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Decision Playbooks

From Score to Action​

Your Success Score score isn't just a number—it's a decision trigger. This guide shows you exactly what to do based on your score, which components are weak, and what actions will have the most impact.

The Decision Framework​

Success Score RangeGradeDecisionPrimary Action
80-100ARun AgainReplicate this event format
60-79BResizeOptimize weak components
40-59CInvestigateDeep dive into root causes
0-39D/FPauseStop or fundamentally redesign

Grade A: Run Again (80-100)​

What This Means​

You nailed it. This event format, audience, and execution worked. The combination of sales engagement, marketing execution, and attendee experience was excellent.

Primary Actions​

  1. Replicate the format: Keep the event structure, venue size, and content approach
  2. Document what worked: Capture the playbook (targeting, messaging, logistics) for future events
  3. Scale strategically: Consider expanding to other regions or running twice per year
  4. Raise the bar: Set a higher Success Score target for the next iteration (e.g., 85 → 90)

Common Patterns for A Events​

  • High Sales Score (85+): Sales team deeply engaged, invited their best accounts, followed up aggressively
  • High Marketing Score (85+): Strong attendance rate, excellent targeting, effective promotion
  • High Attendee Score (85+): Content was relevant, speakers were engaging, logistics were smooth

Example: Executive Dinner Series​

Event: CFO Dinner - San Francisco Success Score: 88 (Sales: 90, Marketing: 85, Attendee: 90)

What Worked:

  • Sales AEs personally called all invites
  • 90% attendance rate (18/20 registered showed up)
  • Intimate roundtable format drove deep conversations
  • 10 meetings scheduled within 48 hours

Next Action: Run identical format in NYC, Boston, and Austin

Grade B: Resize (60-79)​

What This Means​

Good performance with clear gaps. One or two components underperformed. The event wasn't a failure, but it needs optimization before you run it again.

Diagnostic Questions​

  1. Which component is weakest? (Sales, Marketing, or Attendee?)
  2. Is the gap fixable? (Process issue vs. fundamental strategy issue)
  3. What's the highest-impact fix?

Playbook by Weak Component​

If Sales Score is Weakest (< 65)​

Root Causes:

  • Sales team didn't engage their accounts
  • Wrong accounts invited (not strategic priorities)
  • No follow-up after the event
  • Sales skeptical of event value

Actions:

  1. Get sales buy-in early: Include sales leadership in event planning
  2. Make it easier for AEs: Provide invite templates, automate follow-up tasks
  3. Tie to comp: Make event attendance/follow-up count toward sales quotas
  4. Prove ROI: Show AEs the pipeline generated from past events
  5. Target better: Only invite accounts that sales actively wants to engage

Success Metric: Sales Score increases to 70+ next time

If Marketing Score is Weakest (< 65)​

Root Causes:

  • Low attendance rate (< 60% of registered showed up)
  • Wrong audience (people outside target persona attended)
  • Poor registration conversion
  • Ineffective promotional channels

Actions:

  1. Improve targeting: Use tighter account lists, better persona filters
  2. Boost attendance rate: Add calendar holds, send day-before reminders, confirm attendance
  3. Upgrade content/speakers: Make the event more compelling (people skip boring events)
  4. Test new channels: Try different promotion tactics (LinkedIn, partner referrals, direct mail)
  5. Reduce registration friction: Simplify forms, remove unnecessary fields

Success Metric: Marketing Score increases to 70+ next time

If Attendee Score is Weakest (< 70)​

Root Causes:

  • Content wasn't relevant to audience needs
  • Logistics were poor (bad venue, tech issues, timing problems)
  • Attendees didn't feel it was worth their time
  • No clear takeaway or follow-up

Actions:

  1. Survey attendees: Ask what would make the event more valuable
  2. Improve content: More tactical/actionable sessions, better speakers
  3. Fix logistics: Choose better venues, improve A/V, better catering
  4. Add takeaways: Give attendees something valuable to take home (templates, research, tools)
  5. Shorten the event: If it's too long, cut it down

Success Metric: Attendee Score increases to 75+ next time

Example: Regional Conference​

Event: Cloud Infrastructure Summit Success Score: 68 (Sales: 60, Marketing: 75, Attendee: 70)

Diagnosis: Sales Score is the weak link. Sales team didn't prioritize the event.

