Top 3 Critical Webinar Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

 

Webinars are such a powerful lead generation strategy, yet time and time again, we see some critical webinar mistakes being made. Not only are these errors being made, but with a little bit of planning, they can be avoided.

Number 1 way to make sales (one to many)

The number one way to make one-to-many sales is via a seminar. Nothing beats being able to stand in front of a large group of people and offer them your solution.

But a seminar is not as practical as a webinar because you’re limited by the number of people in your geographic location.

Webinars are more powerful than seminars because instead of focusing on a local market, you can go national or even worldwide. For those in the Finance space, opening up the doors to a national or global audience is very powerful.

Top three reasons why you should use webinars

1. The first reason is it boosts your authority.

You’ll be instantly positioned as the expert. You’re the person that’s creating the webinar and the training material and offering incredible value to your prospects.

2. The second reason is it will enable you to close more sales. Ultimately this is the number one goal of using webinars. Not only do you have the double win of having them being impacted by the quality of your content, but it will help you close more sales. Recent reports suggest that webinars are are the 2nd best marketing tactic to drive leads.

3. The third reason is to reach a global audience instead of a local one. Webinars enable you that global reach, and you’re able to tailor your message to the masses, as opposed to those in your local area.

Once again, webinars are the second best one-to-many sales tool compared to a seminar.

Only one selling method beats both seminars and webinars, but…

There’s only one other sales tool that’s better than both seminars and webinars, and that is a one-on-one sales presentation.

Unfortunately, one on one sales does not leverage your time. You cannot get any scale out of this method.

 

Today we’re going to take a look at the top 3 critical webinar mistakes people make and how you can avoid them

Critical webinar mistake number one

The first mistake is that most people have a very weak webinar introduction, which doesn’t sell the power of what they are going to get.

Unfortunately most webinar presenters lose people right from the start. They don’t make a compelling offer; there are no benefits and they don’t explain all the great points to be covered.

Be enthusiastic and crystal clear with your webinar introduction

If you are not presenting with enthusiasm and excitement in your voice, then the people will tune out and turn off your webinar.

You can see it in your webinar statistics if you use a webinar software that tracks your audience retention.

If after a webinar you start to find your people dropping off after the first 10 to 25%, then you’re going to need to work on your introduction and make it compelling.

Safest way to make an impactful start to your webinar

One of the easiest ways to do this is to script out the start of your webinar.

It helps you get into the flow of things. It helps you be more consistent with your webinar presentation, and you can perfect the way you present that intro, and you can do it with enthusiasm.

In fact, many people do lack enthusiasm with their webinars, and that is one of the things that kills their sales.

A powerful technique to do at the start of your webinar

Most presenters don’t inspire their audience to stay to the end.

You need to give people a reason to hang around. You need to salt the water.

Salting the water webinar style

You need to do what people call, salting the water.

Back in the old days, pubs and clubs used to offer free peanuts. And yes, the salty ones.

This was a ploy to make you thirsty so you would order more drinks. So the copywriting phrase is called ‘salting the copy’.

Your goal is to salt your presentation at the start and highlight all the fantastic content you are going to cover with them.

You need to compel them to stay around to the end. You need to provide a catch at the end of the webinar that will compel them to stay.

Maybe you highlight a special bonus all attendees receive if they stay to the end.

You’ve got to make hanging around to the end worth it for them.

You need to be very succinct and clear with the value proposition you have in your webinar.

Be extremely clear on what they’re going to get from the webinar and what will happen if they stay around.

How to fix the mistake of a weak webinar introduction

The first thing you need to do is create a webinar title that has the WOW factor.

You need to WOW people right from the beginning, so they understand exactly why they’re in the presentation and why they need to stay to the end.

Without a WOW factor, your webinar attendance rate might be under 40 or 50%.

Next, you need to create and compel people with a strong sub-headline. Your sub-headline should identify what the bulk of the webinar will cover.

