Your business could be growing itself — even while you sleep. 

You can turn pre-recorded presentations into “evergreen” webinars that keep the leads and revenue flowing, 24/7. 

But you can’t just slap any ol' video online. 

Not if you want results.

This guide will show you how to set up an evergreen webinar system. 

Learn how to execute one of the smartest ways to grow your business: evergreen webinars that generate “passive” income around the clock.

Let’s do this!

If you think you know...let’s make sure.

There’s a lot of confusion about this. People aren’t even sure what to call them.

Evergreen? Automated? Recorded?

All of those terms work. But only one method actually works, whatever you call it. 

Just because it’s a video doesn't make it an “evergreen webinar.”

An evergreen webinar isn’t a replay of a live webinar, or a simulated live webinar. It’s not YouTube content or a Facebook Live presentation. 

It’s more than a presentation, even. 

A true evergreen webinar is a presentation you record specifically for automation, upload into a dedicated webinar software, and build a pre-and-post-webinar marketing system around to get conversions. 

Let’s unpack that definition:

“...a presentation you record specifically for automation...” 

What you present to a live audience is way different from what you’ll prepare for automation. 

There’s no chat, no Q&A, no “Hi, tell us where you’re from!”  No banter.

So you have to find other ways to make this thing engaging. Those ways can include:

• Editing the recording to make it smoother and more polished. 
• Multimedia content — other videos, music, or animations you embed into the presentation. 
• Downloadable takeaways

And of course, the timing and pace have to be different.

An evergreen webinar should be shorter, and not just because there’s no banter or Q&A. The actual content should be shorter, like less than 40 minutes total for most purposes.

“...upload into a dedicated webinar software…” 

Ok, this is not the part where I try to sell you on WebinarNinja (there’s a free 14-day trial for that). 

What I’m selling you on is simply the truth: Webinar software is more than a video platform.

YouTube. Zoom. GoToMeeting. These things are not webinar platforms. They’re awesome for what they’re for — but not webinars.

The reason is that real webinar software, besides streaming/hosting videos, also acts as a sort of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software. 

Webinar software should include ways to record and manage the email addresses of everyone who signs up for your webinar. It should enable you to easily do things like social sharing, automatic email sequences, creating registration and “Thank You” pages, embedding sales offers, and more. 

If what you’re using doesn’t do all that...it’s not really webinar software, per se.

Yes, people call all kinds of things “webinars.” We can respectfully disagree on the semantics. But for business — for growing a brand — a webinar has to be part of a larger system — with all the tools that make that system work.

Speaking of which…

“...build a pre-and-post-webinar marketing system around to get conversions.” 

This is what it really comes down to. 

As I mentioned, the purpose of a webinar is to convert attendees. You want them to do something that turns them into qualified leads, or customers. 

So you need to do more than show them a video!

Your webinar should generate and grow a contact list. You have to email those contacts based on their behavior — whether they’ve registered, attended, made a purchase, etc. 

With the tools included (or integrated with) your webinar software, you have more to do than just record.

You create a registration page that collects email addresses. You email registrants to increase attendance rates. You email attendees (and registrants who didn’t attend) with messages that move them to the next step —  like making a purchase, registering for a live webinar, or signing up for a consultation.

An evergreen webinar doesn’t just have “viewers.” It is “attended” by potential clients and customers that you have to interact with outside the recording.

So, in simpler terms: an evergreen webinar is a marketing or sales campaign. Not just a piece of content. 

If it’s not actually creating leads or customers...it’s just a video.

With evergreen webinars, you have two scheduling options:

•  A scheduled webinar
  
  or
  
  
• A "Watch Now"/"On Demand" webinar

Each option has its advantages and drawbacks.

As you might’ve guessed, a scheduled webinar is when you actually choose a specific date/time (or dates/times) for the presentation. Registrants can only watch (ahem, attend) during the appointed time/times.

At first, you might think this hurts attendance. You’re not letting registrants choose when to watch (or you’re limiting their choices to a few “showtimes” you select).

And that’s partially true. There will be people who would attend right then and there — if you let them. But they can’t make it on the scheduled day/time.

