit of money on the conference ticket, plus travel… so to get your money’s worth, spend every waking moment socializing and connecting with people.

6. Post event follow-up

After the event, send a quick note saying that it was great to meet up, and let your prospect know that you will follow up later. If you’ve got the time, check out blog articles published about the event, and leave thoughtful comments on these articles as well.

At this point, keep it low-key. Don’t overwhelm your prospects with a flood of emails and don’t try to have a conversation immediately — they’ll probably be busy catching up with work (plus, other sales reps will be vying for their attention as well!)

After 7–10 days is when you should strike. Send a more detailed email, and draw your prospect’s attention to your company’s product or service. It’s time to go in for the kill!

BONUS: Organize a meetup at the conference

If your conference doesn’t offer much in the way of networking dinners and pre or post-conference events, then go ahead and organize a meetup yourself at a nearby local pub! Reach out to few key speakers and rope them in — once you get one or two of them to confirm their attendance, you can then entice the rest of the attendees to drop by as well.

Now get out there, and go kill it at your next conference!

PS: Need help building the conference attendee list? Contact our Email Concierge.

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