These BDRs Booked $4.4M in Qualified Outbound Meetings Last Quarter

Here’s how they did it (and how your team can too)

At a Glance

• $4.4M in qualified pipeline in Q2

• 6,000+ leads captured across 5 events

• 100s of meetings booked on the spot

• 38+ hours saved vs. manual data entry

• 15-second badge scan-to-CRM sync

• 200x ROI on event spend

• Zero booth required

The Play: Give Your BDRs an Unfair Advantage at Events

In-person events are high-cost, high-stakes opportunities, but most companies treat them like a marketing ops problem. They drop tens of thousands on a booth, rent the venue’s badge scanner kit, and pray that the leads eventually show up in Salesforce.

But here’s what actually happens: clunky, outdated devices. APIs that only work for a single event. Long delays between scan and sync. And a BDR team stuck waiting on lead lists that arrive days (or weeks) later, cold and stale.

As one BDR puts it:

“You have to pay for the show’s specific badge scanning solution, and it only works at that show and only if you've paid a ton for an exhibitor booth. They give you this old, mid-2000s iPhone with repurposed software. It's slow and clunky."

 

Skip the Booth and Badge Scanner. Keep the Leads

We sent the BDR team to conferences with our event-agnostic badge scanners and mobile app. Reps qualified leads on the spot, synced them to Salesforce or HubSpot in seconds, and routed them instantly based on buying intent.

Follow-ups happened while the conversations were still warm, not a week later.

 

The result?

• $4.4M in qualified pipeline in Q2
  
  

• Hundreds of meetings booked directly from the event floor
  
  

• A repeatable, scalable event playbook built for sales teams

The Problem: Revenue Leakage across the Funnel

“If you get a hot lead at a show, you text a picture of the scan to the sales rep. There's lots of room for human error, like ‘I never got the text,’ ‘I forgot to send the text,’ or ‘I had too many beers and forgot the whole thing.’ It's not a perfect science.” – B2B SaaS sales leader

^^^Sound familiar? 

 

The Culprit: Decentralized Systems. Inconsistent Strategies

Outdated tools and processes cost sales teams speed and leads at each stage of the funnel:

• Each event uses different apps or scanners, hurting adoption
  
  

• Scanners are expensive, clunky, and in short supply
  
  

• Lead data lacks job titles, emails, or phone numbers
  
  

• No built-in qualifying questions = lost context
  
  

• Lead lists take days or weeks to arrive
  
  

• Teams waste hours cleaning bad emails like Gmails or Hotmails
  
  

• No CRM integration, just spreadsheets and manual uploads
  

• Reps can’t schedule meetings on the spot
  
  

• Delayed follow-up leads to lost opportunities

One BDR explained it like this:

“You’re stuck with a device that barely functions and limited licenses for your team. And once the event ends, you're back to spreadsheets. Nothing connects to your CRM, and you can’t qualify or schedule on the fly.”

The Solution: Ditch the Booth. Keep the Leads

“It's just us: Our hands and our feet and our phone. We’re usually coming up cold to prospects. We have to demonstrate value right away.” – Popl BDR

Instead of overpaying for a booth and outdated badge scanners, the BDR team worked the floor with Popl. Each rep carried everything they needed on their phone:

• Event-agnostic badge scanning, no API kits or show-specific devices required
  
  

• Custom qualifiers to capture key buying signals in real time
  
  

• Chili Piper integration to book demos on the spot
  
  

• Automatic CRM sync to Salesforce and HubSpot
  
  

• Verified work emails and phone numbers (no more Gmails and Hotmails)
  
  

• Popl digital business cards for branded, trackable contact sharing
  
  

Pro Tip 

If your product can’t be demoed on the spot, lead with outcomes, not features. Instead of showing how the tool works, show why it matters. Have BDRs anchor conversations in pain points you solve, then share a quick use case or visual (like a 10-second GIF, stat card, or one-pager) that makes your value obvious. 

The Results: Booked Meetings (without the Tech Bloat)

“We flipped the traditional lead capture model on its head because we're making it so that you don't have to be an exhibitor to access hot leads...” – Popl BDR

Over just 90 days, the Popl BDR team:

• Captured 6,000+ enriched leads from the show floor
  
  

• Synced every lead to CRM in under 15 seconds
  
  

• Eliminated 38+ hours of manual data entry
  
  

• Booked hundreds of high-intent demos, not just scans
  
  

• Drove $4.4M in qualified pipeline
  
  

• Delivered a 200x ROI on event spend
  
  

All without burning budget on booths, badge scanner rentals, or sponsorships.

