How to Win Conferences

Conference season is here and a lot of you are about to get sent across the country to book meetings.

Most reps come home with a stack of business cards and a hangover. Here's how you actually come home with pipeline.

10 rules that'll make your manager happy and your quota easier.

1. Talk to everyone. In line for coffee. Walking to a session. Someone sitting there on their phone looking bored. Go talk to them. The hallway will close more deals for you than any keynote room ever will. The in between’s are where the money is made.

2. Attack at breakfast. Hate to tell you but not that many meetings are booked at 11pm. Execs are always at breakfast drinking coffee checking emails many times alone. You should be the first there. Especially the first night don’t stay out late.

3. Grab speakers right after they get off stage. The crowd clears in like 5 minutes. You have a natural opener from something they just said. Use it. They are in an elevated mood and you can continue the conversation. Find a transition if you want to pitch them.

4. Ask about them first. What do they do. What brought them. What are they trying to solve. Actually listen. Be a normal human. You don’t have to be a robot. Authenticity sells.

5. Book the meeting before you walk away. Right there. Phone out, calendar open. Post-conference follow up is a lie we all tell ourselves. Monday comes and you're email 47 in their inbox. Its very hard to book meetings the week after. They probably wont remember you.

6. Know who's going before you get there. Build your list. Reach out ahead of time. Ideally you have 4-5 meetings setup or at least when you see them walk by you can say “Hey your so and so right”

7. Have your pitch ready to go. You're gonna say it 50 times in two days. It needs to be tight. Its worth syncing with your manager and nailing this.

8. Get away from the booth. If no one is at your both you are allowed to leave the booth and go hunt. Outbound in person. Now if the booth is full obviously bring the shotgun!

9. Eat food and drink water. Sounds dumb until you're tanking mid-conversation with a VP at 3pm on day two. Keep your energy up. It matters more than you think.

10. Disqualify when needed. Sometimes you are talking to someone who is a time waster. Master the art of exiting the conversation. You aren’t there to waste time. Protect yours.

BONUS - Wear comfy shoes. Smell good / wear plenty of deodorant. (Yes I say this for a reason) Bring extras of everything.

Go kill it and good luck!