But…

One reason for low attendance rates is a lack of urgency. It’s easy to register for a webinar — but showing up is another matter.

For every registrant who doesn’t attend a webinar because it’s scheduled, there’ll be someone who does attend because it’s scheduled.

Why?

Short answer: psychology.

When you can do something...whenever...it gets pushed to the back burner.

For many, it becomes one of those things they “didn’t get around to.” It’s why we have shelves full of books we never read, or classic movies we’ve “been meaning to watch."

But if your webinar is only happening on a certain date (or on several certain dates) it forces the registrant to commit. It’s like making a date to go to the movie theater instead of catching it on Netflix. It’s a firm plan.

Then there’s “On Demand” webinars (what we call “Watch Now”): the kind registrants can attend at their leisure. Immediately, next week, next month, whenever.

The advantages are obvious: the person can click “Play” in the moment their interest is highest, right after they signed up. You’re letting the momentum created by your promotion carry them right into the presentation.

The “Watch Now” option also completely eliminates any scheduling conflicts. Time zones don’t matter. Work schedules don’t matter.

But as I explained, it also completely eliminates any sense of urgency. So you’ll lose people that way.

So which option should you choose?

That’ll depend on your audience and niche. Experiment. The beauty of an evergreen webinar is that you can use it as many times as you like, in as many ways. So try all 3 of the following:

• A scheduled webinar with one firm "showtime" (not that you'll only use it once, of course. You'll just schedule and promote each showing individually). 
  
  
• A scheduled webinar that runs at regular intervals (every week, month, etc.)
  
  
• A "Watch Now" webinar

See what you get. Your webinar software should track registration and attendance, so you’ll be able to see the data on what works best for you.

Evergreen webinars have a killer advantage: they can reach way more people.

But there’s a trade-off.

You simply won’t get the same conversation rate with evergreen webinars that you will with live webinars.

For value to the audience and conversions for you, nothing beats a live webinar. Fact is, the live ones are the best way to create real relationships and build trust.

So when you automate, you’re not just expanding your reach. You’re trading some conversions in exchange for that reach.

However, it still works to your advantage.

Let’s use sales conversions as an example. If sales is the goal, then a 20% conversion rate is pretty good for a live webinar. So if 100 people show up to a webinar, you turn 20 of them into customers, right then and there. Awesome!

But while 20% is about average for a live webinar, it’s really high for an evergreen webinar.

So let’s say your evergreen webinar only converts at 5%. For every 100 people who watch it, just 5 of them buy something.

Are you depressed yet? Don’t be.

Because the evergreen webinar will have much higher registration and attendance! Let’s play with the numbers:

If your live webinar got:

- 300 registrations, and
- 100 actually showed up, and
- the conversion rate was 20%...

...you got 20 sales.

But if your evergreen webinar — being much easier to attend — got:

- 600 registrants, and
- 400 showed up (as in, clicked “Watch Now”), and
- The conversion rate was 5%...

...you got 20 sales!

And you didn’t even have to get out of bed.

To actually generate leads and sales, it’s crucial to understand what makes this strategy work.

Not playing to the strengths of automation is a fatal mistake.

...and too many people make it.

Let’s explore what exactly makes evergreen, recorded webinars effective — so we get it right.

The main advantage of evergreen webinars is efficiency.

As we explained, you won't get more leads or sales on an evergreen webinar than you would on a live one.

But whatever you get, you’ll get while you’re doing other things.

It’s all about what us business nerds call the ROI (Return on Investment). You only “invest” the time and resources it takes to create the evergreen webinar. Then, it sends you returns indefinitely.

With live webinars, you have to invest new time, resources, and effort into every presentation. The return is great, but the investment is larger and more frequent.

So don’t think of evergreen webinar automation as your magic bullet. Think of it as the perfect supplement to enhance your marketing and sales efforts.

In fact, many of our customers use evergreen webinars in tandem with live webinars, not instead of.

That’s not necessarily right for everyone — some people only need to have an evergreen presentation out there, kicking up leads that they convert in other ways. Some people can only do their thing live in real time, and that’s cool, too.

But if we’re talking general strategy for monetizing your expertise, evergreen webinars are great for supporting your other marketing/sales efforts — if not replacing them.