10-Step Sales Playbook (Swipe Our System and ROI)

"If you quantified everybody in the room at large events, you'd quickly find that there's a couple of million dollars in pipeline, and you're only capturing a small bit of it. The pipeline's there. You just need to capture it." – Popl BDR

 

Step 1. Have Your BDRs Prospect Before the Show

Popl’s BDRs don't waste time or leave pipeline up to chance. They pre-identify which booths to target, prioritize the most lucrative accounts, and pace themselves to ensure quality conversations with each of them.

The goal? Book only prospects who show real buying signals and fit their ICP.

They use tools like ZoomInfo, Apollo, and Clay (for now). Once we release Popl AI Prospector, they’ll be able to enrich event prospects’ data before ever setting foot on the floor. 

The BDRs pinpoint attendees who really care about lead generation, pipeline, and revenue. They typically prioritize titles like “VP of Field Marketing,” “Director of Revenue Ops”, or “Head of Demand Gen.” A quick LinkedIn DM or email ahead of the show goes a long way toward warming them up.

 

 

Step 2. Incentivize Qualified Pipeline, Not Vanity Metrics

Coach your BDRs to focus on qualified pipeline over lead volume because one solid opportunity is worth more than a dozen poor-fit leads. Popl BDRs engage only with accounts that fit their ICP and show real interest.

The key is to rethink how you reward performance. Skip payouts for vanity metrics like badge scans or total meetings. Instead, structure commissions around high-intent milestones: a booked demo with a decision-maker, a completed discovery call with budget and authority, or an entry into a qualified stage in your CRM.

This kind of commission structure incentivizes BDRs to focus on generating qualified pipeline, not just hitting activity quotas. 

 

Step 3. Enable BDRs to Book Meetings on the Event Floor

The best time to get a “yes” to a meeting? When your BDRs are standing face-to-face with qualified prospects. Because intent dies when connections go cold. That’s why you need calendar routing in your event platform. 

Popl’s BDRs use Chili Piper to book meetings on the spot. Our native Chili Piper integration makes it easy to automate demo bookings through Popl Campaigns. 

Instead of waiting to follow up post-show (when your emails get buried under a pile of other vendor outreach), BDRs secure next steps on the spot. That meeting on the calendar is your bridge from warm lead to real pipeline.

 

Step 4. Tie Conversations to Conversions in Your CRM 

“We send a lot of BDRs to events that we're not sponsoring. We know our prospects and customers are there. If I spend $3,000 or $4,000 on one pass, how do I connect the dots? How do I show the ROI on that?” – Sales Leader

We hear this from sales leaders all the time. BDRs are putting in the work, showing up to the right shows, talking to the right people, but without a consistent system, that effort disappears into the void. That’s why we built Popl Campaigns.

Think of Campaigns as your command center for pipeline generation. Set one up before each event to keep your team aligned, your process consistent, and your data clean. Campaigns let you group leads by event, assign BDRs, and automatically track performance by team member and event.

 

Here’s how we use Campaigns: 

Assign Auto-Tags

Use auto-tags to label every lead the moment they’re captured. Tags can include in-person interactions both at the event and afterward, so you know which leads came from the booth, booked meetings, or happy hours. Product interest, lead sources, and vertical are other common tags. 

This level of precision ensures BDRs capture lead intent data. Tags make it easy to segment follow-up, understand engagement quality, and route leads to the right sales motion. And because everything is automated, you eliminate manual sorting and attribution issues entirely.

 

Set Smart Qualifying Questions

Use Popl qualifiers (built into the campaign) to capture this context in real time from the app, so your sales team isn’t flying blind. Qualifiers should match your CRM fields and reflect the attributes of your ICP. That way, the handoff to sales is quick and rich with actionable data.

 

Two-Stage Qualification: How Popl BDRs Prioritize Quality Over Volume

Popl’s BDRs don’t waste time chasing bad leads. Instead, they follow a two-stage qualification process that helps them stay focused on high-conversion opportunities, without slowing down their flow on the event floor.

 

Stage 1: Pre-Qualification (Live, On the Floor)

This happens in real time, often just seconds into the conversation. The goal? Quickly assess whether a lead is worth pursuing without dragging the conversation into an interrogation.

“We’re not walking up to a booth and straight out the gate interrogating them, but we are on alert,” explains one Popl BDR. 

