As the Coronavirus Limits Travel – Web Meetings Are More Important Than Ever

Conferences are one of the most lucrative lead generation channels for businesses. Face to face meetings, being able to “walk the floor”, and setting up introduction meetings with potential clients and partners make it a perfect setting and opportunity for companies to breach new markets and start relationships with their target audience.

This month, a large conference is set to take place in Barcelona – the MWC conference. It is the largest mobile event in the world, featuring some of the biggest names in the industry as speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors. According to MWC, there are going to be over 109,000 attendees from 198 countries – 7,900 of which are CEOs. Over one million business meetings are expected to be conducted in this event, making it a huge lead generation opportunity.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus has taken over the news over the last few weeks, as fear of a global epidemic spreads. This is affecting businesses in every industry, who rely on the ability to travel and transport freely around the world. Conferences are no exception.

So far, Sony, Amazon, LG, Ericsson, ZTE, and Nvidia have dropped out of MWC 2020 in Barcelona due to the virus. More are likely to follow suit, but this doesn’t mean the conference still can’t be used as a successful LeadGen channel. This is the perfect time to build relationships online, and invest in scheduling web meetings instead of face-to-face meetings. Companies that planned on attending, or planned on meeting professionals that have canceled their participation, can reach out via other channels like email, LinkedIn, and cold calling.

Take the opportunity to explain how much you looked forward to meeting them, and suggest scheduling an online intro meeting to discuss the opportunity you’re interested in pursuing with them. This can be done for any conference or event that you’re not sure about attending in this difficult time, but don’t limit yourself to conferences only. Create a strong lead generation strategy and process that is focused on scheduling qualified, sales-ready web meetings with your target audience instead of traveling to their location. While you’re likely going to meet them eventually as negotiations move forward, this is a great way to start and nurture relationships with your target audience, and keep your pipeline strong even when travel needs to be avoided.