In a recent episode of The Revenue Room™ Podcast, H2K Labs’ CEO, Heather Holst-Knudsen, interviewed Kate Spellman, Chief Commercial Officer at Questex, about the evolving landscape of B2B media and events. With her extensive experience in the industry, Kate shared valuable insights on how Questex is adapting to industry changes and driving growth.
Key Highlights
The Power of Data in Decision-Making
Kate emphasized the critical role of data in Questex's operations, particularly in empowering their commercial team. By centralizing customer data in Salesforce, Questex has gained real-time visibility into their business performance. This shift has enabled more informed decision-making and faster responses to market changes.
“All of our customer data is now in Salesforce. That has made a huge difference because we are actually able to look at it, which we were not able to do when we wouldn't know what that month's rollup was until two months later.” Kate said.
Leveraging AI for Sales Optimization
Questex has also adopted Gong, an AI-powered conversation intelligence platform. Kate shared her surprise at Gong's effectiveness: "It will give you a probability of close, which I think is so interesting and such great learnings for someone like me, but it also helps us train new salespeople.
This AI-driven approach not only improves sales forecasting accuracy but also enhances the onboarding and training process for new sales team members.
Enhancing Customer Value with Data
Questex is also focusing on empowering their customers with data-driven insights. They're partnering with Channel Metrics to launch a unified end-to-end campaign and lead generation reporting tool that will provide customers with a unified dashboard of their marketing and event performance metrics. And, smartly, they are piloting Channel Metrics with their Telecom division before rolling out enterprise wide.
"The customer will actually have a dashboard that includes lead reporting, Google analytics, event reporting all in one dashboard. So it's not product by product, which is how we report today," Kate explained. This initiative aims to demonstrate clear ROI to clients while also opening up opportunities for upselling through audience scoring.
Challenges and Threats
Kate didn't shy away from discussing the threats facing the B2B media and events industry. She highlighted concerns about the impact of AI on traditional search and advertising models, as well as the challenges of data sprawl and rapidly changing attendee expectations for events.
Despite these challenges, Kate remains optimistic about Questex's ability to adapt: "I think we just also have to stay very true to who we are... without getting distracted by the next big shiny penny."
Revenue Growth Strategies
Questex has successfully launched new events and products by leveraging data insights. For example, they launched The Hospitality Show based on observed audience interests. The Hospitality Show was one of Questex’s most successful launches across all KPIs bringing together over 3,800 attendees, 320 exhibitors, 100 industry-leading speakers, and revenues in the seven figure range in its first year (2023).
Collaboration with Revenue Room™ Connect
Kate was very excited about what she was able to take back to the office from participating in the inaugural Lunch Lab NYC event, a rapid learning program for C-suite executives produced by Revenue Room™ Connect, a new solution by H2K Labs. As a Revenue Room™ Connect Executive Advisory Board Member, Kate’s looking forward to the upcoming RevvedUP 2025 event, which will focus on fueling enterprise value by leveraging data, digital, and AI. RevvedUP 2025 takes place February 25-27 at The Art Ovation Hotel in Sarasota, FL.
Kate expressed her excitement about the event, stating, "What you're doing is truly imperative. I think to not only Questex, but to the industry ahead." (Thank you, Kate!)
Throughout the interview, Kate emphasized the need for B2B media companies to be agile, data-driven, and customer-centric. She highlighted Questex's success in beating revenue and EBITDA targets through double-digit growth while acknowledging the need for continuous adaptation to maintain this momentum.
As the B2B media landscape continues to evolve, leaders like Kate Spellman are at the forefront, navigating challenges and seizing opportunities. Her insights provide a valuable roadmap for others in the industry looking to drive growth and innovation in an increasingly complex and technology-driven environment.
The Podcast & Revenue Room™ Connect
Interested in hearing the full podcast? You can listen to the podcast on the channels listed below:
Apple:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4zKnXKmIhcKSfXG5km50F8?si=Uju357LpRuyGrk79VVVEHQ
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvKztUvuIJQ
Other important links:
- Please click here to learn more about Revenue Room Connect and if membership is right for you.
- To request an invitation to RevvedUP 2025, please click here.
- You can connect with Kate Spellman on LinkedIn.
About H2K Labs
H2K Labs is a tech-enabled value creation specialist, the host of The Revenue Room™ Podcast, curator of Revenue Room™ Connect, and producer of RevvedUP 2025 We help media, data/information, and marketplace businesses accelerate revenue, drive profitability, and fuel enterprise value using data, digital, and AI. We are an added-value reseller of data and AI solutions that are purpose-built for the industries we serve including Insightify and Channel Metrics.
About The Author
Heather Holst-Knudsen boasts deep roots in B2B media, events, data, and SaaS sectors. With beginnings in her family business, Thomas Publishing Company (now under Xometry), she brings years of expertise and passion for multi-faceted business models, data analytics, revenue, and profitability. As the founder and CEO of H2K Labs, Heather helps clients boost revenues, enhance profitability, and increase enterprise value by strategically activating data, digital technologies, and AI.
Her latest venture, Revenue Room™ Connect, is a professional network for CEOs and their revenue-critical teams to learn and execute the core foundations required to reshape, modernize and transform their organizations into scalable, high-performing, data-centric entities ready to compete and win. Revenue Room™ Connect will host its first face-to-face summit, RevvedUP 2025, on February 25-17th, in Sarasota FL.
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