Everything you need to know about running a lead generation webinar (Part 2): how to get people to turn up and stay

Have you ever signed up for a webinar but never attended? Perhaps you've signed up and attended a webinar but left halfway through or you didn't end up buying? The majority of people fall into one of these categories, so how do you get more high-quality leads that actually convert? Running a successful lead generation webinar takes an entire process that needs to be carefully orchestrated from pre-marketing and signup to follow-up. We've already covered the first stage - getting people to sign up for your webinar - so in part 2 we now share tips on 'getting people to turn up' and 'how to get people to stay longer on your webinar.'

This article series is based upon a virtual (paid) workshop we did on how to run a lead generation webinar. Here is part two of a four-part series (which you can also watch if you click on the embedded video below).

4 methods to get people to turn up to your webinar

1. Give clients and warm prospects a ring

three old telephones to represent ringing clients to get people to stay longer on your webinarIf your purpose for running your lead generation workshop is to warm up or convert prospects, give them a ring. Give them a ring beforehand and afterwards. What have you got to lose? If they're important to you, and it would really help you and them for them to be there, then ring them up before the webinar.

There's nothing quite like somebody ringing you up and asking "are you still coming?" to put a level of urgency on. It's a lot harder to not turn up afterwards too. If you just send an email out about attending, it is quite easy for people to simply let you down in writing.

As well as giving your prospects a ring, part 1 of our blog series gives more advice on how to get more webinar attendees. If you're struggling with coming up with your webinar topic too, you can also download our step-by-step fail safe system to putting together a webinar title and synopsis which will have your ideal audience registering in their droves.

2. Send email reminders

People are busy so often, attendance or a lack of can come down to who remembered the webinar was on and actually scheduled it into their workweek. This is why email reminders are so important!

We send our list of people 5 emails in total. We tend to hold webinars on a Thursday, so we email them one week before, twice on the Sunday before (afternoon and evening), on the morning of the webinar and 5 minutes before it starts. In each email, we include all of the necessary details including the dial-in information so that it makes it easy for people to just click on and join.

3. Don't promise a recording for those who don't attend

film reel to represent not giving recordings out to get people to stay longer on your webinarWe used to give people a recording, but it results in people actually planning not to attend as they can just listen to the recording later. This is not what we wanted because prospects aren't going to buy or convert if they even watch the webinar later, so now we don't offer it.

By not mentioning in your email that a recording of the webinar will be provided for those who have registered, more people are likely to prioritise the webinar and turn up on the day. Why? Because, otherwise, they will miss out on the valuable content being shared.

Now, of course, we get instances where the odd person does miss it and they email us and ask for the recording. In these cases, we will send them over the recording in good faith because it gets a nice bit of reciprocal sparsity. We have recently also added our recordings into our paid membership site though, so if a lot of people want the recording, they will have to join and pay to become a member and get access to them all.

4. Create a webinar teaser campaign

If you've got the time, another great method for getting more people to turn up to your webinar is to create teaser material. This could be blogs or an email sequence or even a video recording of you saying, "I've just recorded a five-minute teaser to talk about some of the things that we'll be covering in the webinar."

Whatever your preferred method of content, create some pieces and get them out there. Share them with your audience and maybe even do personalised video invites for the very important people who you want to attend.

Read: How to market a webinar so your clients and prospects actually turn up

7 tips to get people to stay longer on your webinar

So we've covered a few ways to get people to turn up to your webinar, now we're going to look at how to keep people on webinars longer.

Thinking about the people who go through the effort of remembering your webinar and actually attending, but then who leave halfway through, how can you make them want to stay? Here are some tips to keep them engaged.

a thumbs up to represent being interactive to get people to stay longer on your webinar1. Make it highly interactive at the beginning

People love getting involved and it helps them to focus, so factor this into your webinar plans. How can you make it interactive?

At the beginning of your webinar, ask some questions in the chatbox and get people engaged. You can also create polls or just get people to put their hands up or give you a thumbs up when they agree. By asking questions and describing scenarios followed with a, "give us a thumbs up if you agree with this..." you can be sure that people are following and are engaged with your content.

2. Ask "what do you want to gain from this webinar?" right at the start

The message from our first point was, if you want to get people to stay longer on your webinar, you need to keep them engaged. While that is very much true, what we didn't say is that there needs to be a purpose to your questions.

At the start of your webinar, you should ask what people want from your webinar. What do they want to be covered? What do they want to achieve or gain? By doing this, it gives you a mandate for your content and what you need to emphasise, and it also demonstrates to your audience that you are listening to them.

3. Tell them the agenda

A good lead generation workshop outlines the agenda at the beginning of the webinar. What are the ground rules, what is going to happen and in what order, and what will be covered? By showing your audience the agenda right off the bat, they know what to expect and it gives them a sense of comfort and understanding. If you do it right, it should also keep them hanging on until the end.

