Getting Hot Leads to Sales Faster

The Story

Founded in 2006, Cradlepoint has grown to become the industry leader in cloud-delivered 4G LTE network solutions for business, service providers, and government organizations. Cradlepoint’s all-inclusive NetCloud Solution Packages for branch, mobile, and IoT networks combine tailored NetCloud services with purpose-built hardware and a comprehensive support plan. NetCloud Solution Packages are cloud-managed and deployable anywhere in days, not months.

Before iCapture, Cradlepoint lacked instant scanning capabilities and a consistent method to measure their performance at trade shows, and they were losing deals because of delayed contact post-show. They also needed a way to calculate ROI to give their senior leadership physical evidence that they were investing in the right shows and their dollars were being well spent.

Industry

Technology

Location

United States

Integrated Software

Marketo

Cradlepoint Large Booth Exhibit at Trade Show

Searching for a Solution

Cradlepoint is the industry leader in cloud-delivered 4G LTE network solutions, and part of their success stems from trade shows and events. In 2017, they participated in sixty-eight events worldwide, with no sign of slowing down.

The more events they attended, the more Event Marketing Specialist Katie Olsen realized they needed a better system. With a huge time gap between collecting leads at events and contacting them, they were missing out on deals, and it was getting harder to justify event spend to the company’s upper leadership.

“My biggest challenge as an event manager is that there’s always a lot of events happening at the same time,” Olsen says. “For me, it was important to find a way to simplify the process. It wasn’t really consistent what trade shows were offering for their lead retrieval. We worked with a lot of different systems, and then some shows didn’t offer anything at all. We would just have to collect business cards, which is so archaic. And then it would take forever to not only get them back from the show, but just to put them into a spreadsheet, get them into Marketo, and get it so the salespeople could actually start calling those leads.”

Olsen knew there had to be a better way. Cradlepoint searched for a lead capture solution, and after trying a few other options, decided iCapture was the best fit. They entered the partnership with two major goals:

Cutting down lead follow-up time from weeks to hours
Gaining visibility into every event’s success to later track ROI

Speed of Follow Up is Everything

With iCapture, Cradlepoint moved away from rented scanners and business cards. Instead, they now capture badges and business cards, along with useful information like product preference, buying timeline, and so forth. Each lead instantly processes and is sent directly into Marketo. Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) are sorted differently from Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) so the sales and marketing teams would not need to sift through the information and separate them manually.

Through these automation changes, Cradlepoint’s follow-up time post-show moved from weeks to hours. This allows them to close deals with hot leads that used to sit for weeks at the bottom of a briefcase.

“I think speed of follow up is everything,” Olsen says. “We’ve got a lot of competition out there, and we want to be the first person calling people back.”

Along with the speed of following up and closing more deals, Olsen also explains the benefits of saving time with a more efficient system.

“It’s going to make your life easier . . . It’s just instantly in the system, and you don’t have to worry about getting those leads in when you come back from the show. You’re basically already behind when you’re on these trade shows. It’s one less thing you have to think about. It’s one less thing you have to worry about. When there are one hundred things happening around you, it’s a no brainer.”

ROI & Analytics Galore

Alongside a better lead retrieval solution, Cradlepoint also wanted a system in place that could clearly spell out ROI and other helpful analytics from each trade show. iCapture filled that data gap for Olsen and her team.

“I get a weekly report of how my trade shows are doing and how many leads I’ve captured,” explains Olsen. “I need to show numbers too because I have to make sure I’m doing my part and bringing those leads in . . . Our company continues to grow, and they are looking more at those numbers, at those analytics, so it’s really key to be able to have that information to show back to our senior level staff.”

Cradlepoint now has the ability to track specific analytics for each event, such as captures per day or hour, top team member based off scans, most popular products, etc. Prior to this, they had no system in place to show event ROI to their leadership. Through iCapture, Cradlepoint can access analytics as evidence of the positive influx of sales from each trade show. These data points have helped drive investment decisions, which trade shows they attend, and so on.

“As I do more and more events, I think about how it used to be when I first started and getting that stack of cards back and trying to put it into an excel spreadsheet, and it’s almost humorous,” says Olsen. “I can’t believe I spent all that time doing that. I’m so glad that’s all behind me.”

The Outcome

7x Faster Follow Up

6500+ Segmented Leads to Marketo

100+ Happy Reps

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Learn about how iCapture can help you maximize your leads with a 1:1 demo with one of our specialists.

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