If you follow me regularly on social media, you have probably noticed that I have a pretty crazy speaking schedule that takes me all over the world.
The seminar business is a great one for knowledgable health and fitness entrepreneurs because it allows you to help more people, get paid to travel the world, and provide an educational experience that no online program could ever replace.
You just can’t beat being in-person at a seminar.
Yes, I know online programs are rock-solid these days, and maybe I’m just old school, but I personally think the learning experience (not to mention the networking) is on an entirely different level when you’re in person.
It gets people away from their phones, their Netflix, and their every day distracted lives and forces them to be present in the moment and maximize every last detail of education that you’re providing them.
I personally have really enjoyed doing seminars and lectures in my career, and I know you will too. And if you’re scared of public speaking, read this to overcome this obstacle.
The problem a lot of health and fitness professionals run into is they just simply can’t sell enough seats in order for it to make sense from a financial perspective.
In this article, I want to offer you some practical and actionable tricks that I have used in the past to put butts in seats and drive more revenue to my speaking business.
#1: Hit Your Email List
Too many of you think you’re “bothering” people by emailing them, but if somebody is bothered by your contact than they were likely never going to be a customer anyway (especially for a high-ticket item such as a seminar seat).
It doesn’t take much, just ask them if they are still interested in coming to your event and they will answer with either yes, no, or maybe.
In any case, you can begin a conversation with a prospect which is something you weren’t doing before.
I remind my list often when I am speaking and where, and if you think you’re bothering people than just include it as a “PS” at the end of one of your value-driven content emails.
For example:
PS – If you liked today’s content, you haven’t seen anything yet! Click HERE to take advantage of the massive deal I have on a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience!
#2: Half-Price Guest Spots
This one is pretty straightforward.
If you’re struggling to fill the seats then email out all of your current attendees and let them know they can bring a guest for half the price. What you will find is that this is a super quick and easy way (not to mention free) to drive sales up.
#3: FAQ Email
Write a list of 5-10 reasons why someone wouldn’t attend your seminar.
What you’re trying to do with this email is identify all of their objections you think they might have and then overcome with your calculated answers.
This is a powerful strategy because normally you can’t overcome objections unless you’re in a conversation with someone in person, but, when you predict it and use it as your own ammo in an FAQ email you can drive a lot of people who were previously on the fence to start taking action.
Kill objections.
Overcome fears.
Provide a strong call-to-action at the end.
#4: Create High-Quality Content
You need to get people to trust you long before they commit to giving you money and taking out a weekend of their own time to come and see you.
This should go without saying… but why would anyone ever want to come and see you if they don’t know what you’re all about?
You should be on podcasts.
You should be making YouTube videos.
You should be posting every day.
You should be everywhere.
Remind people why they HAVE to come see you because you only ever provide the goods. This is essentially how I have filled all of my seminars, earlier this year (2019 at the time of this writing) I did a full speaking tour in Australia and sold a ton of seats in three different cities without spending one dollar on advertising.
Zero. Not even a cent.
People follow my content and trust that I don’t BS them so they are pre-sold before I announce the tour. You need to build this kind of trust with your people and the only way you can do that is by making the best content you possibly can.
#5: Guest Speakers
If you’re having trouble selling seats, contact a local fitness celebrity in that city and ask them if they want to do a lecture while you’re in town.
This person could take only 60 minutes of the day, and you would also allow them to provide their own call-to-action, but in the big picture of things they could drive a lot more filled seats in your event and then you would have the perfect opportunity to convert all of their customers into customers of your own.
If you don’t have the celebrity status, find someone who does and leverage them. It’s that simple.
#6: Affiliate Email Promos
Contact any of your colleagues who have an email list and let them know you will give them a respectable commission for everybody they send your way.
This will get you customers you otherwise would have never got, it’s free advertising, your cost per customer acquisition is nothing, and it can help fill your event up a lot quicker.
Offer them 20% commission at least, and you should also provide them the copywriting for the emails you want them to send so you can increase conversion rates and not risk them writing a sloppy email about it.
#7: Do A “Book Tour”
Whenever an author is going to release a new book they go on every talk show they possibly can to build awareness about the book and get more customers.
You should do the same.
Be a guest on as many podcasts as you can, write guest articles for other websites, do guest posts on other peoples social media, ask to collaborate with some well-known YouTube channels in your demographic, and anything else you can think of to add awareness to your seminar through your “book tour”.
Again, you want to be everywhere people are hanging out.
Provide epic content while you’re there and earn your right to provide a strong call-to-action at the end.
Final Thoughts
My aim with today’s article was to provide you some super simple and easy-to-incorporate strategies that you can use to sell more seats at your next event, I hope I was able to accomplish that for you today.
If you want more information on how to run world-class seminars (and open up your own online business altogether) then you have to check out the Create Freedom Academy course selection today!
Kevin McClelland
Dan Garner
