If you are a B2B marketer, then lead generation is simultaneously one of your biggest goals and challenges. Today you have many different options to generate leads for B2B businesses, but one of the most reliable methods is still the good old live event.
Live events are so effective because they:
- Build credibility – When a prospect takes the time to attend your event it makes a statement. It says that they respect you enough to take time out of their busy schedule to spend with you. It says that they believe you have something important to say and they want to hear it
- Are a significant event – An event is a specific point in time that the prospect has to dedicate to your business. It is not a “one day we will have coffee,” it is the time you have been searching for. It is your time to show them how you can help
- Put you in control – When a prospect attends your event it is on your terms. You control the room, the message and the relationship for that event. There is a shift in power and you are are leading the relationship, maybe for the first time
- Earn the right to sell – If you genuinely provide value to the attendees in the presentation, then you will be seen as a trusted advisor. If you do this correctly then at the end when it is time for your sales pitch, they will be happy to hear it, because you earned the right to deliver it.
So how do you create a live event that attracts new prospects and successfully converts a percentage of those prospects into new clients? These are the four main components.
1. Promotion
The number of leads you generate from a live event is directly proportional to your promotion strategy you apply. Sounds like a no brainer I know but many businesses just don’t put the effort in and get disappointing results.
If you are going to put on a live event, then you should be dedicating 80% of your time on promotion. Today there are so many ways you can promote your event using digital marketing. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but you have to put in the man hours. You can find out more about promoting an event at [Link coming soon]
2. Teach and Sell
If you make the effort to organise a live event for your prospects, it makes sense that you expect to sell your services to them. There are good and bad ways to sell at a live event. You have a few options:
- Sell – Make your whole presentation a sales pitch. This is bad for the prospects
- Teach THEN Sell – Teach your attendees about something they find valuable and then present your sales pitch at the end. This is good for the attendee but not good for you as people don’t like to be sold to
- Teach AND Sell – During the presentation you continually teach something then sell, then teach, then sell throughout the presentation. This is good for attendee and good for you. The attendees don’t even know you have been selling to them as you are mixed it in with the content
The Teach and Sell Method is the most effective because by the time you reach the end of the presentation your attendees are already convinved that what you have to offer is valuable.
Some of the best ways to sell during the presentation is by using case studies, discuss real examples and by showing part of your solution to illustrate a point. If you have a product you can actually show how the product solved a challenge you are discussing.
At the end of the presentation the attendees should be itching to hear more about how you can help them solve their challenges because they have seen how you have solved challenges for your exiting clients. By the time you move into your sales pitch you should have the audience attentive with expectation.
You should take on the role of a teacher during the presentation, not a sales person. People respect someone who teaches them, someone who helps them get better at their job or solve a problem. Most people don’t have the same respect for a sales person. So become a teacher and earn their respect. Deliver value and win their trust.
3. A Great Offer
Your whole event should be built around a great offer. The marketing, the presentation and the offer should all focus on one pain point of your ideal client. Not just any pain point, but the biggest pain they have. People don’t want to solve little pains, they want to solve the biggest one first.
If you want clients to self-select and buy without having to be a sleazy sales person, then just focus on pain points and the sales will follow. Too many businesses focus on what they want to get out of an event, instead of what the client needs to get out of an event.
Don’t be that kind of business that fails at events. Focus on client challenges and solve those challenges at your events.
4. Follow Up Campaign
Most people who attend your event won’t be ready to make a buying decision at the event. Some will, but most will be at a different part of the buyers journey. A rock solid follow-up campaign needs to be in place before you hold the event because the follow up is where most of your sales will be won or lost.
Research shows it takes more than 7 contacts with a prospect before they make a buying decision. The live event is just one of those contacts. So unless you set in place an effective follow-up campaign then you will lose these opportunities.
An effective follow-up campaign can include all of the follow touch points:
- Emails
- Phone Calls
- SMS
- Webinars
- Live Events
Email and phone calls are low cost and the most important to include in your follow up campaign. SMS, webinars and live events are also recommended as they are high value, but they cost more to execute.
You can find out more about follow-up campaigns at [Link Coming Soon]
Summary
As you can see live training events are a great way to generate, nurture and convert new prospects into paying client. Get the promotion right, educate your clients, have a strong offer and follow up each attendee to ensure you take advantage of every opportunity you have created.