People think the best leads come from conferences, like Austin, TX’s SXSW, which this year has 72,000 registered for attendance. And while each conference comes with an onslaught of networking opportunities before, during and after the event, many of us walk away with a pocketful of business cards that fill up a drawer or wastebasket when we get back. We never truly put the new contacts to work.

When was the last time you put each and every business card and contact to use? And how did you sustain the relationship in a way that impacted your lead generation? What if you could go to a conference and not only bring back new content and strategies to share with your company, but you could also bring back a fresh team of sales people to do the heavy lifting? That’d be great, right? Unfortunately, your new friends have day jobs, and are probably not all looking to become part of your sales team. And while many people do get referrals here and there from their contacts, it’s not generally something sustained over time or delivering new business in any sort of consistent way. If you incentivize people and give them an easy and automated way to spread the word it becomes worthwhile. Relationships thrive when mutually beneficial. When you meet someone at your next conference or when someone is genuinely interested in your business, give him or her a way to stay in touch that they can get excited about. Load your contacts into Auctio and let them drive your referral business and get rewarded for their recommendations.