CONVERTOne of the questions I get asked almost as much as How do you do a webinar?
is Why webinars? The answer is really pretty simple. A webinar is an event. A
webinar is something you should, and your prospects should, plan around. So, if
you invite someone to a webinar at 9 p.m. on Wednesday or 9 p.m. on a
Thursday, then they should make it a point to put in their calendar and actually
show up at 9 p.m.
Attendance rates are somewhat dipping and you can always tell at the end of a
webinar that the attendance rates tend to dip a little bit. But, the bottom line is
that webinars are an event. It is why webinars work; it is why automated
webinars work. It is a timed sales message; it is a timed training event.
It is always beneficial, not to call it a webinar, but to call it an event. Evan Pagan
has been doing a lot of virtual events, and that is simply a webinar that is timed.
People pay more money for them because he is known for doing such live
events.
In terms of an event, if you get tickets for a show at the area philharmonic, or
tickets for an air show in the summer at some air field, you go, or at least you try
to. You put it on the refrigerator, and you say, Saturday at 2 o’clock in the
afternoon, I am going to this event. Perhaps, it is a baby shower, or a Stag-and-
Drag or something, you go, or you try to. If you don’t, then you just don’t RSVP.
If you have RSVP’d, then you call and say, “I’m not going to be able to make
it.” So, that is the power of an event. Basically, you plan your whole schedule
around an event.
The thing about a webinar as an event is that you get to give people a whole lot
more information. Then you close with whatever it is you’re selling. You get to
go in and basically pick apart the problem that your prospects are having, the
people on the other end of this webinar, your attendees, and you get to teach
them something.
The nice thing is that your attendees can interact with you. They have a voice.
People on webinars use the question box; they use the chat box; you can do
polls; there are all kinds of things you can do in a webinar. But, again, people
actually have to show up in order to get that information.
Doubtless, you have received one of those free invites to an Investors’
Conference in the mail? They send you an envelope with an invitation to a free
dinner with some financial institute. They want you to invest money in their
401(k) product or to purchase real estate. They bribe you with the dinner or they
bribe you with the free event. Those things work because they are free.
You will see a room of 200 to 300 people—it’s a captive audience—they are
there for a reason. It is all based upon the Law of Reciprocity. If someone feeds
you, you’re at least going to give them an hour or two of your time in order to
listen to them talk. You’re not going to be rude, eat dinner and get up and leave.
You’re going to go, sit down, have a meal, and listen to the speaker line-up.