It's important to note that you may get some people who drop out as you go through the agenda but don't worry! These tend to be people who aren't the right people to buy. Remember, what you're doing is as much about turning away the wrong people as it is about encouraging the right people.

glasses to represent showing your audience their ideal future to get people to stay on your webinar longer4. Show them an 'as-is' scenario and the 'to-be'

In part 1 of our blog series, we covered how to write your webinar synopsis from choosing your title to outlining your objectives. In this section, we stressed the importance of knowing your clients' pain points and outlining the main things that drive them, particularly:

  • 3 frustrations,
  • 1 big fear,
  • 3 wants,
  • 1 big goal.

By knowing your clients' wants, needs, and fears, you can get people to stay longer on your webinar by showing them the ideal situation that they want to be in.

For example, after your agenda, you should give them their "as-is" scenario; where they are now, and what problems and challenges they have. You can even hit on their biggest pain point (e.g. why is it so hard to generate recurring income right now?). What you do then, is position yourself as the solution to this (e.g. it's difficult right now to generate recurring income because...and we've helped many clients with this).

Once you've covered the current situation, you then need to highlight the "to-be" scenario. Show them what could happen if they got this right. Show them how it could be (where they want to be) and don't forget to position yourself as the solution.

If you need help with this, download our cheat sheet on how to choose your title and synopsis for your webinar. 

5. Promise something for those who stay to the end

It may seem like common sense, but many people still don't do this. To get people to stay longer on your webinar, you need to promise something big.

People attend webinars because they want something impactful to help them succeed, so promise them that. Promise that you have some knowledge that can make their work-life better in a meaningful way...but only if they stay till the end.

If you do this early on before delving into your content, you will see that people will stay. People will want that golden nugget, that silver bullet that will help them to succeed. We just can't help ourselves.

a boy shouting into a speaker to represent speaking clearly and enthusiastically in your lead generation workshop6. Make your voice sound exciting

Remember being in the classroom at school with your head in your hand, listening to a teacher drone on with an incredibly boring monotonous voice. You don't want that for your attendees, especially since they'll just leave rather than sticking around to fall asleep.

When you run a lead generation workshop, you need to find your 'radio voice.' That voice that is energetic, enthusiastic, and exciting. That voice that is uplifting and full of loud moments in contrast to those quiet ones. If you've got a good balance and pace variation in your speech, people can't help but listen. It's far more interesting to them listening to someone having fun rather than sounding like their bored out of their minds too.

Now, we're not saying it's easy, it's a skill to talk to a computer screen like you are presenting to a room full of people, but that is how you need to think of it. How would you dress, how would you project your voice, how would you inject energy into your presentation?

7. Make it about your audience and their issues (not you and how good your firm is)

Last but not least, is to remember to make your webinar all about your audience and their wants and needs. Yes, you want to convert prospects and you want them to buy, but you're not going to do that by harping on about you and your firm. If it gets salesy, people will leave faster than you can say, "wait..."

Remember, your content needs to cover their frustrations, fears, and wants. It needs to elicit certain emotions that, when you position yourself as the solution, make them want to buy from you.

If you need help with this, download our cheat sheet on how to choose your title and synopsis for your webinar.

Implement these tips for how to keep people on webinars longer

If you want to run a successful lead generation workshop (and do this consistently), you need to know how to get people to stay longer on your webinar. First, you need to get people to register (part 1) and turn up, and then you need to keep them there using our above tips.

What you need to remember about keeping people on your webinar is:

  • Keep them engaged - by using interactive elements such as thumbs up or hands up, an exciting voice, and asking them what they want to achieve.
  • Outline what you will be covering - including what they will get out of staying (don't forget your big promise!).
  • Always focus on them - make sure that your content is relevant and solves one or more of their specific pain points.

It's hard to run a virtual workshop, especially since there's no energy or questions to bounce off as you do in a room full of people. With that being said though if you follow these tips, then you can be sure that everyone is awake, everyone is following, everyone is engaged, and more importantly, they will stay on your webinar until the end.

If you want to know how to get people to register for your webinar, how to get them to buy or how to run an ideal webinar in general, see part 1, 3 and 4 of this blog series. 

Learn how to quickly add an extra £2k of monthly recurring income to your practice (even if you are a reluctant business developer)

Download (for free) the workshop recording of 'How to quickly add £2k of monthly recurring revenue to your practice' and you will discover:

  • How to generate more income from your existing clients without putting in place a price rise
  • How to get your clients to pay for more services without seen to be profiteering or ambulance chasing
  • What marketing your firm can do right now which is going to cause new good clients to flock to your firm

Ready to kick-start the growth of your firm?