You know you have a tremendous product or service that can make a world of difference for your customers. If you could just give people a closer look at that product, you’re sure you would be able to close more sales.
One way to get the face time you need (at least in a virtual way) is by hosting webinars. An informative webinar that offers truly valuable information while also introducing and explaining your product can drive short-term and long-term sales.
Of course, the details make the difference. Let’s look at the nuts and bolts of how to use webinars to drive sales.
1. Building Your Contact List
Making the right contacts is a critical part of building your sales portfolio. After you make that first connection and you have a customer’s contact information, you can nurture the relationship and earn a loyal lifelong customer.
Webinars are fantastic tools for this. Require people to input at least their email address to register for the webinar, along with basic information such as their name, job title, and business.
Go a step further to find out more about your viewers. Include a brief sign-up survey about their familiarity with the topic, their region, and more.
2. Attracting Qualified Leads
Rule #1 of sales is that you don’t just need to talk to people. You need to talk to the right people. Your webinar can make that a reality.
In fact, one study found that an impressive 89% of webinar hosts agree that it’s the single best platform for lead gen. If someone is willing to take time out of their busy schedule to watch your webinar, you know they’re highly invested.
Use that knowledge to choose your webinar topic based on the specific people you want to attract. For example, let’s say you have a marketing agency and you want more clients in the legal industry. You could host a webinar with tips for marketing a law firm, since only people in the legal space would be interested.
3. Establishing and Building Your Reputation
It doesn’t matter if you’re selling medical equipment or pencils. There is a degree of trust you need to establish with your customers before they’ll commit to a purchase. In B2B sales, in particular, 79% of business buyers say it’s highly important to develop trust with anyone they buy from.
A webinar builds that trust in numerous ways. For starters, it builds awareness of your business and makes you more familiar to your customers.
Your webinar also positions you as an expert in your field as well as someone who is helpful and genuine. Viewers see you as someone with extensive knowledge and a willingness to share it, and this goes a long way toward building trust.
4. Perfecting Your Pitch
Your webinar isn’t just about selling to the people who view it. It can also be a testing ground to help you perfect your technique for future sales.
Try a few different pitches and strategies when explaining your products in your webinar. Gauge the reactions and see how your sales compare.
You can get especially helpful results if you ask for viewer feedback after the webinar. Ask questions about how interested the person is in your product after the webinar and see which pitches get the best reactions.
5. Creating a Personal Connection
Customers want to know who they’re buying from. They’d rather feel like they’re supporting a real, genuine entrepreneur instead of a faceless corporation.
A webinar is an opportunity for you to get face time with customers, especially those who aren’t in your immediate area. They get to experience your personality, your expertise, and your passion for what you do, and that goes a long way in building a connection that makes you the viewer’s new go-to specialist in your industry.
6. Trying Out New Product Ideas
Developing a new service or product is a serious investment, and you never know whether that investment will pay off. Your webinar can give you strong clues.
Let’s say you’re a business consultant and you’re considering creating a boot camp course focusing on how businesses can better train their customer service team. You can host a customer service webinar and allow attendees to pre-order your boot camp before you even develop it. This allows you to see how much interest there is and whether it’s worth creating the boot camp.
Knowing What to Expect with Your Webinar
As much as there is to gain from your webinar, you need to set the right expectations, as well. There’s always the risk of crafting the webinar with the wrong goal in mind or expecting one webinar to be the answer to all of your needs.
Here are some ways to avoid a letdown:
Don’t Expect a Cash Windfall
You’ll see entrepreneurs online reporting that they make tens of thousands of dollars or more with each webinar they host. That might be true in a few rare cases, but this is rarely par for the course.
Around 78% of webinars have less than 50 attendees. In fact, 44% of them have 25 or fewer people. If you’re charging a few hundred dollars, don’t expect to make $20,000 from one webinar.
Focus on the Future Over the Present
One of the biggest mistakes companies make with their webinars is that they focus the webinars on making immediate sales. By pushing too far on a hard sell, you could compromise your future relationship with the viewers and lose out on long-term loyalty.
Instead, focus your webinar on establishing your reputation as an expert in your field and building connections with your viewers. They’ll be more likely to give you their business today as well as for years to come.
Learning How to Use Webinars to Drive Sales
Without a doubt, not all webinars are created equal. For some businesses, webinars are the single most effective sales strategy in their playbooks. For others, webinars are merely a blip on their radar.
It all comes down to your techniques and the value you provide. When you understand how to use webinars to drive sales, they can become game-changers in any industry. Use the strategies and examples above as your guide.
