Hosting your own webinars can be incredibly frustrating.
It seems like your competitors are all making tons of money by presenting free promotional webinars. They deliver great content, then do a sales pitch at the end of the webinar and bring in tons of sales.
However, you’re starting to get perturbed. You’re delivering useful, engaging content, and you’re getting rave reviews on every webinar you present. But you can’t seem to make any sales.
At this point, you’re starting to wonder if should continue hosting webinars at all.
I get it. I’ve been there.
My webinar sales confession
I’ve got a confession to make.
For two years, I presented webinars for my audience, but didn’t make any sales.
Time after time, I’d end my webinars and open my email inbox, hoping to see a flood of orders. And every time, I was disappointed. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.
On the bright side, running webinars was working beautifully for me as a list-building technique, and they also helped me increase my online authority. I kept doing them, hoping eventually I would figure out how to make webinar sales.
Then one day, after a particularly frustrating webinar experience, I had a stroke of good luck.
I was attending an in-person Copyblogger staff meeting and happened to get seated right between Sonia Simone and Chris Garrett.
As I sat there stewing in my own webinar failures, I thought to myself, “You are sitting between two of the finest minds in content marketing. It’s time to swallow your pride and ask for help.”
So during the next break, I summoned all my courage and explained my webinar woes to Sonia and Chris.
How I broke the webinar code (with the help of my two biggest online heroes)
Sonia and Chris immediately diagnosed my biggest sales problem and gave me some priceless advice on how to turn things around.
After I came home, I decided to do one last webinar. I promised myself that if I didn’t make any sales, I would stop doing webinars and move on to a different lead generation strategy.
I took Sonia’s and Chris’s advice and revamped my webinar presentation from the ground up. The new presentation was big on content, but also included an updated sales pitch. I also went into the presentation with a completely different mindset.
And when I opened up my email inbox after I wrapped up the webinar, I saw something amazing: There were 20 product orders from webinar attendees.
It was a groundbreaking moment. With Sonia’s and Chris’s help, I had cracked the webinar code.
So what did I do differently during that final “Hail Mary” webinar?
How to create webinar presentations that consistently convert
Build a short sign-up page that clearly describes what your reader will get if they attend your webinar
Create a compelling title for the webinar, then include two to three bullet points that focus on the benefits of your presentation.
If you’re struggling to create a catchy webinar title, use the same principles you’d use to write blog post headlines.
Keep your copy short and clear. Make sure your bullets are simple, easy to read, and include a crystal clear call to action.
Tell your story at the beginning of the webinar
Before you begin delivering your practical, actionable content, take five to 10 minutes to tell your story.
If possible, describe a situation where you struggled with something and then figured out a way to break through that problem or issue.
Telling your story humanizes you, makes you relatable, and gets your audience to trust you — right from the start of your presentation.
Stop apologizing for selling
This is a really common problem for webinar presenters. If you apologize for selling and feel like you don’t deserve to deliver a sales pitch, your webinar participants will sense it and your conversions will plummet.
You can “earn” your selling time by delivering useful, unique, relevant content. Then exude confidence in your offer, and take your time explaining your product or service.
Yes, this might be uncomfortable, especially the first couple of times you do it, but you must be willing to tolerate a little discomfort. You don’t need to be sleazy or shady — just deliver your sales pitch with confidence.
Remember this nugget of wisdom from Chris Garrett:
Your product can help people solve their problems or reach their goals, and you don’t need to apologize for offering it to your webinar participants.
Add scarcity to your offer
Offer a fast-action bonus that is only available to people who buy the product before the end of the webinar.
Make the bonus juicy enough that it will motivate people to pull out their wallets. You can offer group Q&A sessions, individual coaching time with you, interviews, free reports, or access to exclusive Facebook groups — anything your audience will really want.
Send potential buyers directly to a checkout page
When you sell a product or service during a webinar, you have to give webinar participants a URL where they can go to complete their purchases. Your best bet is to send people to a simple checkout page.
Your conversion rate will decrease if you send webinar participants to a long-form sales letter. If they’re going to your website to buy, they’re already convinced — all you need to do is provide the checkout page and make the transaction quick and easy.
That means you need to describe your product thoroughly during your webinar presentation. Describe the features and benefits, use testimonials, and address objections — everything you would normally do in your sales copy.
Put it all into the sales presentation, then send your attendees directly to a checkout page to complete the sale.
Here’s a screenshot of the checkout page I use for my Pinterest-related webinars:
Why you shouldn’t give up on webinars
There are tons of ways to use webinars to build your business. They can bring in a consistent stream of subscribers, blog readers, and buyers.
But you need to be a smart webinar salesperson to make sure your webinars don’t turn into a stressful, unprofitable time-drain.
Using these techniques, you can make more sales from your webinars while making the whole process less stressful and a whole lot more fun.
Stop apologizing, start telling your story, and get ready to bring in big sales from every webinar presentation you do.
Have additional strategies helped you increase webinar sales?
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