For example, many people take a two-pronged approach: they use evergreen webinars to generate leads, but save the selling for live webinars. The CTA (“Call to Action”) on their evergreen webinars is to register for the next live one. Then, the CTA for the live webinar is to make a purchase.

Or, they do the opposite: they connect with people on live webinar workshops, earning deep trust with real-time lessons. Then, they showcase their product or service on an evergreen sales webinar.

But whatever you do, think of evergreen webinars as something that — above all else — saves you time.

It’s just a way to reach more people, more quickly. See the real value in what else you can be doing while your evergreen webinar is running itself.

As webinars have grown in popularity, we’ve seen a million attempts at automating them.

...which means we’ve seen a lot of fails.

We’ve even committed a fail or two ourselves!

In this chapter, we’ll outline the 4 most common screwups that cause evergreen webinar campaigns to flop.

All you have to do is...not do any of this!

Seriously though.

Call me old fashioned, but I like to build my customer relationships on trust. So I don’t get it when people record a presentation where they pretend to be live when they’re not.

They’ll either say that it’s live, or just neglect to mention that it’s evergreen. I’ve even had people request a fake “chat” sidebar to include on their pre-recorded webinars.

Really?

Ethics aside, let’s look at this in business terms. 

Pretending might snag a few suckers in the short term, but it’s not a stable foundation for a sustainable business or solid CLTV (customer lifetime value). 

Tricking people is not a marketing strategy. It’s just a lie.

You can’t record an evergreen webinar the same way you record a live one. And you can’t use a recording of a live webinar the same way you use a recording designed for automation.

They’re just different animals.

First, don’t try to “automate” a live webinar. Too many people (ok, including me) have used footage from a live lesson and repackaged it for later use. 

This is a mistake.

Even if you’re not purposely deceptive, it comes off as lazy and disingenuous. That's not to say there's no use for your live webinar recordings. Replays are good for live registrants who couldn’t make the showtime, or people who just want to see what you do at live webinars without actually participating. 

But that’s about it.

Own the fact that your evergreen webinar is pre-recorded. Your audience will appreciate the presentation for exactly what it is.

Next, you have to make the tonal shift of speaking to an “automated” audience instead of a live one. You can’t be as conversational, because it’s not a conversation (yet). There needs to be a conscious effort to avoid “live language,” like asking where people are from.

Instead of shying away from the pre-recordedness of an automated webinar, lean into it! Because it’s not live, you can seriously up the production values! You can edit out mistakes and awkward stumbles. You can tighten up the timing. You can do multiple takes. In the end, a pre-recorded webinar can be much more polished than a live one.

Why not take advantage?

It’s pre-recorded, but yes, you can still interact with your audience.

You shouldn’t ask questions like “Hey, what’s the weather like where you are?” as if you’re working a live room. But you should pose genuine questions that will help your audience get the most out of the lesson.

“Is your current fitness regimen working?”

“How many new users do you need in the next 6 months?” “How much are you spending on _____?”

Whatever the topic, you can use questions to engage.

You can also take questions from attendees — sort of. The chat and Q&A features can still function. You can review questions later, answering the most common ones in an email campaign or blog post.

You can also include polls. People enjoy sharing their opinions, and you’ll get super-valuable data to work and plan content from.

Of course, the best kind of interactivity is to give your attendees a win. 

That’s just part of any good content, including evergreen webinars. Don’t just give attendees information. Give them steps, tasks, and the means to produce a result. 

Just because you’re not really “there” doesn’t mean you can’t have an impact beyond the presentation!

Finally, nothing is more tragic than creating a fantastic evergreen webinar your audience loves, and then...

...that's it.

As with other kinds of content, there has to be a next step to move people down your funnel. Otherwise, you’re not converting attendees into customers. 

Automated webinars are best used as the beginning of a conversation — and the follow-up is what makes it all worthwhile.

Naturally, the best way to convert attendees is to include a CTA in the webinar: either an invitation to a sales webinar, or a sales offer. 

But of course, not all your attendees will take the desired action immediately.