Actions Taken:

  1. Got VP of Sales to co-sponsor the next event
  2. Made event invitations part of QBR account planning
  3. Created a "sales playbook" with pre-written invite emails
  4. Added sales incentive: $500 bonus for every qualified opp created from event attendees

Result: Next event Success Score jumped to 78 (Sales: 75, Marketing: 78, Attendee: 80)

Grade C: Investigate (40-59)​

What This Means​

This event underperformed. Multiple components are weak. You need to do a deep dive before running this event again.

Stop and Ask​

  1. Was the hypothesis wrong? (Wrong audience, wrong format, wrong timing?)
  2. Was execution the problem? (Could this work if we fixed logistics/promotion?)
  3. Is this event format viable? (Or should we try something completely different?)

Investigation Checklist​

  • Review the hypothesis: Did we target the right audience? Was the format appropriate?
  • Interview sales reps: Why didn't they engage? What would make this valuable to them?
  • Analyze attendee feedback: What did attendees say? (Check surveys, social media, follow-up calls)
  • Compare to other events: How does this compare to our Grade A events? What's different?
  • Calculate cost-per-outcome: Did we get any ROI? (Meetings booked, pipeline created, deals influenced)

Decision Tree​

Is the format fundamentally sound?
├─ Yes → Fix execution issues and rerun as Grade B
└─ No → Consider pausing or redesigning (treat as Grade D)

Did we generate ANY positive outcomes?
├─ Yes → Identify what worked, double down on that
└─ No → Strong signal to pause this event

Can we fix this with a reasonable budget increase?
├─ Yes → Consider allocating more resources
└─ No → Reallocate budget to higher-performing events

Example: Webinar Series​

Event: Weekly Product Webinar Success Score: 52 (Sales: 45, Marketing: 55, Attendee: 60)

Diagnosis:

  • Sales didn't promote webinars to their accounts (low Sales Score)
  • Registration was good but attendance was only 40% (low Marketing Score)
  • Content was too product-focused, not enough value (mediocre Attendee Score)

Actions Taken:

  1. Changed format: Monthly webinars instead of weekly (less fatigue)
  2. Improved content: Brought in customer speakers, made it more tactical
  3. Sales alignment: Only ran webinars that sales requested, with topics they cared about
  4. Attendance fixes: Added calendar invites, sent 1-hour reminders

Result: Next webinar Success Score jumped to 71 (Sales: 70, Marketing: 68, Attendee: 78)

Grade D/F: Pause (0-39)​

What This Means​

This event failed. All components are weak. You should not run this event again without a fundamental redesign.

Hard Questions​

  1. Why did this fail so badly? (Be honest—don't sugarcoat it)
  2. Is this event format viable for our business? (Maybe webinars/conferences/dinners just don't work for us)
  3. Should we reallocate this budget? (Could we get better ROI elsewhere?)

Pause or Kill?​

Pause if:

  • The hypothesis was good but execution was terrible (fixable)
  • External factors hurt the event (e.g., pandemic, weather, timing conflict)
  • This was the first attempt and we learned valuable lessons

Kill if:

  • Multiple iterations have failed
  • The event format doesn't match our audience's preferences
  • Cost-per-outcome is terrible compared to other channels
  • Sales team has consistently not engaged

What to Do Next​

  1. Document lessons learned: What did this event teach us? (Write a post-mortem)
  2. Reallocate budget: Move resources to Grade A events that are working
  3. Consider alternatives: If webinars failed, try in-person events. If large conferences failed, try small dinners.
  4. Reset expectations: If you try again, treat it as a brand new hypothesis with a fresh approach

