Ep. 15 Neil Barrow - Maximize event ROI

OUTBOUND

In this podcast episode, host Joseph Lewin talks with Neil Barrow, founder of RevOps Advisors, about effective conference planning and follow-up strategies for business development in professional services.

Neil shares practical tips about attending business conferences, including doing advance research, carefully planning your calendar, and coordinating meetings with speakers, sponsors, and key stakeholders beforehand. They also discuss best practices for accountability when working with partners and "doer sellers," emphasizing the importance of setting clear expectations and getting alignment.

Key Takeaways:

- Start planning for conferences 6+ weeks in advance by researching the agenda and speakers to identify meeting targets [00:00:53]

- Build your calendar for the event by blocking off prospective client meetings, panels to attend, networking times, etc. [00:01:54]

- Reach out to speakers, sponsors, and other stakeholders to coordinate meetings and introduce yourself beforehand [00:02:15]

- Prioritize follow-up based on who you connected with at the event and who you had hoped to connect with [00:08:00]

- For last-minute event planning: Focus on identifying key sponsors, speakers, and organizers to connect with [00:17:57]

- Tracking originations from events can demonstrate ROI and help optimize your event budget over time [00:20:36]

Guest Bios:

Neil Barrow is the founder of RevOps Advisors, where he helps professional and financial services firms build their business development operations. He previously served as Director of Business Development at several firms over 10 years.

About RevOps Advisors: Management consulting firm that helps professional service providers systemize and scale new business development. Services include assessments, planning, program design, technology implementation, and training. Website: https://www.revopsadvisors.com/

Key Quotes:

"When I was director of business development, I had a plan that I would implement. And when I would go to any conference...about 6 weeks before the event, what I would do is take a look at the agenda, and then I would block times when there were prospective clients that were speaking that I wanted to go hear. There were clients that were speaking that I'd wanna go hear. There were interesting panels, or speaking topics, learning, opportunities for me. And I would build out my calendar, for those and go ahead and block that time." [00:00:53]

"A lot of times as business development at a firm, I'm going down with practitioners, I'm going down with partners or managers, right? And making sure that we have this plan and we've divided and conquered on a lot of this outreach." [00:05:17]

"When we're at the conference, we've got time to fill...I want to make sure that we're very active while we're there. And we can do all the planning and then all the activity while we're down there because that is work. Like, we're there to work. Right? And that's our job is to make sure that we're meeting people and meeting the right people." [00:07:10]