That’s where a solid email sequence comes in. Your webinar software should let you break down your invitee list and create a segmented sequence that nets even more conversions.

You can create emails for people who watched your webinar but didn’t take action. You can email people who signed up, but never actually watched, letting them know about the offer they missed. 

The key is not to let the webinar itself be the end of the story.

If you’re considering or using evergreen webinars, simply eliminating these 4 issues will go a long way toward getting the results you're after.

The first kind of evergreen webinar has no sales goals whatsoever. In other words, a marketing webinar.

The goal is to create leads. It'll draw people in you may sell to later. But for now, you’re just boosting your brand and establishing credibility.

The best way to do that? Teach people something.

You have one huge, valuable asset. It costs almost nothing to share, and can generate all the leads you need. This asset is...your expertise.

Think of your unique expertise and experience as a commodity. You can trade it for things — like leads and brand recognition. Whatever it is you know the most about, sharing a great lesson on it will pay off.

More accurately, teaching people how to do something they couldn’t do before is the best way to earn real trust.

This is an increasingly common marketing strategy. As I often put it, sell a man a fish, and you earn revenue for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll buy bait and tackle from you for a lifetime.

For example, if your goal is to sell fitness coaching, create an automated lesson with a great workout or nutrition plan. Give attendees a little win.

Then, invite them to pursue even bigger wins — on your next webinar. That’s where you’ll sell them on your paid course or coaching program. Your next webinar will be:

• A live webinar lesson that includes a sales offer. More on that here.
• A live sales webinar, specifically for people interested in your product/service. More on that here.
• A hybrid automated lesson that includes a sales offer. More on that below.
• An evergreen sales webinar. More on that below.
  

The key is to focus on a small, highly actionable lesson that produces a real-world result.

A workout is a great example, as is a meal-prep plan. Or a basic 10-minute meditation. A journaling practice, a software coding trick, a financial technique. Whatever!

Just make sure people leave the webinar able to do something new — with you to thank for it.

For the structure of your lesson, use a simple “5 x 3” format. Break your lesson into 5 main points or steps, with 3 substeps or finer points each. That’ll make your content more retainable and easier to apply.

Again, lean into the fact that you can do multiple takes and incorporate more complex multimedia. Really put the effort into high production value.

Run the webinar, with its strong CTA funneling attendees to one of the 3 options above: a live lesson, a live sales webinar, or an automated sales webinar.

Watch the registrations roll in. Having consumed and (presumably) applied your free lesson, the people who sign up for your next webinar will be primed to buy.

You might ask yourself: Why take this step? 

Why give away free lessons that lead to another webinar. Why not include the sales offer in every lesson?

Because, dear reader: Nothing builds trust like giving without asking anything in return.

In these manipulative times, when trust is possibly the most scarce commodity, we sometimes have to give before we sell.

This webinar is for “qualified” leads. You warmed them all the way up with free content — including your free webinar lessons.

They know you. They like you. You’ve given them wins. They — wait for it — trust you.

You’ve earned the right to make a sales pitch.

So you’ll put together a complete showcase of whatever it is you sell: a course, a coaching program, a physical product, whatever.

You’ll use this webinar to make the case for your product, just like you made the case for your brand in general on the previous webinar.

The key is to promote this event honestly. It’s a pitch, and that’s okay for this audience!

When you promote, your message will simply be: “I’m going to show you exactly how to use [insert product/service here] to achieve [insert goal here].”

You’ve already given people reasons to believe in you. Now, you’ll walk them through exactly how your product/service works, and how it moves them from where they are to where they want to be. 

The last option is to combine both approaches: create an evergreen lesson, but include a sales offer. This will work exactly like the lesson-only webinar, with one obvious difference.

At the beginning, you’ll tell the audience that you’ll be making a sales offer. Never, ever ambush people who showed up for a lesson with a surprise pitch. It comes off as sleazy — ‘cause it is.

Then, you’ll proceed with another great lesson, and transition into a description of your product/service.

Here’s how you frame this sales pitch: Whatever advice you’ve given, whatever lessons you’ve taught, have made the audience better able to address their pain points on their own. But your product/service is a shortcut. A fast track.

