Twelve events, roughly $30,000 to $40,000 all-in, and a plan that fell apart at the first conference.

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On this episode of Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby sits down with Jim Gilkey to break down what happened when the pre-booked meeting play stopped working. When you're not a sponsor you don't get the registration list. Vendor-class tickets can lock you out of the attendee directory entirely, and the event app often doesn't open until the day before.

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The fix came from reading the target account list differently. At one conference, about 10% of a 350-account list was sponsoring the event, so Mason and Jim stopped chasing attendees and started walking the show floor. They cover the plays that came out of it: logo-printed lattes at Forrester B2B, a plate of buffet food at Gartner that turned into a CMO meeting, and a $250 taco night that produced four booked meetings. Even with the original plan dead, the year still produced over 40 opportunities.

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👤 Guest Bio

Jim Gilkey is Head of Sales at Scrappy ABM and the only seller on the team, as he points out in the first 30 seconds. Before joining, he spent nearly four years at Terminus across enterprise sales, customer success, and account management, and he started his career as a Salesforce BDR. He also hosts Account Based Beverages, a short-format ABM interview show he launched in 2022. He's based in Indianapolis.

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📌 What We Cover

• Why a $30,000 to $40,000 event budget bought a plan that didn't survive the first conference
• The structural problem: no sponsorship means no registration list, and vendor tickets can hide the attendee directory
• Nobody reads event app messages, including the people sending them
• The shift from attendees to sponsors, and the 350-account list where 10% were sponsoring
• The opening line at a booth: "Hey, do you have a marketer here that is helping run the show?"
• Logo-printed lattes, a plate of lunch at Gartner, and the $250 taco night that booked four meetings
• Why targeting sponsors lets you go where your ICP is, from ed tech to HR tech, instead of only marketing conferences
• Networkers, offerers, and setters, plus why the setter should hold the first meeting
• Building measurement layers so a weak offer doesn't get an entire channel killed

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🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Events: B2BMX, SaaStr, Demand & Expand, ANA, Gartner, Salesforce Connections, Forrester B2B
• Tools: LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ChatGPT, Claude, Canva
• Data Axle
• Taco night landing page

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Resources:

Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies.

Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM.

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