Stop Calling Them “Webinars” When They Are Really Commercials
“Free Commercial — I Mean Course!”
How many times has this happened to you:
You sign up for a free training from someone making six-figures doing something that you can do. The copy promises “three secrets to their success” or something similar.
You sign up because you really dig their Instagram page. You get a link and get in there.
The first thing you notice— there’s no way to increase the speed of the video or skip ahead. This means you are spending 10 minutes of your 30-minute webinar listening to the presenter greet people who are late.
Finally, the presenter stops greeting people and starts the slides. The first five slides are all about them. You spend the next 15 minutes learning about their struggle and their eventual success with no tips or stepping stones for you as promised.
Right when you start to give up, the words, “Now, it’s time for me to share the three secrets that got me where I am today,” or something like that.
You buckle back in. In 60 seconds or less, they say something obvious like, “Know your ‘why,’ identify your ideal client avatar, and charge what you’re worth but also work for free.”
_sigh_
At this point, you leave the webinar, because it is clear to you now that this was an email address collection tactic.
No one is saying that lead generation is bad, but misleading people is.
Here are three key things you can do to take your webinar from annoying commercial to helpful and converting.
1. Edit Before You Share
If you are using a recording of a live webinar, that’s awesome and very efficient. Make it efficient for your audience as well by being honest about the facts. Tell them it is prerecorded and edit out any unneeded dialogue with the previous live participants.
2. Eliminate the need for a skip-ahead or speed increase option.
Instead of front-loading your webinar with the audio version of your life story, jump right into the goods! Tell your attendees what they are going to gain from your free webinar.
Phrases like, “By the end of this webinar, you will ____,” and, “If you are experiencing (problem/pain point), then in the next (however long your webinar is), I will not only tell you how to eliminate this problem — I will actually show you how to do it.”
3. Up-sell later.
We all need clients that are willing to pay for high ticket items to stay in business. What we do not need a reputation for wasting people’s time.
After you’ve taught or shared something of genuine value with your audience, give them some action steps. Invite them to try out what they’ve learned for however many days you believe they need to prove your advice is effective.
Follow up with an email, and ask them how they’re doing. If they need extra assistance offer a coaching call or your businesses equivalent of an a la carte service. If they saw wild results, ask them to imagine what other great things you can accomplish together and pitch your high-end product.
With better webinars and masterclasses, you can show people that you really know your stuff and those big-ticket services are an investment, not a cost.
