The world of automation and replays with both teleseminars & webinars has taken off over the last 6 months.

Services that used to cost thousands of dollars … a lot of manpower … and still enough screw-ups to cause sleepless nights have become dramatically cheaper and more fool-proof.

I’m in the midst of updating my paid clients with the new automation service & vendor options plus the strategies to use them, but I am also going to release some for free on this blog.

Starting with a “look over my shoulder” video of how we program in automation follow-up sequences in Infusion.

So, two questions …

First, if there is anything specific you’d like me to cover, leave a comment below.

Second, if you’d like me to cover sequences in a system other than InfusionSoft, let me know.

No promises on answering either one (unless you are inside the pay-wall) … but I will take them into consideration and do what I can.

Be well,
Michael Cage

P.S. Here is a free video overview on teleseminar & webinar replay and automation strategy. I recommend checking it out if you haven’t already.

I’m hunkered down at home in Leesburg, VA today, basking in the aftermath of the parts 1 and 2 of the East Coast Blizzard 2010.

As I write this, nearly 4 feet of snow have fallen outside my door. At one point, it was falling at about 2 inches an hour.

Just piling and piling up.

Should be fun digging out of this.

Anyways, watching the snowfall  got me thinking about your teleseminars and webinars and the endless potential for profits they give you when you understand the power of automation.

You see, if you do a teleseminar or webinar once and don’t automate it, the next time you need money you have to go back and repeat the same work all over again.

But when you do a teleseminar or webinar once and automate the process, you can move on to the next big thing while that one session runs constantly, generating income for you day and night.

Like this ‘round the clock snowfall, automated “sessions that sell” can dump blizzard-like piles of profits on your business.

I lit the fireplace in my office/studio and recorded a 15-minute video on the teleseminar & webinar automation strategy and how it applies to your business.

Just press play.

Be well,
Michael Cage

P.S. If you want the definitive training on teleseminars & webinars that sell … INCLUDING exactly how to integrate automation into your business and sales processes … you should enroll in my training on the topic. I’m in the home stretch of the 2009-2010 Teleseminars & Webinars That Sell training (everyone who enrolls on that page gets the new training free).

There is no doubt about it:

Lead generation webinars work and work well …

… but after working with hundreds of companies, some spending millions of dollars on generating prospects with their webinars, I am certain your webinars — and the lead generation campaigns they are part of — aren’t working as well as they could be.

While there are dozens of advanced strategies that can boost response, decrease lead cost, and increase lead quality; before you even think about diving into them you should check to make sure the right foundation is in place.

Why?

Because even the most successful companies I have worked with are usually making dramatic mistakes that are costing them money and time.

In this post, you’ll find an even dozen of the most common mistakes companies make with lead generation webinars.

They are broken into three categories: 1) what has to happen before your webinar, 2) how you deliver your webinar, and 3) what you do after your webinar is complete.

Mistakes that happen before your lead gen webinar

1. Not offering different webinars to different segments of customers. This is a mistake in overall strategy. Too often, companies offer one “blanket” webinar in which the try to be all things to all people. Big mistake. Your webinars will generate better leads higher when you segment your market and tailor specific webinars to each of your best clusters of customers. Why? Because the more targeted your message, the more your attendees feel like you understand them and the more they want to get involved.

2. Choosing a dry, “me too” topic and title. Is your webinar title dull, broad and “business like?” If so, it’s one of the reasons your prospects are less likely to register for your webinar in the first place. The best titles elicit an emotional response from the prospects who read them. These titles make them stop in their tracks and think, “Yes, I have to have this information. This is well worth an hour of my time.” And if your webinar title doesn’t do this, you’ll never attract the kind of hungry, qualified prospects you desire.

Too often companies run their lead generation webinar on the same generic topics: a demo of this or a preview of that. And they run the same ones over and over all year long. Which is, in a way, good news for you. It means it’s easy for you to be different and to stand out from your competition. One way to do it is to capitalize on current news and trends. Constantly ask yourself this question, “What is my market most aware of or concerned with right now?” Then tie your webinar and it’s enticing title to that, and you’ll generate significantly more interest.

