Most salespeople attend industry events as a way to network and uncover new opportunities—but many don’t make the most of them. A relevant event takes place nearly every week, from cocktail hours with a select crowd, to multi-day events like Salesforce’s Dreamforce. From conferences to customer summits and everything in between, events give sales folks the opportunity to meet face-to-face with current and prospective customers.

One strategy to keep first time greetings from staying superficial is to look for smaller, more relaxed events that allow the conversation to remain personal. By seeking out more intimate events like cocktail hours, luncheons and other extended breaks that provide ample time and opportunity for networking, you can interact with your prospects more naturally instead of a hard pitch.

To turn handshakes into connections at future industry events, try following these five tips:

1. Do your homework. This should be a no-brainer for salespeople. However, many sales folks don’t know that you can call or email the event host to request a list of the companies that will be in attendance. Prepare for the event by finding the companies most relevant to you and researching who their customers are, what they do, if they’ve been in the news recently, and what makes the company special. Don’t be shy when you meet up with the company’s representative at the event—your knowledge will impress them and enable a deeper, more fruitful conversation to take place, instead of another routine meet and greet.
2. Arm yourself with thought leadership. Don’t leave it to everyone else to contribute to the event—try to get your name on the formal agenda by seeking out a speaking engagement or panel opportunity. If you are seen as a thought leader, prospects will be more likely to engage with you. Even if you don’t lock in a speaking engagement, be attentive when a targeted decision maker is speaking or conversing. Remaining engaged proves your sincerity.
3. Don’t be too slow at follow-up. Chances are, when you meet a sales prospect in person, he or she has met dozens of folks just like you. Immediate follow up is key to creating a lasting relationship. Prepare your follow up correspondence before you head to the event so it’s easy to send out even after a long day on your feet. And even if you don’t meet someone who you anticipated meeting at the event,  strategically follow up to let them know you enjoyed their presentation or would love to meet up or hold a phone conversation at a later date.
4. Arrange appointments with prospects before the event. Since you’ve already obtained the list of conference or event attendees from event organizers when possible (tip#1), don’t hesitate to ask for a meeting ahead of possibly seeing them at the event. Your note can be as informal as “Hi, I saw you are attending the AA-ISP meet-up, want to meet for a drink at the bar to discuss XX?” The more meetings you can secure beforehand, the larger your ROI will be on the event.
5. Don’t forget to connect. When you’re at an event, focused on connecting in person, you are at risk of failing to remember to connect afterwards. Tools like ClearSlide Mail let sales professionals send additional information to new contacts from their smartphone, making it feasible to follow up in real time and avoid forgetting to connect when it matters. The tool also gives salespeople an alert when prospects view and engage with the content, paving the way for future conversation and follow up.

Events may be the age-old way of meeting new prospects, but they remain a vital piece of modern prospecting strategies. Sales folks should also incorporate other components of a winning modern sales strategy—like research, break in emails, “warm-ups” to cold calling and social networking—when attending face-to-face meetings and events.

To be successful in the modern way to build your sales pipeline, it takes a balanced combination of proven sales tactics and new technologies that make it easier to stay in touch with prospects and clients.

To get more information about how to build your sales pipeline, download the FREE guide today.