If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times… lady on phone
“Telesummits don’t work for me.”
“I’ve tried it. It didn’t grow my list. Products didn’t sell. Speakers were unhappy,” and on and on.
Here’s my response…
That’s because you didn’t do it right.
I don’t mean to be harsh, but telesummits do work, if you do them correctly.
So I’ve come up with 7 ways to make sure you are putting on a telesummit that succeeds, which means the top experts in your industry are happy to participate (and will even want to do it again next year!), you’re getting tons of opt ins to your list (and they are your target audience!), and the product(s) you’re selling are flying off the shelves!
Give yourself plenty of time. You just cannot host a telesummit in a month. At least not without making yourself crazy and underwhelming your audience. Plan on 3 months and you will be happy you did.
Book the right speakers. Sometimes hosts think it’s going to be hard to get speakers, so they try to book everyone under the sun. What they end up with is a long, drawn out telesummit, bored participants, and unhappy speakers. Try to aim for the best 10-15 speakers you can, and then expand out, only if you get no’s from those top experts.
Make it easy for your speakers. I like to send them swipe copy for a couple of solo emails, material they can use in their newsletters, and ready-to-go social media content, plus their affiliate links. And make sure the copy is focused on what their fans and clients will get out of participating! That’s the best way to ensure lots of opt ins.
Promote in the “sweet spot.” While it would be great to be able to promote a couple of months in advance and have everything set and ready to go, that’s not the way your listeners’ lives work. You want to promote around 2 to 3 weeks in advance, when their calendars’ are not yet filled, but they are thinking that far ahead. That’s the sweet spot, and the bonus is that it will keep you from having too much to do at the last minute.
Build in lots of value. This goes for the free portion, as well as any products, including replays, that you might be selling on the telesummit. Your primary goal is list-building, not money-making (yet), so make sure whatever you sell is practically being given away because it has so much value.
When in doubt, outsource. Technology for these telesummits can be tricky, and you don’t want to get it wrong. So if you aren’t sure of what to use, hire an expert in telesummit technology to make sure everything is set up properly from the start.
Follow up – with speakers and listeners. The #1 complaint of telesummit speakers is disorganized hosts who they have to chase down for details. Make sure you’re in regular communication with your speakers leading up to and during the summit with all of the details they might need. Then have a plan in place for following up with new members of your list to keep them wanting more long after the telesummit ends.
With these 7 tips, you can have a successful telesummit that gives you with a big, engaged list and satisfied colleagues who want to work with you again, rather than leaving you burned out, overwhelmed, and no better off than when you started.
If you’re ready to see what a telesummit can do for you, let’s talk about my telesummit solutions.
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