Frictionless, personalized, and differentiated.
👆These were the goals that RollWorks, an account-based platform company, had in mind when they decided to establish their presence at Hubspot’s 2022 INBOUND event.
From their own experience as event attendees, RollWorks’ marketing and sales teams knew that the secret to standing out as event sponsors went beyond the appearance of their booth. They understood that the key to success was how their SDRs, AEs, and marketing leaders interacted with other attendees.
Too often, they thought, attendees spoke with vendors and never heard from them again. Or, when reps did follow up about a potential meeting, it became too difficult to find a time that would work.
RollWorks’ marketing and sales teams knew they had to create an experience where attendees could book a meeting in real time, when their brand was top of mind.
Having been active Drift users for four years, the RollWorks team had a feeling that Drift’s Conversation Cloud, which is designed to help go-to-market teams engage with buyers at the right time, at the right place, and with the right conversation, could help.
1. Create a Frictionless Experience: The Set-Up ✅
RollWorks promoted their presence at INBOUND via social media and email campaigns to encourage prospects to pre-book time with them in their ABM lounge. They set up a registration page equipped with Drift so that when the prospect signed up, the bot could ask a few qualifying questions to ensure that the prospect would be talking with the most relevant rep for their business and using their time effectively while in the lounge.
For those who didn’t sign up in advance, but happened upon the ABM lounge while walking the conference floor, RollWorks had a plan for them, too. They decked out their lounge with company swag as well as, perhaps the most sought-after item at any event, chairs, to make the lounge an attractive place for people to stop by in between sessions or even during cocktail hour.
As event attendees mingled in the lounge, they could talk with RollWorks sales reps. If they thought RollWorks had the potential to be a valuable solution for their company, they could then head over to the live demo station with solutions consultants Eric Nguyen and Victoria Amado. Rather than the standard 30-45 minute demo they’d usually run during a call, Eric and Victoria ran short, teaser versions of the demos — just enough to whet their appetite, as Eric would say.
When Eric and Victoria finished their presentation and if the proverbial appetite was whetted, attendees could go through a brief Drift bot flow on an iPad and book a follow-up meeting. More often than not, they did. Eric and Victoria exceeded their meetings goals by the second day of the three-day event. And by the end of the three days? They were booking meetings for two months out simply because they were so booked up.
But RollWorks didn’t stop there.
RollWorks was determined to take the RollWorks experience outside of the lounge, too. So, they equipped all of the SDRs and AEs attending INBOUND with the Drift mobile app.
With the Drift mobile app, reps could book meetings wherever there were interested attendees — be it in the lunch line, at meetups, or at booths. If the attendee expressed interest in learning more about RollWorks, the rep could quickly pull out their phone so the attendee could go through the same bot flow as was on the lounge iPad — asking them questions about them and their company, like company size and revenue. The attendee could then select a date and time for a meeting, and they were booked.
While typically, reps would drop their own link when booking a meeting in chat, RollWorks worked with the Drift support team to “hack” the app so that every rep was using the same calendar link. This allowed them to route all of the meetings to one place in order to ensure proper routing (since some of the AEs that would be on the meetings were not at INBOUND) and attribution for the marketing and sales teams. Within the calendar, they dedicated the first two weeks after INBOUND to only be for meetings generated from the event. This ensured that all follow-up conversations happened while the proverbial iron was still hot.
2. Personalization Is Paramount: The Implementation ✅
While the Drift mobile app gave RollWorks the ability to deliver a frictionless experience, how the team put the plan into place would be what really differentiated them from all of the other vendors at the event.
For senior SDR and first-time INBOUND attendee, Xavier Lane, differentiation meant outbounding to other vendors instead of waiting for people to come to him. “Of the 40 meetings I booked, 50% were in the lounge and 50% were on the conference floor.”
Xavier is a firm believer that conversations equal conversions. It’s not form fills or pitch slapping that moves people down the funnel — it’s really getting to know the person and helping them decide if RollWorks is the right fit for them. That’s why Xavier made sure to take advantage of the many at-bats he knew he’d have at an event as large as INBOUND. “At events like INBOUND, we all know why we’re there. It’s a huge networking opportunity, but no one likes a door-to-door salesman. I booked a lot of meetings at other vendor booths by just talking with people.”
Xavier started conversations wherever he could. One day, in an effort to rest his feet during lunch, Xavier sat down at a table with a group of strangers. Naturally, the topic of employment came up, and after chatting a bit about RollWorks and its solutions, Xavier had another meeting booked.
Having Drift on his phone made the transition from conversation to conversion even simpler.
“Drift made booking meetings accessible for everyone. If I hadn’t had the app on my phone, I would have had to ask people to stop by the booth later, or I would have had to carry my laptop around all day. Neither are a very good experience.”
The need to “cut through the noise” is rarely more present than when you’re attempting to stand out in a sea of 70,000 marketers and sellers who are all trying to do the same thing as you. But, with Drift, Xavier felt he had the upper hand. “I specifically remember talking to a prospect, and when he said he wanted to book a meeting and I pulled out my phone to do so, he said, ‘Oh, that’s cool! I didn’t know it would be so easy.'”
3. A Different Kind of Buying: The Follow-Up ✅
So far, we’ve seen how RollWorks was able to create a frictionless and differentiated experience — but how did they check that final personalization box? It all came down to messaging.
When someone booked a meeting with a rep at INBOUND, the rep would jot down notes in the calendar invite to recap the conversation that had just taken place. These notes served as reminders for both the rep and the prospect on what had already been discussed as well as what they planned to discuss at the future meeting. This way, when the meetings did take place, both the prospect and seller had all of the information they needed for a productive conversation.
Next came the follow-up. No one likes being ghosted, and Xavier found that event follow-up is critical to making sure you’re not left hanging after all of the hard work you put into the event. The week after INBOUND, both SDRs and AEs sent follow-up emails thanking people for visiting the lounge, reminding them of any upcoming meetings, and sometimes even sending along a coffee gift card to help prospects recover from three days of networking.
Lastly, for those who visited the ABM Lounge at INBOUND but didn’t quite get to the point of booking a meeting, RollWorks’ VP of Sales, Danilo Nikolich, sent a personalized email to remind them about their visit to the booth and offer another chance to connect.
The Outcome
As an account-based marketing company, RollWorks takes pride in its ability to help its customers focus on the right accounts at the right time.
It’s safe to say that RollWorks practiced what it preached at INBOUND 2022. By creating a frictionless, differentiated, and personalized experience, the RollWorks team was able to align on their most interested accounts based on who booked a meeting at the event. From there, they delivered personalized follow-up that helped convert more pipeline, faster.
If you’re attending INBOUND 2023, keep an eye out for the RollWorks reps — we guarantee, they’ll be out there netting more meetings once again.