3. Not surveying your prospects after registration. So you’ve grabbed your ideal prospect with your irresistible topic and title, and they’ve registered for your webinar. Immediately after registration, do you offer them a survey? If not, your making another costly mistake, for two reasons.

• Surveys tell you more about who’s going to be on your webinar and allow your to tailor your presentation to the specific needs and desires of your attendees. You’d be surprised how open and honest people are with the anonymity of a private form. Which means you can gain new insights into your market that help you make stronger connections and bigger sales.
• The more your prospects interact with you and your company before the webinar, the more likely they are to show up. The small investment in time and information gets them excited about attending. And, when they know there’s a possibility one of their questions or concerns will be address, they’ll pay closer attention once they’re there, making it easier for you to convert them.

4. Not making handouts available prior to the webinar. When most people think of handouts, they think of fill in the blank. And this works. But just as, if not more, important are visual elements like graphs, charts, ect. Even cartoons or drawings have their place if they make your registrants curious about some part of your presentation.

Again, as with surveys, handouts are about involvement. About piquing your registrants’ curiosity and making them excited about one or more pieces of information you’ll reveal on the webinar. Additionally, handouts satisfy your prospects’ need for instant gratification when they’re the most “hot and bothered.”

When done correctly, the topic, title and registration page for your webinar your make registrants want the information you’re teasing right then and there. But when they have to wait a few days for the actual event, that initial excitement wears off. Your handouts give them a taste of the information they so desperately want and hold out the promise of more.

5. Not using video prior to event. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that just because someone registers for your webinar that they’ll show up the day of the event. People are busy and won’t remember the exact date and time of your session if they’re not reminded. And even if they do remember when it is, they may not remember why they were so excited about it in the first place. By using video between registration and your webinar, you do two things.

• You connect with your attendees, increasing the likelihood they’ll show up. People like doing business with other people, not nameless, faceless corporations. Using video beforehand gives your registrants the opportunity to get to know you (your face, your voice) and makes them more inclined to trust you and your offer.
• You stay in front of your registrants, making it harder for them to forget your session. Use the videos to remind them when the webinar is, why they need to pay attention, what they’ll gain by being there, and what they stand to loose by not. Essentially, you want to re-ignite whatever it is that go them excited enough to register in the first place. Hit the same emotional “hot buttons” and direct them to your handouts one more time.

Mistakes that sabotage your webinar delivery

6. Being boring. Anyone can hold a webinar. Very few people can sell on them. Even less can entertain on them. And an even smaller number can both entertain and sell. But the good news is if you get the “entertaining” part down, the selling part is easier than you think. Why? Because when you entertain your audience, you engage them … you draw them in and before they know it, they’re pulling out their wallets to give you money.

Now when I say “entertain”, I’m not talking about being over the top or outrageous. The best way to be boring is to recite a list of facts. The best way to entertain is by telling stories. Find a way to make the same points in story-form as you would in your list of facts.

7.  Having “me, me, me” content. The bigger your company, the more likely you are to make this mistake …

Your webinar is not about you or your company, it’s about your attendees and their problems or goals.

If you don’t get that, read it again.

You don’t want to spend 90 minutes talking about how great your company is, how long you’ve been in business, how many clients you have, ect. You do want to spend 90 minutes talking about your prospects problems and/or goals and offering your product or service as a way to overcome and/or achieve them.

8. Reading your slides. Not only is reading your slides boring, but it directs your attendees attention away from where it should be: on you. Let me ask you, are your slides set up to teach, make points or deliver information? If the answer’s yes, then you’re making this mistake.

Your slides should be set up to engage your audience and recapture their attention. If attendees know all you’re doing is reading from your slides, they’ll tune you out and focus just on their screens. Instead on using your slides to make points, you could …

• pose a question
• highlight a spectacular result they want to hear the story behind
• display a visual or illustration relating to the point you’re speaking

Using slides this way grabs your audience’s attention and directs it back to you, not the screen. Do you see the difference?

