This article was first published August 19, 2020 on Forbes.com as a Tech Council post.
It was once a set of email templates, call scripts, and piles of printed sales slicks. But sales enablement, as we know it, is changing. The new definition of sales enablement: giving sales teams the tools to create branded, measurable experiences for their prospects and customers.
In other words, event marketing is the new sales enabler — more specifically, virtual events.
As business leaders, marketing teams, and sales reps navigate a world without in-person events, they’ve felt a gap in pipeline and new revenue streams. Face-to-face meetings meant to build relationships and move prospects through the funnel was a strategy that came naturally to many marketing and sales teams. Now, this must be done from behind digital screens.
But there’s a reason why marketers and sales teams alike are sprinting toward virtual events: They work. In a time when marketing and sales teams don’t know when their next lead will come, virtual events help to fill the sales pipeline and generate revenue. But to be truly effective and profitable, marketers must enable sales with self-serve tools that make virtual event programs easy.
Here are the four steps marketers can take to scale these virtual event programs and empower sales to host their own events.
When it comes to virtual events and goal-setting, understanding the importance of goals such as lead generation targets and sales quotas isn’t enough. Marketers must also identify the right kind of virtual events to meet those goals and ensure their sales teams are aligned.
For example, there is a huge difference between running an event that’s meant to draw in new prospects and one meant to bring existing prospects closer to customer status. Marketing must work with sales to offer clear direction on virtual event program goals and what that means for things like attendee lists, promotions, content and follow-up strategies.
It’s hard to stand out in a virtual event space that’s becoming increasingly crowded. And when sales teams aren’t empowered with branded event templates, they may go rogue.
Off-brand email invitations and event pages may seem harmless, but they risk brand reputation and event ROI. If that’s not enough, marketers may lose sales' trust if their virtual events don't get the registrations they expect.
Having been in the industry for more than 15 years, I’ve seen my fair share of events that didn’t quite hit the branding and design mark. Yes, sales teams want something slick and professional to send. But more often, their desire for instant gratification — the event registrations pouring in as soon as they send a Wild West-themed email invitation — wins. It’s up to marketing to enable sales with tools that meet both needs: branded assets and immediacy.
Today, marketing and revenue leaders want the secret to improving ROI for their virtual sales events. What I've learned in recent conversations with those already seeing strong results is that they partner closely with sales and show them the data. So, give sales reps visibility into new leads as they come in, and make it unbelievably easy for them to follow up.
All marketing leaders know the importance of event data. But the real secret is making sales teams care about event data. After all, the people coming in are ultimately their leads (and their money).
One of the best ways to get sellers passionate about event data is by enabling them to easily drive action and generate revenue. It’s up to marketing to make all of this easy for sales because sales doesn’t often have the right tools at their fingertips.
Another option worth noting is integrating event marketing platforms with systems like Salesforce, Marketo and Slack to give sales real-time visibility into who’s attending, which reps produce the most registrations and the follow-up messages needed post-event.
If this year has taught us anything, it’s that things can change fast. When organizations need to pivot their event strategy or get sales involved, keeping event designs on-brand, data accurate and visible, and communications consistent will be the difference between ineffective and extraordinarily successful events.
But enabling sales teams to create slick, professional events that are also on-brand and measurable through data is usually a heavy ask. Instead, marketing teams either spend countless hours every quarter building event programs or turn a blind eye to the fact that sales teams forge their own paths. Both instances are far from ideal. The right tool — one that can scale — can solve this.
Scale is the real secret to ensuring virtual events work as a sales enablement tool. This means giving sales one or more pre-approved, branded virtual event templates that are easily edited for new event titles, descriptions, speakers, and more. It means having built-in integrations with solutions like Salesforce, Marketo, and Slack so sales doesn’t have to worry about getting up-to-date registrant lists, adding registrants manually, or delaying follow-up emails. For sales teams, scale means getting plug-and-play functionality that’s proven to work.
Virtual events are the latest (and incredibly powerful) sales enablement tool — but they’re far from being a fad. Like in-person events, virtual events are here to stay because they are effective.
But they need to be done right. Prospects are looking to engage with humans, not companies. Enabling sales teams with the tools and opportunities to create virtual events will result in revenue generation and accelerated pipelines, no matter what else is happening in the world.
And aside from the obvious benefits of profits and meeting quotas, marketing teams gain a very important gift as well: time savings. By enabling sales to build their own virtual events, marketing teams are no longer needed for every event detail, freeing them up to focus on strategic priorities, like delivering the right kinds of events and moving prospects swiftly through the funnel.
