MIDMRKT Featured Partner | Syncsite

by Liz Ramey

CIO, MIDMRKT CIO FORUM

The MIDMRKT CIO Forum brings together top IT executives and solution providers in the midmarket space. These three days of collaboration, presentations, and networking are packed full of valuable conversations and new opportunities.

Syncsite is one partner that has gained great value from being a part of the MIDMRKT community.

I sat down with Bryan Marks, Director of Marketing to understand how Syncsite has leveraged the partnership with MIDMRKT Suite.

1. How would you describe your overall experience at the MIDMRKT CIO Forum?
   Syncsite’s overall experience has been good. It took a couple of Forums to really fine-tune how best to position our offerings, but now we are locked-in and properly focused.
2. What makes your time at the CIO Forum different than other events?
   Our time at the CIO Forum is different from other “trade show like” events simply because the attendees know what they need and have a budget to fulfill it. Unlike traditional trade shows where a lot of attendees are just “browsing” the various vendors, the majority of the attendees we speak to have a genuine business need. Unfortunately, some of those priority needs change after the show, but the majority stay engaged long enough to either deliver their needed solution, set a new timeline for completion, or determine a reason as to why we aren’t a match anymore. The CIO Forum is a more intimate show, and since there aren’t thousands of attendees, it fosters a more conducive environment for collaborating and problem solving.
3. What do you think makes Syncsite successful at the CIO Forum?
   The authenticity and real-world solutions Syncsite presents to CIOs is what has made us successful. We understand the overwhelming amount of CRM and BI choices out there and present ours with a focus on simplicity and actual business needs. Features and benefits don’t really help make decisions as much as showing and explaining how we improve our client’s business and support it.
4. What advice would you give a new incoming sponsor?
   The best advice we would give a new sponsor is to consider a custom boardroom as it really enhances the matching process. Also, make sure you are attending all the social, meal and keynote speaker functions to improve your ability to engage attendees. The last thing you want to do is only attend your scheduled presentations and show floor time and work in your hotel room the rest of the time. Sponsors need to spend as much time as they can alongside the attendees to improve your chances to build rapport and increase face-time.
5. Describe the relationships and opportunities you have gained from these events.
   We’ve developed some great relationships along with a few also becoming clients. We are never looking for “customers”. We are looking for long-term partners as the success of our clients is our number one priority. We’ve had some clients for almost the 20+ years we’ve been in business. Our most recent success story from the CIO Forum was for Ed Eskew with TYR Sport. We setup a Business Intelligence solution for TYR that has saved them thousands of dollars and improved forecasting. They used to spend hours every week creating reports, but these are now available in real-time whenever they need them on any device.