9. Not having enough proof. Let me be very clear, you can never offer too much proof. Proof comes in many forms. Some of the most common forms are testimonials, case histories, visual displays (graphs, charts, before and after photos, ect.) Most people are looking for a reason not to buy. And when you overwhelm them with proof, you make it hard for them to make a case against you and your offer. Think about the different ways you can demonstrate proof and the different times during your presentation when you can present it. I’ll say it again, you can never have too much.

10. Not defining a clear course of action once the webinar has ended. Have you ever ended a lead generation webinar by saying, “If you’re interested in what we’ve talked about tonight, call the office.” If so, you’re leaving too much up to your audience. Anyone who’s already made up their mind about doing business with you or who has just a few more questions before they decide to get involved will respond to that kind of close. But the majority of your audience will not fall into that category. And if all you leave them with is an invitation to call the office if they’re interested, they won’t.

What you need to do instead is give them a clear path and make it easy to follow. Call them out specifically: “If you’re in this situation (whatever the situation is), and you want this to happen (whatever that is for them), and you understand that this will happen if you don’t act (whatever it may be), this what you need to do now (and be specific!).”

Mistakes that waste the effort put into your lead generation webinar

11. Not having a multi-channel follow up process. If your idea of following up with leads is handing them to your salespeople once the webinar has ended, you leaving a lot of clients and potential profits on the table. Following up with your webinar attendees in one way only is not enough. Ideally, the end of you webinar should trigger a series of follow ups in different media: e-mails, postal mailing, phone calls, ect. The best follow-up processes are well thought out, choreographed efforts. They’re planned to hit you leads at their highest points of interest, re-engage them at their lowest, and stay in front of them overtime.

12. Ignoring non buyers. Understand that very few people buy at the first point of contact with a company. Sometimes they buy the second time, sometimes the third, sometimes the seventeenth. The point is if you ignore a lead because they don’t buy on your webinar or from your sales person right after the webinar, you’re missing out on a huge potential for profit. You could sell twice as much as you are currently if you have a well-planned follow-up process to convert non-buyers overtime. Stay in front of your prospects. Make it hard for them to ignore you and the solutions you provide and, through time, you’ll maximize the value of the leads you paid a significant amount of money to get in the first place.

Today, part 3 of our 3-part “7 Deadly Teleseminar & Webinar Sins” series. On we go …

After Your Teleseminar Or Webinar: The Most Common Sins

1. Not following up after the call: If you conduct your teleseminar, give your close, and stop … you’ve left between one-third and one-half of the money you should be making on the table. And there are 3 reasons why:

1. Some of the people who register don’t make it to the call.
2. Some of the callers don’t make it to the close.
3. Some of the callers make it to the close and need another push before they’ll act.

Your post-call marketing will capture a percentage from those three categories and turn them into paying customers. Use as many ways as possible (fax, e-mail, direct mail, telephone) to follow up and drive your callers to a summary of your offer. Because without post-call marketing, almost all additional sales are lost.

2. Ignoring non-buyers: When your teleseminar ends and orders come pouring in, it’s easy to get excited about all the people who bought and forget the ones who didn’t. This is a huge mistake. Normally, less than half of your callers will buy on their first teleseminar. Which means if you’re ignoring them, you’re turning your back on 50% or more of your potential profits. Understand that just because someone didn’t buy on their first call, doesn’t mean they won’t buy their second, third, or fifth time on the line with you. Some people need an extra nudge, more information, have more questions, or require a different approach. To sell these people, offer them a second teleseminar or webinar focused on an unanswered question or nagging concern.

3. Not collecting testimonials: Testimonials are one of the most powerful forms of proof you can offer skeptical prospects. And overwhelming your callers with proof is a sure-fire way to bump your teleseminar sales. So it’s critical that you collect customer testimonial whenever possible. To encourage feedback from your callers, offer them something in exchange for their testimonial: an additional free teleseminar, a discount on one of your products, a free report … anything that gets them talking the exceptional results they achieved with you and your product.

