The fintech event GTM playbook

Many fintech companies invest heavily in events like Dubai Fintech Summit, Money20/20, or the Banking Transformation Summit hoping to meet buyers, accelerate deals, and fill pipeline. But the reality?

Most of that budget goes up in smoke.

Booths are packed, reps are busy - but by the time the event ends, the pipeline numbers don’t add up. Why? Because the sales plan is rushed, the targets are unclear, and the outreach is too generic to matter.

This article breaks down 10 proven sales strategies that fast-moving fintech GTM teams use to lock in meetings before the event floor opens, and drive real revenue after the booths are packed up.

Why fintech teams need a pre-event plan

Most fintechs burn 60–70% of their event budget on logistics and ‘visibility’ - without a plan to turn those dollars into pipeline.

The biggest reasons this happens:

• Outreach starts too late. Decision-makers' calendars are full 3–4 weeks in advance.

• Messaging is generic. Compliance leaders get the same emails as Heads of Product.

• Follow-up is slow. Warm leads go cold within days.

Fintech events are not brand plays. They're high-stakes sales plays.

Pre-event planning matters even more in fintech because:

• Sales cycles are long — often 3–6 months with multiple internal approvals

• Multiple stakeholders weigh in — including compliance, fraud, IT, and risk

• Messaging needs legal clearance — generic pitches won’t fly with regulated buyers

Want to understand the full impact? Read Why your event ROI falls short & how to fix it.

Let’s make this real:

1. Build a shared ICP and role-level target list

Most event teams go wide: "Let’s talk to anyone at a bank."

Winning teams go deep: "We’re targeting compliance leads at mid-sized payments firms expanding into Europe."

In one case, a Series B fintech in the ID verification space tripled their pre-booked meetings by aligning early:

• Marketing sourced the event list and enriched titles with LinkedIn + Clay/Clearbit

• Sales flagged champions and blockers in target accounts

• RevOps tagged the leads in HubSpot with custom fields like "Money20/20 - Priority Prospect"

You’re not just ‘going to a conference.’ You’re going with a hit list.

What to define together:

• Which accounts are strategic (expanding, funded, competitive displacement)?

• Who are the roles you must engage (Head of Fraud, Compliance Manager, VP of Payments)?

• What challenges are most urgent to them right now (DORA deadlines, eKYC backlog, fraud queue growth)?

  
  

2. Start outreach 6–8 weeks in advance

By the time most SDRs start sending messages, your buyers are booked solid.

Reps show up to the booth and ask, “So… who are we meeting?”

High-performing fintechs start 6–8 weeks out:

• Week 1–2: Prospecting and research

• Week 3–4: Message testing and warm-up (engagement on LinkedIn)

• Week 5–6: Meeting booking blitz

What works:

• Personalized pain > flashy product. E.g. “Saw your team expanding into Brazil - how are you tackling AML screening compliance ahead of local licensing?”

• Role-specific urgency. E.g. “Most fraud teams we speak with say post-transaction fraud is rising fast. Is this a priority for your roadmap?”

• Subtle CTA. E.g. “Would a quick intro at Money20/20 be helpful if we’ve solved this for others in your space?”

  
  

3. Use enriched attendee lists, not just raw CSVs

Event organizers will give you a list. But that’s just a starting point - not your target list.

The raw list will be:

• Full of duplicate names and typos

• Missing titles, emails, or departments

• Filled with irrelevant attendees (HR, vendors, students)

What great teams do:

• Enrich with tools like Apollo, Clay, or ZoomInfo

• Map job titles to personas (e.g., “VP, Risk” → Compliance Champion)

• Filter by company type, region, and recent intent (funding, job posts, product launches)

• Assign priority tiers in CRM (T1 = must book meeting, T2 = engage on LinkedIn, T3 = low-fit)

Read more about enrichment in How to capture high-intent leads at events without wasting budget.

4. Segment messaging by buying stage

Not every buyer is ready to book a demo. But every buyer has something they care about.

Create 3 segments:

• Awareness - new to your category, facing pain but unsure of solutions

  Message: “We’re seeing compliance teams get crushed by false positives lately. Sound familiar?”

• Consideration - exploring options, open to ideas

  Message: “We’re helping a few risk leads reduce queue backlog by 35% - can share how we’re doing it at Money20/20.”

• Decision - comparing vendors, ready to act

  Message: “We’re booking 1:1s with a few teams evaluating IDV tools - worth a quick chat?”

Tailoring outreach by stage = higher reply rates and better meetings.

5. Invite execs to closed-door events

Want to get a Head of Risk or VP of Compliance to show up?
Don’t send them to your booth. Invite them to something exclusive.

