When I started in the live events business, one of my biggest challenges was getting people to attend my seminars. If you are new to this business, you might be able to relate to me. One of the mistakes I made was focusing on online marketing systems to gain an audience. I may be using a lot of online marketing in my business now, but that’s not how I should have started. I am going to teach you the strategies I used, so you can get your own seminar attendees within 120 days.

Staging Live Events That Are Profitable

Planning Your Live Events Ahead

Before anything else, you have to plan out your event. I’m going to focus on two aspects that will help you prepare for it.

• First, you need to set a target for how many attendees you actually want. Here’s the thing: a lot of times people think that they need a hundred or more people at their seminar for it to be worthwhile. On the contrary, I’ve had clients that started out with ten people in the room, and they made more than $70,000 in sales. Some of my clients began with 40 attendees and made $200,000 in sales. After your first seminar, you may want to pick between 10 to 40 people to come to your live event.

Related: Create Profitable Live Events With Small Audience

• Secondly, you need to get people to attend. You can work on this by creating a schedule of networking events that you’re going to participate in over the next 120 days. My suggestion is that you commit to going to two to three networking events every week.

Think about it this way: when you go to two networking events every week and do this for the next four weeks, you attend eight events in one month. In 120 days, or four months, you have attended 32 networking events.

However, when you participate in a networking event, do not make the mistake of thinking you need to talk to everyone. Based on the calculation I presented, all you need to do is get one person from every networking event. Enroll each of them into your live event. By the end of 120 days, you will have 32 attendees.

Making A Clear Statement

Always come prepared to networking events. Think about what your statement will be when others start coming up to you and asking about what you do.

When I meet people for the first time in such events, I make sure to mention that I organize live events. Why? This fact alone establishes me as an authority. They will want to connect with me, so they can get booked on my stage. Event organizers are perceived as credible.

That means when someone approaches me and asks about my work, I have a deliberate answer for them. For instance, I’ll tell them, “Oh, I’m really excited. I’ve got this seminar coming up called Superstar Speaker Training. Essentially, I help speakers pack their live events with high-quality people, so that they can build a thriving seminar business.”

Pretty simple, right? However, notice that I did two things at the networking event. I told people that I have a live event coming up, which planted the association in their mind that I am an event organizer. Second, I told them my purpose. For that, I have used this simple formula: I help people do this so they can have that.

If you don’t have your own purpose statement figured out, you’ll be going to networking events unprepared. Worse, you won’t be able to convey your message to others clearly.

Should you already have set dates for your seminar, be inclined to mention those. Set dates make your event more tangible, and they give you more license to discuss your event in depth with others.

Remember that your goal is to get people interested and engaged in whatever you have to talk about, which in this case is your seminar.

Digging Deeper

Let’s say you encounter five people in a networking event. When you talk to them, make sure that you connect with them. Ask them about what they do, and what they are looking forward to in their line of work. You never know what kind of people you’ll meet, and maybe you’ll find someone who is also interested in doing live events or public speaking.

Here’s one of my experiences. I was at a Tony Robbins event about two years ago. I had just joined one of his communities, and I was at a networking event. While there, I started telling people about what I do. I encountered some who responded with, “Wow. I’ve always thought about doing some type of coaching and speaking.” So I asked them, “Well, why haven’t you done it?” The common answer I got was, “I just never really knew how to get off the ground and do it.”

I tried to dig deeper into their answer. I asked them about what they would teach. Then they would start to open up and tell me about their desire to be a life coach or a motivational speaker, et cetera. From there, I found an opening to introduce them to my work. I usually said, “Hey, you know, I’ve developed a formula for speaking. It covers presentation delivery, selling from the stage, packing your live events, running a live event, and getting paid as a speaker.”

Notice how I got to this point. First, I told people what my seminar was about. Then, as I got to know certain individuals, I elaborated on what I do and how it can help them. At this point, I have them engaged. Now it’s time to make the critical transition to booking a strategy session.

