In a fast-paced, technologically connected world, connecting with others face-to-face might still be worth more than a full week of productive Zoom calls. For those embarking on the customer discovery journey, while virtual work undoubtedly saves you time and maximizes your schedule, meeting your future customer base may provide you with a deeper understanding and more significant relationships. Travelling to industry events like trade shows, meetings, or conferences allows you an advantage over cold-calls and an outbox full of emails to people you don’t know.
Footing the Bill
First thing is first – who is paying for all these travel expenses? An I-Corps entrepreneurial lead may be eligible for financial support from their institution. Reach out to I-Corps staff to find out how you can tap into participant support. All institutions have their own unique processes to access funding. If you can get your travel expenses paid for, you should! Be sure to ask about, and follow, institutional policies.
Choosing the Right Destination
Now for the hard part – narrowing down where to go. Picking the event you will attend is half the effort. Explore your networks. What customers are you targeting? What events have they attended in the past? What associations and networks are they a part of? Follow rabbit trails and make notes. Once you have a few possibilities, explore the event itself. Look at the agendas from upcoming and past events. Who is the audience? How is this connected with your potential market? What other opportunities does the event offer? Having time and space to connect with other event attendees is important, so you can maximize your facetime.
Active Listening = Active Learning
Don’t lose sign of your objective: To learn about the needs of your potential market. To fully immerse yourself in the customer discovery process, go with the intent to listen more than you speak and keep an open mind. Keeping this mindset brings a bonus to your experience – people usually like sharing their opinions, so they will probably enjoy talking with you. You will be able to learn from others and establish relationships that point you toward a greater network you may have previously left untapped. Don’t be afraid to ask for an individual to help connect you with someone else. Who else should you be talking to?
Follow-Up as a Part of Networking
After the event winds down, follow up with the people you meet. Connecting with individuals on LinkedIn can continue to help expand your network. Sending a quick email of thanks goes a long way after a formal meeting and helps solidify working relationships. If you are unable to connect formally with someone for an interview at the event, reach out to request a meeting virtually or over the phone. Remind them of who you are, how you met, and your purpose for the meeting request. Customer discovery is an ongoing process and following up in a timely manner will continue to build your momentum.
You have probably heard that with customer discovery “you get out of it, what you put into it.” Attending industry events like trade shows and conferences is no different. Finding the right events and connecting with the right people yields a high rate of return when you commit to the process. Plus, the excitement that is unique to face-to-face connections at industry events can power your customer discovery process and reenergize you on the path to commercialization.
