Our first Marcus Evans Summit has resulted in over $1.2m in new business

“We had been approached by Marcus Evans over the years and were slightly skeptical, but we were pleasantly surprised with the Summit. In our first year, the Summit has already brought in a client worth over USD 400,000 a year, and we have more opportunities in the pipeline,” said John Doheny, SVP Enterprise Sales, WageWorks, a solution provider at the Marcus Evans Employee Benefits & Compensation Summit.

What business opportunities has the Summit brought to your organization?

We had 10 one-on-one meetings with potential clients, and they were very productive. Our meetings resulted in three opportunities that were not in our pipeline or radar previously, and we have already closed one client for USD 400,000 a year. The other two opportunities are ongoing and could be similar or larger in terms of deal size. These are all a direct result of the Summit.

Had you heard or reached out to these organizations before the Summit?

The client that recently selected WageWorks was a merger of two large hospital systems. While we were aware of the individual hospitals and had been pursuing them, we were not aware of the merger. Another opportunity that came out of the Summit is similar in nature. We had reached out to the third organization a number of times previously but not been successful reaching the right individuals.

How would you compare the Summit format with that of other industry events?

The Marcus Evans Summit is unique. Vendors are guaranteed 10 to 15 face-to-face meetings of 30 minutes each. These are 10 highly qualified companies and executive interactions. Other events lack such one-on-one meetings. You might have a short conversation at a trade show event, but those interactions tend to be fleeting engagements.

Prior to the Summit, we received the list of individuals attending the event. WageWorks had the opportunity to choose which individual/company we sought to meet with. The individual has the option of accepting or rejecting any invitation. This approach resulted in high quality meetings with senior contacts who were interested in talking to WageWorks. As vendors, we were also allowed to attend the Summit presentations which were informative. The structure of the Summit also allowed us to interact with attendees at the break-out sessions.

Prior to the event, WageWorks was encouraged to provide a list of companies and contacts to Marcus Evans. The Marcus Evans team proactively reached out to these organizations to educate them on the value of the Summit and encourage them to attend. It was a productive partnership in that respect.

In this industry, is it easy to access decision-makers on your own?

It is very challenging given that the individuals WageWorks seeks to meet with are senior HR professionals who have limited time to engage with vendors.

As an example, WageWorks has an inside lead generation team whose sole responsibility is to generate meetings for our sales team. On average, 8 to 12 reach outs via emails, phone or other means are required over a period of months to reach a senior level contact who will agree to a discussion. WageWorks is not unique in that regard; 8 to 12 reach outs are an industry wide metric.

With Marcus Evans we are guaranteed at least 10 meetings – well worth the cost of the event. As a result of our success in our first year at the Summit, we plan to continue our partnership with Marcus Evans.

Find out more about the upcoming Employee Benefits & Total Rewards Summit.