How to Create Quality Leads with Events: Planning & Recruitment

This is Part 1 of a two-part series. 

“Where do I look for quality leads?”

That’s a question that managed service providers (MSPs) constantly ask themselves. New sales opportunities lead to new customers, increased revenue and growth. It starts with finding quality leads. However, MSPs tell us every year that this is one of the most challenging aspects of their business. That’s why it’s important to know where to look.

Hosting events allows MSPs to control their message and deliver it to a captivated audience. Developing relationships can result in new leads. Of course, MSPs are IT experts, not event planners. Putting on an effective lead development event can be a difficult process, so we’re here to help. Below are tips for planning and recruiting for an awesome event.

Planning the Event

Using events to create solid leads starts with asking fundamental questions, including:

What’s the goal? Quantify what you want to get out of this event. If it’s 50 leads, how many people must show up for you to hit that number? How many people must register to hit your attendance goal? How many people must be invited to hit your registration goal?

What’s the message? What do you want to say to your captive audience, and who should deliver that message for it to resonate with them? This is your opportunity to develop authoritative voices within your organization or partner with an objective third-party speaker.

What’s the environment? Where and how the event is hosted may be what attendees remember most about it. It’s a reflection of the event, but also your brand, so think about what you want your audience to take away. This includes location, venue type, and, more recently, whether it’s live or virtual.

Recruiting for the Event

Now that you have a vision, how will you get others to follow it? Start by asking, “So what?” You know you have an important message and will host a great event to get that message out, but why should anyone else care? You need a solid value proposition that you can convey to your intended audience. Let them know why spending this time with you will be worth their while. Once you’ve established that, there are a few ways to get that message out, including:

Email is typically the top channel for event recruitment, but don’t discount the others. Any time you can get yourself in front of your intended audience, take advantage of that. But make sure you’re always answering “So what?” and that you’re doing so early.

It helps to have a strong understanding of the audience’s current situation, as well as how the message shared at your event will affect their situation. Think about the audience’s pain points and how you will solve them.

For more help with recruiting, find ways to incentivize both recruiters and the audience. Event recruitment is everyone’s responsibility. It’s not just on the sales and marketing staff–everyone in your company should be talking about your next event, including the support staff and engineers. Why not make it a competition in the company?

The final words on every phone call should be, “Did you hear about our event coming up? I’ll shoot you a quick email with the registration info.” Think about rewarding the employee who gets the most registrations. Make it fun! Remember, everyone from the company benefits when you have a great event.

It also doesn’t hurt to incentivize the audience. Offer them a gift card for attending or, better yet, some discount related to your services to help close the sale. Think about what you can budget, and then go back to your initial goals to identify what it would cost to secure a lead. Lead development can cost money, but with proper event execution you can see a strong return on investment.

Coming up in Part Two: Event preparation, execution and follow-up.

Join Datto for a Webinar introducing a comprehensive new event solution made specifically for MSPs. It takes place on Jan. 19, 2022, at 2 p.m. For more information, contact Eric Torres, Director of Channel Development for Datto, at [email protected].  

Eric Torres is the Director of Channel Development, Datto.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.