Events are a great component to a business model. It gives you a chance to connect with your clients face to face, to establish trust and excitement around your brand. You can accomplish in 3 days what would take you months to accomplish online. There is definite value to getting face to face and your sales will directly reflect that value!
On the flip side, events take A LOT of time to produce. They are expensive. And they are risky! The first big event I produced was a community education event for women and girls. I launched the event with hopes of doing $200,000 in revenue in one event. I got the big venue. I purchased the advertising package. I hired a performer. I had a sound crew. I had a lighting crew. And I had a growing fear in my stomach! The week before the event I was PRAYING that I would break even!
The event was a great idea! We had over 500 people attend. We had happy vendors. We had happy speakers. And from the outside it looked like a great success. It wasn’t a total flop. I did break even. And it did launch my brand. I got a lot of valuable connections and publicity through that event. But it didn’t actually make me money. I worked for 6 months producing something that gave me a different result than I’d intended. And it was 100% predictable!
I had used the wrong event strategy! I didn’t go in with a set budget. I didn’t have a sales strategy in place. And I didn’t run the numbers! I basically didn’t do everything I’m going to tell you to do! I encourage you to do events. I am Pro- Event models. And I would love to save you some time, stress, and heartache!
- Choose your event strategy: Are you doing this event to bring a lot of people through the door and grow your list? Are you doing this because you want to earn a lot of money from ticket sales? Or are you doing this because you want to earn a lot of money in upselling your product or service?
Believe it or not, it is very hard to accomplish all of those things at once. Not impossible. But not probable. Decide what is your top priority and then use a strategy that focuses entirely around you accomplishing the primary objective. Here’s why this matters- If you want to make money from the ticket sales, you will have to host events before the big event in order to sell the big event. If you want a lot of leads, your tickets will be free or low cost. That means the expenses of the event will need to be covered through sponsorship or vendor booth sales. And you’ll have to do a lot of marketing to fill the room! If you want to sell a lot of your products or services, you need to start with the dollar goal in mind and run the numbers to determine how many people you need at the event to accomplish that goal. The number of guests may be higher or lower than you are planning currently. The end goal should always dictate the strategy. And be cautious of anyone who tells you that you can accomplish all of them at once. Ask them how long they did their events before they accomplished all at once!
- Set the budget and stick to it: An event is not a license to spend. And the amount you spend doesn’t necessarily equal the amount you make! I recommend that for your first event you set the budget off of what you either have in your marketing budget or off of results you know you can produce. Don’t set the budget off of what you want to produce. When a 1st time event tells me how many people they plan to have at their event, I always cut that number in half. That’s usually a more realistic number. Get a smaller venue for the first event, and if you outgrow it, celebrate the fact that you sold out and people will have to wait for the next one. It’s better to have too many people in a small venue than it is to have too few people in a big venue.
Have a sales strategy in place: This sounds like a no brainer, but it isn’t! I’ve seen event hosts focus so much on the event production that they didn’t even put themselves on stage to speak! Everyone else is selling, and they don’t even have a product, a vendor booth, or a presentation. You need to put your sales at the top of the priority list! Some things to consider are your presentation and pitch. Your back of the room sales team. Your post event follow-up plan. AND also, your JV split with other speakers that are selling from your stage. If they are going to speak at your event, then it is standard industry protocol to have them give you a portion of their sales. Don’t go into an event without these critical pieces in place.- Run your numbers: I am sure I’m not the only one, but I’m guilty of having a grand picture in my mind and having unrealistic expectations. I mentioned that my first big event had over 500 people attend, I didn’t mention that the goal was 5000! But truthfully, I didn’t have a marketing plan or budget in place that could have produced 5000 attendees. It’s so important that when you are planning an event you run numbers and projections. How many different marketing opportunities are you using? How many attendees do you think each one will bring in? That shouldn’t be a random guess. You should be basing it on past marketing performance. If you are new and have no idea, this would be a great time to meet with someone that has experience marketing events and ask them your questions!
Events are a fantastic way to grow your business, connect with clients and sell more products! Just make sure you have a solid game plan in place!