Example: Trade Show Booth​

Event: Industry Conference Booth Success Score: 32 (Sales: 25, Marketing: 35, Attendee: 40)

Diagnosis:

  • Sales reps didn't staff the booth (had to use junior BDRs)
  • Only 10% of booth visitors were target accounts
  • Most conversations were tire-kickers, not qualified buyers
  • Cost-per-lead was 10x higher than digital channels

Decision: Kill this event format. Reallocated $50K budget to executive dinners (which consistently score 80+).

Priority Actions by Component​

If Your Weakest Component is Sales (< 60)​

High-Impact Actions (Do these first):

  1. Get sales leadership to co-sponsor the event
  2. Only invite accounts that sales actively wants to engage
  3. Make event follow-up part of the sales process (automated tasks in CRM)
  4. Prove ROI: Show sales the pipeline generated from past events
  5. Reduce friction: Provide templates, automate invites, make it easy

Medium-Impact Actions: 6. Tie events to sales comp/quotas 7. Create a sales playbook for event engagement 8. Host AE-led roundtables at the event (gives them ownership)

Low-Impact Actions: 9. Send sales weekly event updates 10. Celebrate wins from events in sales meetings

If Your Weakest Component is Marketing (< 60)​

High-Impact Actions (Do these first):

  1. Tighten targeting: Use better account/contact filters
  2. Boost attendance rate: Add calendar holds, send reminders, confirm attendance
  3. Improve content/speakers to make the event more compelling
  4. Test new promotional channels (LinkedIn ads, partner referrals, direct mail)
  5. Reduce registration friction (simpler forms, fewer fields)

Medium-Impact Actions: 6. Segment by persona (tailor messaging by role/industry) 7. Add social proof (customer speakers, testimonials, case studies) 8. Improve landing page copy and design

Low-Impact Actions: 9. A/B test email subject lines 10. Post more on social media

If Your Weakest Component is Attendee (< 70)​

High-Impact Actions (Do these first):

  1. Survey attendees: Ask what would make the event more valuable
  2. Improve content: More tactical/actionable sessions, better speakers
  3. Add takeaways: Give attendees templates, tools, research they can use
  4. Fix major logistics issues: Venue, A/V, catering, timing
  5. Shorten the event if it's too long

Medium-Impact Actions: 6. Add networking opportunities (structured 1:1 time) 7. Improve follow-up: Send recordings, slides, resources within 24 hours 8. Make it more interactive (Q&A, polls, roundtables)

Low-Impact Actions: 9. Better swag 10. Nicer venue

Quick Decision Guide​

Use this flowchart to decide what to do after your next event:

Calculate Success Score Score
│
├─ 80-100 (A) → Run Again
│   └─ Action: Replicate format, document playbook, scale strategically
│
├─ 60-79 (B) → Resize
│   ├─ Sales < 65? → Fix sales alignment, improve targeting, add incentives
│   ├─ Marketing < 65? → Boost attendance rate, improve targeting, test new channels
│   └─ Attendee < 70? → Improve content, fix logistics, add takeaways
│
├─ 40-59 (C) → Investigate
│   ├─ Fixable execution issues? → Treat as Grade B, implement fixes
│   └─ Fundamental problems? → Consider pausing or major redesign
│
└─ 0-39 (D/F) → Pause
    ├─ First attempt? → Document lessons, consider complete redesign
    └─ Multiple failures? → Kill event, reallocate budget to Grade A events

Next Steps​

  1. Calculate your event's Success Score using the How Success Score Works guide
  2. Identify your grade (A/B/C/D)
  3. Follow the playbook for your grade
  4. Take action on the highest-impact fixes
  5. Measure again at your next event to see if your improvements worked

Need help calculating Success Score? Use Event Karma to automatically track all metrics and get decision recommendations.