Most event organisers we speak to and work with have made serious investments over the last few years in systems that are all about revenue generation and growth i.e. marketing and sales technology. CRMs, marketing automation platforms, data enrichment tools and more. The stack for RevOps is there. 

What is frustrating for many however (and remarkably common) is that often investments made so far have not delivered the outcomes they were hoping for from their RevOps capability upgrade. 

What we see as common issues causing this problem are:

• A sketchy or non-existent strategy to support effective systems selection and implementation 

• The absence of robust process mapping focused on the commercial outcomes the business is looking for - needed to feed into the strategy and support the roll out

• Poor team onboarding where training on tools has lacked the relevance, rigour and follow-through required for success

The tech chosen is hardly ever the problem - even though a number of stakeholders like to blame the tools chosen. As the saying goes, ‘bad workers blame their tools’. We wouldn’t go so far as calling the users ‘bad workers’, but we certainly would focus on the human input on strategy, process mapping and roll-out to fix a ‘bad’ or under-optimised implementation of the tools.

 

4 Mistakes that create a growth-killing RevOps gap 

 

MISTAKE #1: SET AND FORGET 

Over the past 10 years, one of the most costly mistakes we’ve seen made by event organisers is thinking the job is done once the tool is in.

Here is a typical scenario: an event organiser buys a solid martech/salestech platform, goes through a substantial implementation project, and once the tech is in - the project runs out of steam. Once the tool is in, the tech vendors (and often their implementation partner) walk away. They’ve got their money, the job they care about is done. 

Why is this a problem? Two reasons:

(1) The most successful implementations are usually phased. You can’t realistically and effectively roll out all available and relevant functionality at launch. When a new system goes live, the priority is getting users comfortable with the core functionality they need to do their jobs. 

Introducing every automation, workflow, AI feature and reporting capability from day one may sound attractive in theory, but in practice it is likely to overwhelm users and slow down adoption. People can only absorb so much change at once.

It is often best to intentionally launch with a minimum viable setup, along with a plan to introduce more advanced capabilities over time. The problem is that too often the further roll-out phases never happen. Teams get busy, priorities shift, and what was meant to be a staged rollout becomes the final state.

Months or years later, the organisation is still using only a fraction of the platform's capability - not because the technology lacks functionality, but because the roadmap for continuous optimisation and adoption was never followed through.

(2) Revtech platforms (e.g. HubSpot) are not static. They release new functionality on a rolling basis. Features that didn't exist when you went live 6 months ago may now be available and could make a big difference to your commercial performance. Now, more than ever, tech platforms are rolling out AI-enablement functionality so fast it’s almost impossible to keep up when relying on inhouse resources. 

Some of this new functionality is included in your current package - so you’re already paying for it but haven’t yet activated or used it. Certain features may require a small additional investment, and if you knew you had the option and how to activate and roll out - it would be a no brainer to buy the add-on and start using it.  

If you haven't recently reviewed what's changed since you implemented your tech, you're almost certainly leaving value on the table. And you're almost definitely paying for a tool that's doing a fraction of what it could.

The consequence: You're bearing the cost of high-grade technology and only realising a fraction of its capability. Now, more than ever, as more automation and agentic AI flows into the most successful companies, ignoring what it could do and what you are probably already paying for is not a smart move…

 

MISTAKE #2: NO JOINED UP THINKING OR WORKING

A marketing team uses the platform to send emails. A sales team uses it to log pipeline. The two datasets sit in parallel, loosely connected, rarely synthesised. Leadership pulls a report when they need one, but nobody has a clear, joined-up view of how marketing activity is actually influencing revenue.

The real power of up-to-date tech is that you can nail RevOps - a unified view of the entire customer journey, from first touch through to closed business and beyond. When marketing and sales processes and data are well integrated, you gain valuable insights on attribution, pipeline velocity, and where you’re losing customers. That's the intelligence you need for smarter, more impactful commercial decisions.

The consequence: Decision-making is based on incomplete data. Marketing and sales continue to operate in silos, and nobody has a clear picture of what's driving results.

 

MISTAKE #3: HIDDEN (OR FORGOTTEN) DATA ENRICHMENT TOOLS

Many event businesses invest in multiple data sources such as intent data providers, company enrichment platforms, contact intelligence services when all these capabilities could already be built into their current martech stack.

Leading platforms such as HubSpot now include features that allow you to enrich contact and company records with firmographic data, access buying intent signals, and generate AI-driven summaries for a key account. Many of these come with a monthly credit allowance as part of existing subscriptions. You use them or lose them. And when you’re not using them, you could be paying twice for the same thing from another provider. A good thing to sense-check.

When you're selling sponsorships, exhibition stands and delegate tickets to specific buyer profiles, having enriched, accurate company data - including signals that indicate active interest or buying intent - changes the quality of your outreach entirely. 

The consequence: If data enrichment is spread across multiple systems rather than being consolidated within your core RevOps platform  (1) you may be shelling out more than you need to for multiple data subscriptions and (2) your sales team isn't working with the kind of intelligence you could be providing as all your data is not in one place and harmonised.

 

MISTAKE #4: MISSING DATA ( = MALFUNCTIONING AI)

This one is increasingly urgent, and it's where many AI initiatives hit a wall.

The AI functionality built into modern martech platforms - prospecting agents, meeting preparation tools, next-action recommendations, predictive send times - all depend on complete and accurate data - whether structured or unstructured.

Structured data matters: the right firmographics on organisations and demographics on individuals your targeting need to have well organised, well populated fields reflecting the profiles you’re aiming for. Without well structured data, a prospecting agent can't generate useful recommendations as the foundational elements needed will be missing.

Unstructured data matters too: call notes, logged emails, meeting summaries, sales rep observations captured in the system. If a sales director wants to use an AI tool to prepare for a high-value sponsor meeting, the tool can only surface relevant context if that context has been captured where it needs to be for retrieval. 

The consequence: If you’ve invested in AI functionality but not the data it depends on to work, the AI you’re envisaging could boost commercial performance simply won’t work. 
 

A final note on choosing the right tech implementation and support partner…

More often than not, we see the biggest cause of poor ROI when implementing new tech is the wrong partner being chosen for a tech implementation. In the world of events, they’re usually wrong because they don’t understand how events’ businesses work (even though in their sales pitch they say they do…). 

And sometimes, when the partner does understand how events businesses work, they aren’t bothered about the follow through to make sure the tech is working as it needs to. Their key goal is to get the tech in - not make sure it’s working in the best way.

To avoid expensive mistakes, you need skilled humans who know what they’re doing. It’s that simple. You would never let a GP do an organ transplant or handle the aftercare. So how could you expect a non-specialist to do a good job of implementing a key piece of tech with all the required follow-through? For the healthiest business and commercial outcomes, make sure you bring in specialists who’ve done it before.

___________________________________________________________________________

MPG is a HubSpot partner with deep experience in implementing and optimising HubSpot for exhibition and conference organisers. Our work includes incorporating AI into RevOps workflows to boost commercial performance. Get in touch to find out how we can help you get your HubSpot set up working to best effect.

GET IN TOUCH