4. Not sending highlights to your list: Since not everyone on your list will register for every call, it’s your job to make them feel the pain of what they missed. Send highlights to your list that tease the amazing content you revealed. Describe the life-changing information your callers received that they didn’t. Include comments from ecstatic callers. Write benefit-driven, blind bullets that make your list members regret their decision not to attend. All this will drive home how much they missed out on by not being on the call, and it’ll motivate them to sign up and show up the next time around.

5. Not automating your teleseminar: Doing a teleseminar or webinar once and making money is great. But doing a teleseminar once and then automating it so it brings in money day and night without you lifting a finger is extraordinary. If you’re manually doing the same teleseminar for the tenth time, you’re never going to get anywhere. Once you have a session that sells, you need to automate it so you’re free to move on to the next big thing (see sin #7).

6. Not leveraging your teleseminar: Teleseminars sell because your sales message resonates with your audience. Honing your sales message on your teleseminar and not translating it into another sales media is a complete and utter waste of your efforts. The best way to leverage the success of a profitable teleseminar or webinar is to have your session transcribed and then repurpose the content for salesletters, e-mails, reports and other copy. Your successful teleseminar includes all the key points you need to make, and because you were speaking instead of writing, know the delivery in casual and conversational. Using your teleseminar, your supporting sales copy practically write itself.

7. Thinking you’re done instead of thinking “what’s next?”: The key difference between my average teleseminar and webinar students and my exceptional ones is that the exceptional students aren’t content with “good” results. They’re constantly thinking about what the can tweak, adjust or add to their successful sessions to take them to the next level and beyond. They’re constantly thinking, “What’s next and what’s the fastest way to get there.” It’s tempting when you’re making “good” income to sit back and enjoy the ride. But when you’re doing well is the best time to step on the gas and launch yourself to the next level. Don’t get complacent; always focus on the next big thing. And remember, if you’ve automated your profitable session, you’ll have money pouring in as you work out what that thing is.

In my last post, I covered the first part of this series,”Sinning before your teleseminar: Why some sessions fail before they even get started.” If you missed that post, you can read it here: 7 Deadly Teleseminar & Webinar Sins: Part 1.

And now for part 2 …

During Your Teleseminar Or Webinar: The Most Common Sins

1. Reading from a script: If you’ve ever called a customer service hotline with a problem, then you understand the danger of this teleseminar sin. When you read from a script, you sound scripted. One of the beauties of teleseminars is that hearing your voice gives your callers the feeling you’re a real person they know and can trust. But when you sound stiff, mechanical and scripted, you take that feeling away. The best way to deliver your teleseminar is by using an outline of the key points you want to make (see next sin). Before your call, give your outline a few read-throughs and you’ll find your delivery becomes smoother and more natural each time.

2. Covering too much information: If you’re trying to cover more than 5-7 key points in a a 60-minute call, you’re covering too much. Your callers can only process so much about your offer; and when you give them too much, they remember nothing. Think about the most critical things your callers need to know, believe and understand in order to buy and then narrow that list down to a top 5-7. Then cover those and nothing more.

3. Being boring: What’s the best way to bore your callers? Spending 60-75 minutes listing facts. Bored callers tune your out. Bored callers hang up. Bored callers don’t buy. Your teleseminar needs to be both educational and entertaining. And the best way to entertain is by telling stories. (Read about the power of storytelling and your teleseminars here: link to story series)

4. Making your “close” obvious: One big rookie mistake is to make the transition from your content to your close apparent. We tend to get uncomfortable when it comes time to ask for the sale … and it shows. When your voice, tone, and speech change at the end of your teleseminar, your callers know you’re about to ask for money and they stop listening. The best way to avoid an obvious close is to not think of it as a separate part of your call. Offering proof like testimonials and case histories throughout the call is an effective way to “close” your callers the entire time their on the line.

5. Opening the line for questions you aren’t prepared to answer: There’s no faster way to sabotage what could have been an extremely profitable teleseminar than to take a question you can’t answer. Your authority and credibility will be crushed, and callers won’t buy from someone they don’t trust. When you know your market like you should, you’ll already know what questions/objections your callers will have. So instead of opening the lines for those questions, address them in the content of your call. It’s much more powerful to address and overcome objections before they arise in the minds of your callers than to wait for them to think of them on their own.