Booking A Strategy Session

While it is an accomplishment to be able to communicate your message, your main purpose is to get people to your live event.

Don’t miss out on your opportunity. Before you part ways with someone from the event, make sure to let them know that you’ve enjoyed talking to them. Then invite them to a free strategy session with you. Most of them will be surprised at your offer. That’s your chance to give them a glimpse of what they can accomplish in that strategy session with you.

I’ll give you this spiel as an example: “In the strategy session, we’ll talk a little bit about your vision, and why it’s important for you to become a speaker. We’ll discuss the challenges you’re facing, and I can give you a potential plan on how can achieve your vision. Most likely, this will involve you coming to my seminar to learn more about it.

However, since we just met, I’d like to spend 45 minutes with you on a call. I’d like to know you more and figure out how I can serve you. I can also thoroughly walk you through what’s actually going to happen in the seminar I am organizing. At the end of the call, if it’s a fit, I’d like to invite you to attend the seminar. But if you decide otherwise, it won’t be a problem. You can think of it as a gift from a new friend. How does that sound?”

Make sure that they give you a definite schedule for the call. Let them know that you are taking this seriously by asking them to notify you 24 hours in advance should there be any change in schedule. Most of the time, asking them for that commitment will make them more hesitant on cancelling.

Getting The Numbers You Want

Again, we’ll go back to the 120-day strategy we started with. After attending 32 networking events, you should by then have a goal to launch your seminar.

Do you think with that strategy alone you can get 30 people for your live event? The answer is yes. But the challenge is, most people don’t commit. They go to one networking event, and then they stop. If they run into a snag, they easily give up.

You have to be committed to this. Why? Because the outcome you’re after is to have a seminar with 30 people in the room. You’ve got to have 32 networking events to give yourself a chance to accomplish that.

Think about this: You have 32 networking events over 120 days, and you meet five people at each event. Five new people per event, multiplied by 32 networking events gives you 160 new people on your list.

Do you think, with the 160 new people you will meet, you can get 30 of them to go to your live event? The answer is yes. If you book two strategy sessions at each networking event and you enroll one of them, you will hit your goal of 32 attendees.

Related: How to Run Your First Live Event and Make It Profitable

Your Action Steps

I have just shared with you a very simple strategy to get people to your next seminar. A lot of people don’t get off the ground with this, because they never create a schedule of networking events they’re going to attend. That means your first action step is to research networking events that are happening. Check out the schedules of the Chamber of Commerce, the toastmasters club, and all the different networking groups in your area. Then create a schedule for the next 120 days of where you’re going to go and what your purpose will be.

After you accomplish the first one, you need to set targets. As I recommended earlier, you can set a goal to talk to five people at each event.

Remember, when you talk to those people, tell them your purpose statement. Build a rapport with them, and find a way to connect their interests to your seminar. When it’s time to part ways, make a call to action to a strategy session and book that with them. Make sure that they are 100% committed to showing up to that session. Finally, when you meet with them again, you’re going to enroll them in your seminar.

Other Strategies to Get More Clients

Aside from what I have just shared, you can also build your client list by talking to the presenters in networking events. Develop your relationship with them, so you can try to get on their stage at each networking event you attend.

Not only will you meet 160 new people and grow your list over the course of 120 days, but you will also make friends with the presenters leading these groups. You will develop your network of leaders in the community through this strategy.

Later on, you can learn more advanced online marketing strategies to grow your list. Like us, you can also get to the point of bringing in 10,000 new leads every month. After offline marketing, the goal is to start online marketing with an achievable target you can win with.

The first thing you need to do is to take action. Commit yourself to staging profitable live events with high-quality attendees. With the strategies we have just talked about, you can get off the ground and start your own career in the live events business.

Get in action and follow my steps, so you can grow your client list. I’d love to hear how it works for you, so don’t forget to leave your feedback in the comments section!

Up Next: How To Make A High End Offer At Your Workshops & Seminars