Ep. 47 Changing the Game: Events as a Sales Funnel | Erica Maurer
How Businesses Can Use Events to Fill Their Pipeline
I have never minced words about this. I HATE SELLING. It feels icky to me and I avoid it at all costs. There are three activities that have sold for me over the past three years:
LinkedIn
Referrals
Events
Today, we’re diving into that third one, selling with events.
One of the most potent yet underutilized approaches is leveraging events to fill their sales pipeline. Decades of experience and success stories have shown that events – whether physical or virtual, paid or free – offer a significant platform for direct interaction with potential customers, demonstrating expertise, and driving conversions.
The Event as a Sales Funnel
For individuals who dread the thought of traditional selling, hosting an event, such as a workshop, offers a more organic and comfortable opportunity to convince potential clients or customers. Here, the event serves as a full sales funnel – it's all about showing what you know and proving your worth. By delivering a powerful talk or insightful workshop, the presenter can demonstrate their expertise, effectively doing the selling for them. Upon the conclusion of the event, attendees are more likely to be convinced of the organizer's abilities, making it considerably easier to finalize agreements and contracts.
In addition, showcasing social proof becomes significantly more effortless in an event setting. By regularly hosting and participating in events, the host grows with their audience, enhancing their presence both physically and on digital media platforms. Social proof may include pictures from past events, testimonials, and other evidence of success and quality of work, giving prospective customers an assurance that the outcome of their dealings with the host would be satisfactory.
Using Event Content for Social Proof
The effectiveness of event content cannot be overstated when generating social proof. Through the use of professional multimedia coverages, such as photography and videography at event venues, the host can effectively communicate their capabilities and successes. Every picture or video clip from a previously held event could essentially serve as a testament to the host's ability to deliver successful events. Thus, even if new clients do not participate in an ongoing event, seeing your results during such events could pique their interest and create a desire to collaborate.
Maximizing the Value of Event Participation
When preparing to participate in an event, particularly as a speaker, maintaining a good "sizzle reel" and an attractive deck to introduce themselves and their value proposition is essential. Having evidence of your ability to draw crowds, like statistics, and testimonials can serve to continuously build social proof and validate your speaking credentials. This, in turn, can lead to further speaking engagements and the ability to reach more potential customers.
But it’s not just about reaching a more significant number of potential customers; it's also about providing value that your attendees can take home with them. Whether you're running a one-day conference or a week-long workshop series, each day needs to have a valuable skillset that the attendees can learn and implement. This strategy allows participants to see real, tangible change in their situations, effectively moving the trust needle in your favor.
Generating Leads and Conversions from Events
Events provide an opportunity for attendees to connect further, whether through social media, downloadable materials, or additional workshops. By providing valuable offers or added incentives for fast action-takers, such as one-on-one strategy sessions or inclusion in a masterclass, attendees are more likely to respond and engage, thus filling your pipeline.
Furthermore, the urgency of exclusivity and time-limited offers often drives attendees to act faster to sign up or engage more with your brand. After all, nobody wants to miss out on valuable opportunities - the fear of missing out can be a powerful motivator.
Transforming Event Attendance into Sales Opportunities
If you're hosting a workshop or delivering a talk, you need to address the challenges your audience is likely facing and offer solutions that can provide a mini transformation. This approach shows attendees the value of working with you since they can already see a small improvement. The next step is then to encourage them to take immediate action after your talk. By offering fast-action bonuses or time-limited offers, you can motivate your audience to move from a passive listener to an active participant in your sales environment.
Another effective method of lead conversion in events is the use of opt-in pages that allow hosts to collect data and email addresses from attendees. This data can be used to nurture relationships with potential clients, build the sales pipeline, and even retarget interested attendees with appropriate and personalized offerings.
Events provide an interactive platform, enabling businesses to demonstrate their expertise, connect with potential clients, and fill their sales pipeline. The direct interaction, social proof, and value provided at events propel potential clients towards becoming actual ones. With the right objectives, strategies, and offers, any business can successfully utilize events to grow their customer base and enhance their market presence.
Resources Mentioned
🔗 Resources mentioned:
Meet Our Guest, Erica Maurer
Erica Maurer is a veteran in the events, marketing, and hospitality industry. She is an entrepreneur, owner, event producer, coach, and speaker. She graduated from Tufts Undergraduate and received her master’s from Columbia University. She is a Partner at EMRG Media, a leading events, marketing, production and creative agency. Her company created The Event Planner Expo, the leading trade - show for the events, marketing and hospitality industry. EMRG Media produces events for clients in the corporate, celebrities, brands, social and non-profit sectors. Some of her clients include ABC, NBC Universal, BuzzFeed, Columbia Records, Cardi B, Robin Hood Foundation, 1 800 Flowers, Pitchbook, Twitter, Fiver and Google to name some. Erica has generated over 100 million in events.
Episode Highlights
00:00:00: Introduction
00:01:26: Importance of using events for business promotion
00:02:02: Q&A about using events for business promotion
00:03:04: Event documentation and its importance
00:04:18: How to get bookings for events
00:05:00: Advice for those without a sizzle reel
00:06:15: How to turn an audience to a sales relationship
00:06:31: Discussion about workshops
00:07:07: Coaching experience and ways to convert audience
00:08:01: Showing the audience they're stuck
00:08:56: Teaching during a conference
00:09:36: Addressing challenges and offering minor transformations
00:10:45: Putting together a workshop and getting audience to take action
00:11:03: Techniques for audience conversion
00:12:18: The idea of family session reunion
00:14:15: Techniques when you are not allowed to sell from the stage
00:17:09: The value of speaking on stages
00:18:11: Tips for filling the pipeline when it comes to events
00:19:29: Information about the upcoming Event Planner Expo
00:20:50: Closing out the event and after party
00:21:00: Details on event timeframe
00:21:04: Special promo code information
00:21:22: How to access the discount
00:21:37: Event location and dates
00:21:42: Accommodation details
00:22:00: Concluding the interview
00:22:03: Sarah's social media presence