Ideas:

• Private dinner with peers and select customers

• Roundtable on “Navigating DORA and eKYC in 2025”

• Invite-only compliance breakfast with an ex-regulator or analyst

Execution:

• Identify 10–15 target execs from Tier 1 accounts

• Send hand-written or video invites 4–5 weeks ahead

• Frame it as peer learning, not a sales pitch

This works. Especially if your event is noisy and full of vendors yelling.

6. Use influencer amplification

Most fintech execs trust peers, regulators, and analysts - not vendors.

Leverage:

• A compliance advisor who’s an ex-Bank of England regulator

• A fintech newsletter creator (e.g. someone covering embedded finance)

• Your customer’s Head of Ops sharing their journey

Tactics:

• Have them post about your event session or dinner

• Include a quote or insight from them in your invite

• Mention they’ll be attending when reaching out to others

This also supports dark social and long-term brand equity. More in What top field marketers are doing differently in 2025.

7. Automate meeting booking across time zones

Don’t play email ping-pong with your prospects.

Add Calendly or Chili Piper links to every message. Route leads to the right rep automatically.

Tips:

• Pre-set 15-min “event coffee chat” slots

• Label the calendar: “Money20/20 onsite meeting”

• Use round-robin routing based on territory or deal ownership

Speed to slot = higher conversion.

8. Pre-qualify leads with smart content

Don’t wait till the event to figure out who’s worth your time.

Send targeted resources before the event that reveal intent:

• ROI calculators for fraud tools (try ours for events here)

• DORA compliance checklists

• “How your peers are reducing false positives” guides

Behavior tells you who’s serious:

• Who opened the checklist?

• Who spent time on the benchmark report?

• Who clicked to compare tools?

Prioritize these leads for meetings.

9. Track progress in a unified CRM system

Events get chaotic. If your data is messy, follow-up fails.

Before the event:

• Create fields like Event Name, Lead Source = Money20/20 Booth, Buying Stage, Meeting Booked, Next Step

• Align on lead ownership: who’s sending follow-up and when?

During the event:

• Capture convo notes in mobile-friendly forms

• Tag meeting outcomes: HOT, WARM, COLD

After the event:

• Trigger workflows for follow-up within 48 hours

This system turns chaos into conversion.

10. Plan the follow-up before the event starts

Your window is 48 hours. After that, they forget your name.

Steps to build a faster post-event follow-up plan:

• Draft follow-up templates in advance (by persona)

• Prep LinkedIn messages to trigger post-meeting

• Create a Notion page or microsite with custom resources

• Have AEs/Sales Engineers ready to personalize based on convo notes

One fintech team that nailed this at Banking Transformation Summit saw a 3x lift in replies - because they followed up the next morning, not two weeks later.

Want more? See Why slow event follow-ups kill conversions.

How to measure real pipeline impact

Vanity metrics (booth scans, traffic) don’t win deals.

What to track:

• Meetings held - tracked in CRM with buyer persona

• Opportunities created - within 14 days post-event

• Pipeline velocity - compare pre-event vs. non-event opps

• Revenue influenced - tie back to campaigns in HubSpot/Salesforce

• Time to first touch - after the event (should be <48 hours)

To get deeper, check out the real cost of bad event attribution or try our ROI calculator.

Final takeaways

If you’re serious about driving ROI from events like Money20/20 or Dubai Fintech Summit, your prep starts now - not when the booth goes up.

✅ Start 6–8 weeks early to reach busy decision-makers
✅ Align your team on ICPs, messaging, and follow-up
✅ Turn raw data into prioritized meetings
✅ Move fast after the event to keep momentum

The fintech teams that treat events like sales sprints - not marketing theater - are the ones turning conversations into deals.

FAQ: fintech event sales planning

1. How early should fintech teams start outreach before a major event?
   Start 6–8 weeks before the event. Senior buyers’ calendars fill early, especially at global events like Money20/20 or Dubai Fintech Summit.

   
   

2. What’s the best way to identify high-value attendees?
   Enrich the event attendee list with job titles, department, and recent company signals (funding, expansion, tech stack). Prioritize based on ICP fit and role influence.

   
   

3. How do fintech teams handle compliance in pre-event messaging?
   PMM should lead the messaging with early input from legal. Especially for regulated claims or features (e.g. AML automation, eKYC workflows), ensure approved copy is reviewed 4–6 weeks ahead to avoid last-minute fire drills or legal issues.

   
   

4. How much of the event budget should go to pre-event planning?
   40–50% of the total budget should go toward data acquisition, outreach tools, content, and private event planning - not just booths and travel.

   
   

5. How can small fintechs compete with bigger brands at large events?
   Be sharper. Pick a niche use case, personalize every touchpoint, and focus on specific execs - not the crowd. Speed and relevance > booth size.