CHICAGO – Hosted buyer programs and personalized pairings at trade shows and events are more important than ever as attendees, exhibitors and sponsors expect high return on investment from participating in events and are accustomed to curating and A culture where efficiency is the standard. It’s all about serving your community.
trade show director Speak with HLTH, Inc. Investor and Network Executive Nancy Mastroianni to learn how her team elevated HLTH’s Managed Buyer Program to the next level by understanding the keys to success: technology integration, enthusiasm, pragmatic staffing, and clear thinking new level. Strategy.
Key Components of a Successful Hosted Buyer Program
When considering implementing a hosted buyer program at an event, organizers need to gain a deep understanding of attendees’ needs and expectations from both a sponsor’s and a buyer’s perspective.
As an organizer, Mastroianni says, you want to approach guest invitations from the perspective of bringing meaningful value to both groups and solving the problem in a way that makes both groups feel they gained something from the experience. Buyer Program.
“The important thing is that you need to have clear rules of engagement from the start – what your plans are, how many sponsors and buyers will be attending – it’s a bit of a math game to ensure all sponsor meetings satisfy all buyers demands of the meeting,” Mastroianni said.
To involve all key stakeholders, organizers should create an environment that provides detailed pre-event, on-site and post-event planning, Mastroianni said. This means checking people in, making sure seats are filled, chasing down no-shows, and collecting NPS scores.
“It’s not transactional; it’s transactional. We’re dealing with this complex dating relationship. We might have people who want to date each other, but they’ve never met or don’t even know each other,” Mastroianni said. “Imagine a cool innovative company with a solution to an amazing problem. New technology. I’ve seen this happen multiple times at HLTH, they are by far the company that requests the most meetings. We want to make sure that as the program evolves we look at the data because that tells us part of the story and what’s going to happen. You never know what the trends will be in the future, and it allows you to know what the trends are as solution providers (sponsors) shift and evolve. “
Hidden Hosting Buyer Traps: What You Need to Know Before Proceeding
“Mistake No. 1: Don’t try to do this manually on an Excel spreadsheet. There is affordable technology out there, and a variety of options, so you can automate it for very little money. Your team will be on the match be more strategic rather than managing complex spreadsheets and embrace technology,” Mastroianni said.
The second common mistake identified by Mastroianni is not having realistic expectations for the workforce and employees involved in executing a successful project. Implementing an effective plan requires people and resources.
You should consider who is recruiting buyers. Mastroianni says you need to know who your target audience is for the program, what your recruiting strategy will look like, and how you’ll connect with those buyers, whether it’s email, phone calls, LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, etc.
“One last thing, this is going to sound like a stupid thing to do, but if you can get your systems to talk to each other so you don’t have to manually move Excel files from system A to system B, it’s going to be a much better customer experience ,” Mastroianni said.
Beyond the Numbers: Meaningful Ways to Measure Success
When you first start a matchmaking program, success depends on more than just how much money they make. These programs may require a short-term investment, but the long-term impact of offering participants something unique and the brand loyalty that comes with it may be worth the front-end investment.
“When you launch a project with that mindset from the beginning, we invest in it as a truly unique experience, something that stands out and drives incremental revenue. How do you get a very lasting first time Experience? What’s the long game on the model compared to the short game? If you see the potential for a community to really thrive and invest in it, you get these exciting projects at HLTH,” Mastroianni said .
When measuring the success of the hosted buyer program, Mastroianni said the team considers the total number of meetings, total confirmed buyers and total participating sponsors. They also look at NPS scores for sponsors and buyers, and conduct specialized surveys of program participants.
“(It’s also) unscientific feedback, like direct conversations from people who come up to us; the unscientific level of appreciation that people show you in person (is important). A lot of that is face-to-face, and at HLTH we have More than 200 tables, 15-minute sessions, over 4,000 sessions and slots throughout the day. You see a big group of people, they find a rhythm, and then they benefit,” Mastroianni said. “The bottom line is – making sure they get the results they want.”
Mastroianni explained that HLTH has four divisions, each with key buyer candidates looking to solve their problems.
“Our vendors sell into these segments and have specific solutions. You have targeted vendors who are hitting certain segments, and sometimes vendors can only sell to one segment, and sometimes, They sell to all segments. Everyone is different, but we are working hard to make sure we have the right suppliers and buyers so that we can bring the right people together using matching technology.”
Learn more about HLTH’s Investor Connectivity Program
One way HLTH is looking to disrupt the healthcare events landscape is by supporting startups at the show and becoming a venue for investments and deals that will shape the future.
“The investor entrepreneurship space is a very important space,” Mastroianni said. “In the past we used to say (startups) pay the same price as everyone else, as opposed to startups. At HLTH, we offer them a very affordable price point where they can participate or invest in an affordable turnkey information booth.”
Mastroianni said the primary goal of most startups coming to the show is to find investors, and investors come to the show looking for innovative products and solutions to invest in.
“There are two groups of people with different goals, so we created this experiential lounge. I wanted to differentiate (between Investor Connect and other managed buyer/matching programs) because investors have specific goals and may only be looking for Specific things and have specific goals for who they want to meet. We run investor-driven matching programs and we want to nurture this ecosystem because we see the value that investors and startups bring and we want to help. They come together because that’s the next generation of companies.”
The difference between the Investor Connect program and the HLTH Market Connect program is that with Market Connect, both parties choose to meet each other, and both parties have equal control and “shared benefits.”
The Power of Curated Programming: Make Your Program Stand Out
One benefit of a well-run hosted buyer program is that it can reach a higher-level audience—think C-suite and other executives whose busy schedules are more conducive to pre-planned one-on-one meeting arrangements. It’s not a full walking show.
“We want to make sure we bring that value to our sponsors and buyers,” Mastroianni said. “If we have a chief innovation officer in a health care system and they have a specific problem they want to solve, we need to create a way for them to find those vendors super efficiently. That’s where the hosted buyer program is so valuable place because they gave me some time in exchange for something in return.
“If you want to create something that stands out in the experience, that’s where the hosted buyer program really stands out, delivering measurable, meaningful return value to sponsors.”
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