 

Typical signals Popl reps listen for:

• Do they attend conferences regularly?
  
  

• Is capturing leads a priority?
  
  

• Do they seem open to new tools or stuck on paper business cards?
  
  

• Are they engaging or brushing you off?
  
  

If the lead is receptive and shows potential, they’re tagged as pre-qualified and moved toward a booked demo.

 

Stage 2: Formal Qualification (After a Demo Is Booked)

Once a meeting is confirmed, the BDR transitions into formal discovery using Popl Qualifiers (a structured set of questions built into the Popl Campaign).

“Once we get time on the calendar, then it’s really worth formally qualifying them… now the sales team’s going to handle them and the sales team needs to be prepared with actual data,” says Popl’s BDR. 

 

At this stage, BDRs gather specifics like:

• How many events do you attend per year?
  
  

• How are you capturing and following up with leads now?
  
  

• What tools are in place?
  
  

• What does your team look like? Who’s involved in buying decisions?
  
  

• What’s your biggest challenge around attribution or ROI?
  
  

This structured approach helps ensure that every lead handed off to the sales team is both qualified and context-rich.

Pro Tip

Don’t guess at what to ask. Work with your CRO, head of sales, or RevOps to pinpoint the fields that define your best-fit buyers, whether industry, account size, or buyer intent. 

Scan Leads Straight into Your Sales Funnel

Popl integrates directly with Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRMs (without extra fees or dev work). Once the campaign is live, every scan, tag, note, and qualifier flows instantly into your system of record. That means no more lost leads, bad attribution, or multi-day delays.

Clean, real-time syncing also unlocks automatic follow-up: schedule a demo, trigger a nurture sequence, or assign the lead to the right rep instantly. 

Step 5. Pitching: Stay Human. Show Value Quickly

“We have to be human about pitching. We start off naturally but also try not to beat around the bush. We need to show our value quickly.”  – Popl’s lead BDR

Most sales reps struggle with cold approaches, especially when targeting other booths at events. Popl BDRs approach this differently. They focus on showing respect for time, moving efficiently, and proving value early.

BDRs approach booths with an awareness that they’re interrupting the workday of someone who likely invested heavily to be there. So they keep their opener friendly and low-pressure.

They might say, “Hey, love your booth. How’s the show going so far?” 

Then they shift smoothly into why they stopped by: “I’m with Popl. We’re an in-person lead capture platform that helps simplify how teams collect and manage leads, even when you don’t have a booth.”

Popl’s lead BDR calls this approach “pitch slapping with a smile.” It’s direct, but it works because the value is clear right away. Booth staff often have limited time, so the team leads with how Popl can help, instead of waiting for permission to share.

 

Pro Tip

Rather than trying to talk to everyone, have BDRs qualify as they walk the floor. For example, Popl’s BDRs ask thoughtful, conversational questions like:

• “Do you usually walk shows or just exhibit?”
  
  

• “How’s your team capturing leads here?”
  
  

• “Who on your team handles pipeline from events?”
  
  

These types of questions uncover pain points quickly, whether that’s manual entry, scattered follow-up, or poor lead quality. Once there’s a signal of interest, reps demonstrate how Popl can streamline all of that.

If the person they’re speaking with isn’t the decision maker, they don’t hesitate to ask who is, but they do it in a way that feels helpful rather than intrusive. For example, “Is there someone on your team who would find this helpful?” feels more natural than asking who’s in charge.

When the right contact is identified, the goal is to connect live. If that’s not possible, reps use Popl’s digital card with lead capture mode to instantly exchange details. There’s no need for paper cards, manual notes, or guesswork later.

Step 6. Scan Anything. Enrich Leads with AI in Minutes

“The most natural question you can ask at a conference is, ‘Can I scan your badge?’ Exhibitors don’t even think twice.” – Popl BDR

Every Popl BDR is equipped with the free Popl app. Armed with Popl’s Universal Lead Scanner and AI Enrichment, they can scan anything: badges, QR codes, paper business cards, and more. As they chat up leads, Popl AI enriches their contact info on the spot. 

The Universal Lead Scanner works at any event, even if you’re just walking the floor. No exhibitor status required. If the Wi-Fi’s spotty (or nonexistent), you can capture offline, and it still works and syncs when you're back online. You don’t need scanners or special gear either, just your phone and the Popl app.

