The Meetup Trick To Get More Leads

How I Found Out About It:

I discovered this trick completely by chance.
I found an interesting marketing meetup a few months ago and I was really excited to attend it. A lot of successful people were going (according to the group) and this was the perfect chance to network and potentially land some sales.
Unfortunately, a few hours before the event, a client called and needed to urgently meet me.
Meetups rarely happen here where I’m currently at, so this event was once in a lifetime opportunity, but duty calls. I was consulting this client about his sales presentations and he got a last-minute panic attack (he wasn’t sure that the presentation I made for him was going to work at all) that I needed to deal with.
Anyways, got back in my home office and I figured since I didn’t attend, I might as well message some of the attendees and find out how it was. Courtesy outreach.
So I messaged the first 10 on the list with something along the lines of:

The Message:

Hey John,
Hope the meetup was a blast! 
I was very excited to meet up with you and get your opinion on the subject of {something related to the meetup discussion and related to what I was doing so that I can stirrup a conversation} but unfortunately got a last-minute business trip.
Anyways, if you have the time, I’d appreciate the feedback. 
Thanks
bb
The result?
I wasn’t hoping to get any sales from this outreach. But what happened was something completely different.
I got two responses back giving me feedback to my question and one of the attendees actually gave me some work afterward (helping him redo his presentations for his startup).
Why did this work?

  • The message was not salesy rather was just asking a question
  • I appeared sincere and really interested in their opinion and meeting them but unfortunately couldn’t be there to get it

Then, an idea came to mind.
Seeing how in the link building world marketeers blast out email campaigns with generic templates (and respectably, some of them do send out very customized emails – kudos to them) and hope to get a link back, why not use meetups to generate potential clients in a similar fashion?

The Idea

  • Set up a great Meetup profile – think Linkedin profile requirements.
  • Research and come up with a list of 50 + upcoming meetups that:
    • Match the niche you’re focused in
    • Have a decent number of people attending (aim for more than 100 – I’ll tell you why later)
    • Its attendees are decision-makers (Directors, CXO’s, VP’s)
  • Click attend on all meetings
  • Wait for the meetings to pass (have a beer in the meantime)
  • Wait one/two days and start messaging the attendees
    • Have at least 10 different templates for messaging
      • Change the wording on all of these 10 messages whenever you message someone new

Now here’s the tricky part:
You could use the same approach I did and just say that you couldn’t attend and try to get their opinion on something. Then move forward and get them on a call if interested.
But you could also use the following approach:
Instead of saying how you weren’t able to attend the meetup, you’d say that you were actually there. You would then go into how the discussions were great and get into some general topics about the meetup and its purpose, but you just couldn’t find the time to talk with that particular person and say how you’d love to get their opinion.
Or even the following approach:
Instead of just saying that you were there add something along the lines of: Great meeting you during the meetup x although for a really brief moment.
The bigger the meetup the bigger the chance that the person would not remember you and therefore the cloudier his memory of remembering any face or person there which is perfect for you.

But the two last approaches could be unethical right?

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Whatever approach you use, it seems Meetups work and I strongly recommend going to an actual one and talking to the attendees unless you find yourself in a position where you just can’t be there physically.

Few important things to note:

  • Do good research on the people you’re writing to because you want to be working with people that are in your niche not EVERYONE.
  • Don’t sell stuff. Be genuinely interested in their opinion and ask relevant questions that will be of interest to them and you.
  • Don’t overdo with messaging – like any other platform, Meetups has spam filters that will eventually get you and ban you from ever logging in again if you reach out to too many people with the same generic message.

Share your thoughts in the comments.
Cheers,
bb
P.S. Oh, and here’s the newest trailer for Tommy Wiseaus movie “Big Shark”.
Oh hi, shark.
P.P.S. excusez-moi on the typos, I was writing this while watching The Room.

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