6. Not building in urgency: People like to procrastinate, and the longer they put off their buying decision, the less likely they are to buy. You want your callers to buy when they’re hot and bothered. So to get them to act decisively, you have to make them believe that acting now means two things: A) they get what they want and B) they avoid what they don’t want. That second part is critical. To ramp up response to your offers, remind your callers of the consequences they suffer for NOT acting … the things they’ll miss out on and opportunities lost. For most people, the fear of loss is a bigger motivator than the promise of gain.

7. Giving unclear ordering instructions: Fact- confused callers DO NOT buy. You’re ordering instructions need to be painfully clear and easy to follow. Any unexpected step in the ordering process increases the likelihood your would-be buyers will panic and abandon ship. Make it easy for them to order and make sure they know what to expect every step of the way.

Right now I’m in the middle of re-doing my entire teleseminar & webinar training, start to finish. I’m tossing out the old and integrating what’s working now. I’ve made so many exciting breakthroughs in the past few years – breakthrough that make 6-figure sessions the new “norm” for my top private consulting clients – that it’d be a diservice not to take these brand new strategies to the public. So that’s what I’m doing. And I’m knee-deep in it.

Anyways, in the process of re-doing everything, I’ve realized just how many profitable insights and strategies I’ve amassed over the years. And I’ve also realized that with so many factors at play, so many things you can and should do with your sessions, the options can be overwhelming. And sometimes it’s easier to think of what NOT to do instead.

So with that in mind, I’m bringing you a 3-part mini-blog series called, ” 7 Deadly Teleseminar & Webinar Sins,” so you know what deadly mistakes to avoid before, during and after your teleseminar.

Before Your Teleseminar Or Webinar: The 7 Most Common Sins

1. Choosing a “me-too” topic: By “me-too,” I mean a topic that everyone in your market is hammering at your prospects as well. This can be a tricky sin to avoid and here’s why: you need to find the right balance between issues that are top of mind and ones that are over done. For example, the current economy is certainly a top of mind issue, but at some point, teleseminars about doing X, Y, and Z in a down economy are going to fall on deaf ears. So if you do this topic, you have to do it with a twist. Figure out what spin you can put on a top-of-mind issue so your prospects are desperate to hear what you have to say.

2. Choosing a generic title: The title of your teleseminar is a make-or-break success factor. In fact, many of your prospects will decide whether or not to register for your call based solely on what it’s called. Emotional appeals are at the heart of everything people do; so your title needs to generate a distinct emotional response from you market. They need to stop in their tracks and think, “I have to be there. I can’t miss this information.” Example: Let’s say your doing a teleseminar for a weight loss program. A generic title would be, “How to lose 30 lbs. in 30 days.” Not bad; this title makes a promise. It’s better than simply “How to lose weight.” But a better title hits an emotional appeal. An example of this is, “Lose 30 lbs in a month?: How to turn heads and feel sexier than you have in years in less than 30 days.” See the difference?

3. Everything-to-everyone landing page: Your teleseminar landing pages exist for one reason and one reason only: to get your prospects to register for a specific call. That’s it. Don’t clutter up your landing pages with anything that isn’t absolutely relevant to the teleseminar the page promotes. To keep things simple, include only the name of your teleseminar, details of the call (date/time), 3-5 enticing bullets points about the content you’re delivering, and a registration form. Anything else is distracting, confusing and will cause would-be registrants to abandon your page.

4. Not collecting “intelligence info” when getting registrations: Imaging how many callers you’d be able to close if you only knew exactly what your prospects wanted and exactly how to sell it to them. Well, finding out is simpler than you ever thought possible … Ask. On your registration form, include a section for your registrants to fill in their biggest question relating to your teleseminar. You’ll be shocked how open and honest their questions are, and how easy they make planning, delivering and closing your teleseminar. Once your know what they want, you can tailor your call so it speaks directly to their pain or desires.