Old school presenting

An old rule of thumb with any presentation is to:

1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.
2. Tell them; and
3. Tell them what you’ve just told them.

Within the first few minutes, you whet their appetite and salt the information to suggest what you’re going to tell them. Really peak their interest.

The middle part of the presentation is all about telling them about the critical information.

Then at the end, you recap the webinar and tell them what you’ve just told them.

Not only will they get great value, but you will have lifted their level of education, and they will retain much more than normal.

Webinar mistake number 2

The second critical webinar mistake people make is they have non-existent or unclear calls to actions.

Most people are told by their boss to create a webinar, and the last thing on their mind is the sales process needed at the end.

Ultimately, webinars will be one of your strongest sales tools. But, too often, the people who were told to give the webinars are either trainers, educators or analysts who don’t want to be perceived as selling.

No selling for me thanks

They completely disassociate themselves with any selling.

Don’t get me wrong; their presentations are fantastic, but it is not focused on acquiring clients.

Your webinars need to have very clear and concise call to actions.

After you have wowed them with your excellent presentation, you need to tell them exactly what they need to do next.

Have a look at your current call to actions, or CTAs as they’re called, and see what you’re offering in each presentation.

Are you just offering a whole heap of value and closing with ‘Thanks’?

Have you got a mindset where you’re training people instead of adding value and then asking for a sale?

How to fix the webinar mistake of unclear CTAs

The first thing you need to do when you’re building your presentation is to identify the number one goal of your presentation.

You want to be clear on the action your prospects must take once the presentation is finished.

Get extremely clear on your goal and make it super simple for them to take their next steps.

One excellent way to do this is at the beginning. You offer them the WOW factor in your introduction, and a compelling offer that you have to stick around, which might be a bonus offer.

You then tie that in with the number one goal. If they take action tonight and sign up to register, complete an application form, make a deposit, etc, they get the bonus as well.

At the end, you must map out a very clear call to action, so they know exactly what they need to do. With visuals if possible.

If you need them to sign up and make a payment via credit card, then show them how.

Every single element needs to be explained with precision.

Webinar mistake number three

The last major mistake people make with their webinars is, they do not answer the clients most frequently asked questions.

The more questions you answer during your webinar, the more sales you will close. This is a very effective rule of thumb to follow.

Using FAQs to close more sales

At the very beginning, before you put your webinar together, write down all your prospects’ frequently asked questions. Their questions are the key to helping you close more sales.

Often the client isn’t objecting to buying your product, your system, your software or whatever you are selling. They usually can’t put their finger on it, but something just doesn’t feel right.

In the back of their mind they have some unanswered questions, so they hesitate and don’t purchase.

Nothing more frustrating than prospects unsure as to why they don’t want to buy

You might find when you follow up with a phone call with these people; they have no clear reason why they didn’t go ahead. They’re just unclear as to why. You’ve got to map out all the questions and answer them during your presentation.

Find all their key points that are stopping them from going ahead, write them down and drop them throughout the presentation.

If you sell a high-ticket item, a very common question is ‘why is this so expensive?’ Explain why, and you’ll find your sales will be higher.

Average time to close a sale reduced

One of the big benefits of answering all the FAQs is you’ll cut the average length it takes to close a sale.

If you don’t answer these critical questions, you will work twice as hard in the post-webinar follow-up to close each sale.

There you have our top three critical webinar mistakes and the ways you can fix them.

In conclusion

Hopefully, you can get these three errors fixed right from the get go, enabling you to close more sales.

Webinars are such a powerful tool when used correctly. Often it is the small fixes that make the biggest difference to your bottom line.

It will mean more dollars in your back pocket and more converted sales with the same amount of effort.

You see, the reality is, it will take you just as much time and effort to close 10% of the ‘room’ as it will to close 40%. Same time, same effort, much better result.

If you need help putting together a complete webinar sales funnel, then give us a call. We would love to get to know your goals and help you make this year your best year yet.