How To Use Tradeshows To Attract Clients

Mike StodolaMSP Marketing

“We tell our customers to try something different to grow their businesses, so I knew we had to do the same,” explained Dana Liedholm, Chief Marketing Officer for ID Agent.

And they didn’t just try to do one thing different, they did everything different… and the result was 87 new partners in just three days, PLUS re-engaging a lot of past partners.

Here’s what they did.

Recently at the IT Sales And Marketing Boot Camp, ID Agent set up shop with a big goal in mind and more importantly the plan to achieve it.

“We created incentives to get current and new partners bringing their friends over to our booth and rewarding both of them for doing so.”

The short of it was this. There were a number of ways during the three days that you could earn points. For some this was throwing a puck through a hole (pictured), for others it was wearing an ID Agent t-shirt at the event, going to a presentation, and for many it was getting someone to visit the ID Agent booth and sign up to be a partner.

But what did points translate into and why did everyone work together to get them?

Well each point meant that as a partner you got an extra domain added to the subscription package… this was a $1,200 annual value for the MSP. But here’s the kicker, you didn’t just get points for what you did, EVERYONE at the conference got to pool their points so partners walked out with a staggering potential of over $100,000 in extra value!

Dana and her team updated a chalk board in real time with the cumulative point total, so it kept people coming back again and again to see how many domains would be added to their account free of charge.

The feedback from the new partners was phenomenal. One of the cool things that ID Agent does is to help jump-start their new MSPs with sales training and marketing support, so they can quickly start taking advantage of the powerful prospecting tool. “When our partners grow we grow, so we provide hands-on coaching and done-for-you marketing services, so they can get more prospects and turn them into customers.”

It all goes back to trying something different.

Well how are they doing with on-boarding 87 new partners?

“A lot of people worked a lot of hours, a lot of days in a row. But we were happy to do it!”

While ID Agent has always provided a lot of support to their partners, it’s their outside-the-box thinking at live events like Boot Camp that turns their partners into a sales army working together to get as many of the 1,000+ attendees over to the ID Agent booth as possible. For more info on ID Agent and their partner program click here.