5. Not following up between registration and the call: Just because they signed up doesn’t mean they’ll show up. In fact, if you neglect to remind your registrants about your call, less than 50-25% of them will be there. People are busy, and they’re likely to forget the exact date and time of your call if you don’t remind them several times. So, send a minimum of 3 reminders. And use the reminders as a way to re-excite them about your teleseminar by including enticing bullets point that tease the content of the call. That way they’ll remember both when to be there and why they should.

6. Ignoring handouts: Most people ignore handouts because seem like a lot of extra work. They’re not. And when you use your handouts the right way, you do two things. A) You satisfy your registrants need for instant gratification. Your landing page gets them revved up about the problem they want to overcome or the goal they want to achieve, they register for the call, but then they have to wait ‘til the day of your teleseminar to find out the information they’re excited about now. Handouts give them a small taste of the content they so desperately want. They also … B) Increase your show rates. When you give your prospects a “sneak peek” of your content, you heighten their desire and curiosity even more. Just be sure not to reveal too much. You don’t want your registrants to look at your handouts, assume they know everything there is to know and not show up for your call.

7. Waiting for perfection: There is no such thing as a perfect teleseminar or webinar. Get that straight now, or you’ll waste months, even years, trying to achieve one. It’s more important to get a teleseminar done quickly than done perfectly (especially your first teleseminar). Even when things don’t go as planned, if you’re offering something your caller desperately want, you’re going to make money. In fact, one of the most common testimonials I receive is from students who were sure they did everything wrong and still walked away with thousands of dollars. Don’t wait. Each call will get better and more profitable as you tweak and revise the last.

I was watching the NatGeo show, “Dog Whisperer” the other day and, like most things, it got me thinking about you and your teleseminars …

One of my favorite things to do is to look outside of the information marketing world for principles and strategies that I can take and translate back into this sphere.

If you’ve been with me for any amount of time, you know I love psychology; so “Dog Whisperer” is right up my alley … Cesar Milan, the trainer, does all his work using dog psychology and pack mentality.

The episode I caught was about a nervous German Shepherd who was terrified of everything, from people to other dogs to loud noises and toys … you name it. And in an attempt to help him overcome his fears, his owner brought him with her to work everyday: a rec center for adults with mental disabilities.

But instead of playing and socializing, the Shepherd hid under her desk, shaking from fear.

Enter Cesar Milan.

In a matter of only a few hours, Cesar transformed the Shepherd into a confident, friendly, social animal.

How? By taking a leadership role and letting the dog relax and follow.

The best thing I ever got from Jay Abraham is this quote: “People are silently begging to be lead.”

This doesn’t mean that people are stupid or naive or that they should be taken advantage of.

That’s not it at all.

It does mean that we live in a complex world where you can not possibly become an expert in everything you need to make decisions about.

• We used to live in a world where there were 4 television channels, there are thousands today.
• Go back 20 years and there was no Internet as it exists today, yet today there are uber-gazillions of pages of information out there.

When people are overwhelmed with information and they need to make decisions, they get fearful.

And you need to understand that fear is one of the most debilitating emotions your market feels when deciding whether or not to buy from you. Fear of failure. Fear of making another bad decision. Fear of ridicule. Fear of let down.

It’s a huge obstacle you have to overcome if you’re ever going to be successful. (So big, in fact, I recently devoted another post just to fear and why teleseminars help you sell more in a down economy. You can read it here.

The majority of your market has been burned so many times, that when it comes time to trust you and accept your offer, they can’t. They’re like the petrified German Shepherd who won’t come out from under the desk.

Unless you lead them out.

See, one shortcut we humans use to make decisions is by finding someone we trust and letting them lead the way.

That’s where your teleseminar marketing, your webinar marketing, and your video marketing comes in.

They give you a platform to stand up and take the lead …

To offer people direction, purpose, and reassurance …

To help them skip past the mistakes and hard knocks that you went through …

To let them borrow on your confidence … trust you … and, ultimately, buy from you.