Socomec, the mid-sized industrial company digitizing its event-based lead generation with KAYO

A solution tailored to the manufacturer's needs

Socomec is an independent medium-sized company based in Alsace that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2022 and is currently expanding rapidly in France and internationally.

Today, Socomec has nearly 4,000 employees spread across 30 subsidiaries worldwide, generating 650 million in revenue.

Its marketing and events team relies on trade shows to generate new leads and build customer loyalty.

Vincent Genoulaz, Marketing Events Coordinator, joined Socomec about ten years ago and is responsible for supporting the subsidiaries in their event activities:

“We participate in about 50 external events each year. As an independent, family-owned group, we value building close relationships with our customers. This is evident at our events and on our booths, where we take special care to welcome our visitors and create a friendly experience.”

Vincent Genoulaz describes his role as a marketing event coordinator:
“First and foremost, I serve as the group’s event coordinator. This means I provide layout advice, support, and content to my colleagues at the subsidiaries.”

“My second role is as a project manager for international trade shows managed by headquarters: Electrical Energy Storage—Intersolar in Munich, Middle East Energy in Dubai, and the Data Cloud Congress in Cannes. There’s a strong trend toward digitizing the presentation of our offerings to optimize booth space and reduce associated transportation and logistics costs.”

To address this, Socomec is working on augmented reality, video walls, and holograms with appropriate content. Each trade show is an opportunity to experiment with new technologies and reinvent ourselves.

“And then we also have more modest event formats. One-day meetings in a seminar room or a hotel where we meet with 20–25 prospects who have concrete projects. This is in contrast to trade shows like the one in Dubai, where we can generate between 400 and 500 leads over three days.”

“Before KAYO, we would staple business cards to sheets of paper that we filled out by hand, either during or right after the visit. Of course, this wasn’t efficient—it was time-consuming, and data was lost. Above all, there was a lack of responsiveness after the event, with issues regarding contact management and follow-ups after the trade show.”

A lot of the teams’ effort went into the lead-up to and during the event, at the expense of the follow-up. As a result, the teams were out of sync, and sales follow-ups were delayed.

The Challenges of Streamlining Trade Show Operations

In his search for a solution, Vincent Genoulaz wanted an event management solution that addressed these challenges:

• Manage lead qualification from a single platform
• Gain better visibility into event performance
• Provide a better customer experience at their booths
• Reducing logistics costs and digitizing paper brochures
• Modernize Socomec’s image through digital technology
• Save time on event-related activities
  
  

Choosing an all-in-one solution to manage trade shows

To orchestrate this event lead-generation machine, Socomec turned to KAYO to streamline the management and coordination of its trade shows.

Socomec was able to drastically reduce the use of paper brochures—even eliminating them entirely at certain trade shows—thereby cutting costs and reducing the time spent managing complex logistics.
“Visitors now leave with a link in a personalized, trackable email for their sales representatives.”

Trade Shows on Autopilot

Socomec’s trade show operations run like clockwork: knowing which trade shows the company will be attending 12 months in advance, Vincent Genoulaz can focus more on the quality of leads and on welcoming visitors.

Using the KAYO platform, Vincent Genoulaz can manage trade shows completely on his own. The time required for management is significantly reduced by eliminating the tedious process of setting up each trade show and navigating the various available tools.

With KAYO, he can manage and track all of his trade shows in just a few minutes—for example, by duplicating projects.

“Being an administrator of the app allows me to see the number of leads and collect them very quickly without having to ask the teams for them. These leads are then sent to and scored in our Pardot nurturing tool.”

At the most recent Middle East Energy in Dubai—one of the trade shows managed directly by Vincent Genoulaz—nearly 500 leads were generated to fuel the Socomec teams’ lead generation pipeline.

“After a trial period in France and Germany, the solution is now being rolled out to the group’s other subsidiaries.”

Tailored support for Socomec’s teams

This is a major challenge, as Socomec has 30 subsidiaries, each with varying degrees of autonomy. The decision to adopt a solution that centralizes trade show activities is part of Socomec’s profound digital transformation, designed to encourage employees to use innovative solutions.

This required tailored support from the KAYO teams to onboard all employees involved in trade shows—whether directly or indirectly—starting with the marketing and sales teams.

KAYO regularly conducts training programs to remove barriers to adoption. Socomec is currently rolling out the solution systematically, using concrete data to enhance the value of its trade show activities.