If you think a couple of emails and a sales call are enough to close a B2B deal, think again. Studies show that it can take over 50 touchpoints before a prospect converts into a paying customer. In some cases, this number goes as high as 62 interactions for complex B2B deals.
With multiple stakeholders, long decision cycles, and endless back-and-forth, building enough meaningful touchpoints is one of the biggest challenges in B2B sales. And while cold outreach, emails, and LinkedIn messages help, they aren’t enough. Events, on the other hand, allow businesses to accelerate the sales process by consolidating multiple touchpoints into one powerful experience.
Why Closing B2B Deals Takes So Many Touchpoints
B2B sales cycles are longer and more complex than ever. Here’s why:
Deals involve multiple decision-makers—the average B2B purchase requires 6-10 stakeholders to reach a consensus.
Buyers engage across multiple channels—it takes an average of 3.5 different marketing channels to move a prospect through the funnel.
Sales cycles are getting longer—research shows that 75% of B2B sales take at least 4+ months to close, and nearly 50% take over 7 months.
The problem? Most businesses struggle to create meaningful touchpoints beyond cold outreach.
📌 The challenge isn’t generating leads—it’s maintaining engagement across 50+ interactions before closing the deal.
This is where events change the game.
How Events Help You Build 50+ Meaningful Touchpoints
Events aren’t just a lead generation channel—they are an accelerator for sales teams, compressing multiple interactions into a single high-value experience. Here’s how:
1. Pre-Event Engagement: The First Set of Touchpoints
The buyer’s journey doesn’t start at the event—it starts the moment they register. The most successful event-driven companies engage prospects weeks before they attend.
🔹 How to Create Early Touchpoints:
✔ Personalized invitations & reminders – Send prospects curated agendas based on their interests.
✔ Community-building before the event – Add attendees to a LinkedIn or Slack group to spark early engagement.
✔ Exclusive pre-event content – Offer VIP registrants early access to whitepapers, product demos, or Q&A sessions.
2. Live Event Interactions: Maximizing High-Value Touchpoints
An in-person or virtual event provides a unique opportunity for sales teams to engage directly—increasing the number of meaningful interactions in just a few hours.
🔹 How Events Create High-Value Touchpoints:
✔ Face-to-face interactions – A single conversation at an event can replace 10+ cold outreach attempts.
✔ Live product demos – Let prospects experience the product in action instead of waiting for a Zoom call.
✔ Breakout sessions & networking – Deep-dive discussions with decision-makers create instant rapport.
✔ Interactive Q&A panels – Addressing objections in real-time moves deals forward faster.
3. Post-Event Follow-Ups: Extending the Relationship Beyond the Event
Many businesses fail to keep the momentum going after an event. But a well-structured follow-up plan ensures that prospects don’t go cold.
🔹 How to Keep the Conversation Alive:
✔ Personalized thank-you emails – Include key takeaways from the event and offer follow-up meetings.
✔ Exclusive post-event content – Send session recordings, insights, or bonus resources.
✔ Engage attendees in ongoing discussions – Keep the event’s community space active for further networking.
✔ Turn attendees into advocates – Encourage attendees to share their experiences and insights with their teams.
Trend Micro’s Event-Driven Success
One company that successfully turned events into multi-touchpoint sales engines is Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader.
🔹 Challenge: Long sales cycles & difficulty keeping leads engaged
🔹 Solution: They adopted an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy using events as key engagement hubs.
🔹 Result:
✔ 30% increase in click-through rates (CTR)
✔ 65% increase in view-through rates (VTR) for existing accounts
✔ Faster sales cycles & higher conversion rates
Instead of relying on fragmented interactions, Trend Micro leveraged events to consolidate multiple touchpoints into immersive brand experiences, significantly improving sales efficiency.
Summary
✔ B2B sales cycles often require 50+ touchpoints to close a deal.
✔ Most businesses struggle to maintain engagement across multiple channels.
✔ Events compress multiple high-value interactions into a single experience.
✔ Pre-event engagement, in-person interactions, and post-event follow-ups accelerate the buyer’s journey.
✔ Companies like Trend Micro use events to boost engagement and shorten sales cycles.
Final Thoughts
If your B2B sales strategy still relies on scattered touchpoints—cold emails, ad retargeting, and LinkedIn DMs—you’re playing the long game without a real accelerator. Events give businesses a way to compress months of touchpoints into a few strategic days—moving prospects from interest to decision much faster.
With Localista, businesses can plan, execute, and track high-value event interactions seamlessly—ensuring that every event touchpoint moves prospects closer to conversion.