Popl AI takes things further with smart automation. It uses OCR to read badges or business cards instantly, then pulls verified data from 50+ trusted sources. That means missing info like job titles, company size, industry, LinkedIn, or contact details gets filled in automatically, so your reps can stay focused on the conversation, not data entry.

Step 7. Build Mindshare with Branded Digital Business Cards

“What we're trying to do right now is build mindshare, brand dominance, and get out there more.” – Sales leader

When a Popl BDR connects with someone at an event, that interaction becomes a live demo for our product. After each scan, the rep's digital business card is sent by text and email. It’s an easy way to deliver a branded experience that sticks.

The goal is to make the first touchpoint feel modern, human, and memorable.

 

 

Here’s what happens:

• Popl’s BDRs send their digital business card after every scan. It goes straight to the lead’s phone, complete with name, title, photo, and links, so they remember exactly who we are.

• The lead doesn’t need to download anything. A simple form pops up, and they exchange info instantly.

• Each card is polished and on-brand, which makes a stronger impression than handing over a paper card.

• BDRs never run out or scramble with notes. The handoff is smooth, and it sets us up for better follow-up after the event.

Step 8. Centralize Leads in Your CRM Instantly

“With Popl, you’re no longer relying on different systems where one person adds a contact to their phone, someone else has a stack of cards, and another is waiting on a CSV. It’s all centralized in your CRM, synced, and actionable.” – Popl BDR

Speed to lead is the name of the game, especially for conferences where leads meet hundreds of sales reps in a matter of hours. After the event, the race to book meetings is on!

That’s where Popl’s BDRs have the upper hand. Every badge, paper business card, or QR code they scan is instantly enriched and synced to our CRM.

Because the data is standardized and consistent across every rep and every event, your sales and marketing teams can take action right away. No more waiting around for “follow-up lists” to show up a week later. Your reps act while the conversation is still fresh. 

Step 9. Follow Up from the Floor Automatically 

Popl makes it easy for BDRs to follow up with every lead from the event floor. Every badge scan or card capture triggers a personalized follow-up email that includes their digital business card, a relevant lead magnet, and a clear call to action.

Popl also integrates natively with platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce, so you can trigger marketing automation flows based on qualifiers, tags, or event-specific fields.

 

Pro Tip

Send another personalized email a couple of days after the show. By then, the event chaos has calmed, and inboxes are less cluttered. But meeting you is still fresh in the prospect’s mind. 

 

Popl’s lead BDR swears by this tactic. Here’s what the email he typically sends looks like:

Subject: Great meeting you at [Event Name]

Hey [First Name],

Great connecting with you at [Event Name]. I enjoyed learning more about what you’re doing and how you're approaching lead capture.

If you're open to chatting further, I’d love to find time to show you how we can support your event strategy moving forward.

Here’s my [digital business card link] if you want to reach out directly.

– [BDR Name]

Step 10. Prove ROI to Secure More Event Budget 

“If we're gonna spend the money, the T&E, the pass cost, there's gotta be ROI. It's gotta be a broad-influenced moment in Salesforce so that we can go back and look and say, ‘Here's that entire buyer's journey.’ That's where Popl comes in.”

 

Most teams still can’t connect the dots between conversations and conversions. They’re juggling paper cards, CSVs, badge scanners, and manual uploads. Leads are split across systems. Attribution is muddy. 

When leadership asks, “What did we actually get from that $50K event?” No one has a clear answer. Because decentralized systems break attribution. And without a consistent process, pipeline gets lost in the cracks.

Here’s how Popl fixes this. Before the show even begins, our team sets up a dedicated Popl Campaign. They decide what fields to capture, what tags to apply, and how they map into the CRM. Every lead is instantly synced to HubSpot. This gives us full visibility into the performance of each event, campaign, and rep. 

When finance asks if that event was worth it, sales and marketing don’t flinch. The team pulls up the report and says, “Here’s the pipeline. Here’s the journey. Here’s the ROI.”

 

Pipeline Is Waiting for Your BDRs…

All they have to do is capture it. Because in-person events are quickly outpacing digital as the top lead generation channel. 

• Global event spending is set to reach 2.3 trillion by 2034.
  
  

• 2 out of 3 marketers say the value of face-to-face events is growing.
  
  

• 80% of consumers believe in-person events are the most trusted way to discover new products and services.
  
  

Popl’s BDR team proves you don’t need to blow your budget on a booth and outdated badge scanners to book meetings at scale. With Popl’s in-person GTM platform, you can turn handshakes into trackable pipeline in minutes. 

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