Why it's Good to Talk

At Steve Foley's very successful Econfex event at the weekend, I was able to chat with most of the speakers, some of whom have staged their own events already.

One of the subjects that inevitably came up more than once was how to sell enough tickets for a seminar, workshop or training course. In other words, how to get enough people there to make the event financially worthwhile.

It's not something Simon Coulson seems to struggle with, and neither do, say, Andrew Reynolds, Mark Anastasi or Jonathan Jay.

Consequently, their events are definitely worthwhile!

The secret to filling seats?

Well, there's more than one secret, of course, but the thing all those named above share in common is ... they all have access to a huge list, generally their own.

Selling seminar seats is much like selling any other information product, but a bit harder, unless your list is very well targeted. This is because buying a seminar ticket takes much more commitment than just pressing a 'buy now' button.

The take up for free events is much bigger, of course, because people know they don't actually have to go if they haven't paid. They haven't 'lost' anything if the ticket was free.

And, as I explained in Niche Seminar Secrets, that's why free tickets are generally a bad idea. Frankly, ticket 'sales' for a free event bear little relation to the number of people that turn up.

You could plan for a hundred people (and spend accordingly, promise a good-size audience for your speakers and so on) and then only see fifteen or twenty people arrive on the day. Even a nominal ticket price means most people will make the trip, because they'll 'lose' that money if they don't.

Of course, not turning up is their loss, because the networking alone is worth making the effort for. You lose too, because your event is not the event it might have been.

But first, build or find your list, then always put a real cash price on the tickets, even if you offer a big discount.

Roy

PS The One Dollar Trial has to end soon - see more about Niche Seminar Secrets here.