How to invite folks from a short event to do more work

A number of our clients and Community members do events to help market their business. Webinars, brown bag presentations, half day or full day workshops. These can all be fantastic ways to promote your business.

They can also be real flops. In the past, I’ve discussed how to get email addresses from a free talk.

Here, I’d like to discuss how to successfully invite participants to consider hiring you from an event, whether it’s free or paid.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, I want to share a spiritual teaching, and a design principle.

The Teaching: People need help

A lot of business owners are shy about selling their services at an event for two reasons.

The first is, especially if it’s a paid event, they shouldn’t be using any time at all to be selling. That’s a fair point, you shouldn’t use a huge block of time selling rather than teaching/engaging with folks on the promised topic.

The second reason is that they just feel shy, and don’t want to be “pushy.”

Here’s the challenge: anyone who really needs you help needs more than just a one-time event. They probably need in-depth, ongoing help. Offering the bridge to the help is actually a compassionate action, if done without manipulation.

I’d like to invite you to let go of thinking it’s about selling “you” and instead it’s really just about getting folks the help they need.

Breathe. Breathe again It’s okay to get people the help, and they can decided if they want it or not.

The Design Principle: Don’t present a last-minute decision

When heart-centered folks, most folks really, teach a workshop of some sort, they save any invitations for the very end. They do it quickly, poorly, shyly, while the folks in the room are anxious to finish up and leave. Oops.

People don’t easily make significant decisions last minute. Especially when they are full mentally or experientially from the event, and think they are nearly done.

Instead of doing the last-minute shy invitation, try doing it this way.

How to invite folks, in three steps.

Step 1. Introduce the idea early.

In the beginning of the event I like to set expectations of what is going to be covered, and to also let folks know that, obviously, we can’t get them all the way to the big results they need just from this one thing, and so I’ll be sharing options later, in case anyone feels they want more support.

That sets the stage.

Step 2. Use examples, stories and case studies of client work.

When you’re teaching, it’s important to tell stories that make what you are expressing real. At the same time, it helps to share that these case studies are from clients you’ve worked with. “I was working with a client on this issue, and this is what came up and how we tackled it, in light of what I’m teaching right now.”

This helps them know that you work with clients. It helps them think that maybe they could be clients, too.

Step 3. Make the invitation before the very end.

If it’s a one hour webinar, I’ll make the invitation at around 40 minutes, before the final Q&A. If it’s a full day workshop, I’ll do it before the final hour.

I’ll take enough time. I won’t take up too much time, say 5 minutes on a 1 hour webinar, or 10-15 minutes in a longer workshop, but I won’t rush it either.

Also, I won’t expect them to make a buy decision right then, especially if it’s something of significant cost. Instead, they can be invited to sign-up on a calendar for a time to discuss their individual needs and what might be best.

I’ve discussed at length how selling into a crowd at an event can be gross so you definitely want to do it with some real thought.

But, please do it, thoughtfully and with heart and care! Your people need help, and your business doesn’t need you to do all the hard work to make an event happen, and that be the end of it.

Thoughts? Questions? Experiences? I’d love to hear them.

With real appreciation,

Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.

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