Your product/service is a more convenient, packaged solution to whatever your free lessons help them with.

It’s Staples’ famous “easy button.” With your free lessons, your audience knows how to tackle part of their problem, or tackle their whole problem more skillfully. But with your product or service, the problem is just...eliminated.

Let's return to our fitness example. Your workout or meal plan showed folks what a day or week can look like with your guidance. But signing up for your course or coaching...that takes the burden of “figuring out” a fitness routine completely off the customer’s plate. Indefinitely!

It’s a simple matter of giving away small solutions, and selling big ones.

As long as you deliver on that promise — and mention the impending sales offer at the beginning of the webinar — you can include the pitch without making anyone feel manipulated or (ugh) sold to.

Every decision about your topics should start with one thing: a pain point.

In marketer-speak, a “pain point” is a problem your target audience struggles with — that you can solve.

As is often said, people don’t always know what they want. But they always know what they're struggling with.

In other words, speak to people’s problems first. Then, offer a solution.

There are a few efficient ways to do this:

• Email surveys: send direct surveys to your contact list, asking them to identify their “biggest challenge” or “most PITA problem” regarding your industry.
  
  For example: “What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to nutrition?”
  
  If your contact list is large, you might even make a proper multiple-choice survey with a Google form or Survicate. For the above example, options could include “Not enough time to meal prep” and “Not sure how to calculate macros.” 
  
  
• Social media surveys: who doesn’t love a good survey or quiz on social?
  
  Seriously. If people are willing to find out which Ninja Turtle they are based on their birth month, they’re willing to share their challenges with someone who can help.
  
  
• Your blog: encourage people to comment on your content, especially when you share it on social. You can even embed surveys into your blog posts.
  
  
• The Amazon Method: this is a go-to trick I recommend often. Simply look up the most popular books on your topic on Amazon. Then, read the 3 star reviews.
  
  3-star reviewers are people who generally like the book, but feel like something’s missing from it. In these reviews, you’ll find people saying things like “Great read. I just wish it covered....”
  
  However they end that sentence is a potential webinar topic. See what comes up the most across reviews of the best-sellers in your niche.
  
  
• Open Q&A Webinars: it’s the easiest thing in the world. Simply invite your contacts and followers to a live event where they can ask an expert (that’s you) anything they want.
  
  An open Q&A webinar is an invitation for people to bring you their problems. There’s no better way to figure out what they need help with.

Use any or all of the methods above. Compile a list or spreadsheet of common “pain points” your audience faces.

Then, plan your webinars around that.

The first rule of lesson planning: have a learning outcome.

Remember: by the end of the webinar, your audience should be able to do something new.

Start with the pain point: They’re overweight. Their website is boring. They can’t play piano.

After your webinar, your audience will be able to...plan a week’s worth of healthy meals. Code a custom web page template. Play Happy Birthday. Whatever solves their problem, or part of it.

You'll design your lesson in that “5 x 3” format we mentioned. And you'll outline that lesson with a slide presentation.

That’s not to say you’ll read a slideshow to your audience (please don’t). The slideshow is just how you stay on track, and organize all the info into something digestible.

A standard “lesson” slide presentation should look something like this:

- Title slide
- Presentation Outline
- “About Me” slide
- Lesson content slides (your 5 x 3 steps)
- Sales offer (if applicable)
- Thank you slide

Why this progression? Because each of the above bullet points serves as a backdrop for what you're doing:

While the title slide is up, you’ll simply introduce the lesson and make your “promise:” “When this webinar is over, you’ll be able to…”

While the outline slide is up, you’ll tell the audience exactly what to expect, including a sales offer (if you’re doing that). This builds anticipation and orients the audience.

The “About Me” section is where you’ll establish your credentials, and make yourself relatable with a few personal details about yourself and your story. Keep it short.

The lesson content slides are the meat of the presentation, what the audience really came for.

If you’re selling on this webinar, actually pitching your product/service should be a distinct, separate part of the presentation. This again ensures the audience that you won’t spend 30 or 40 minutes trying to get them to click “Buy.”

Close the presentation by thanking the audience for their time, and reminding where to find you online: your website, social accounts, etc. And reiterate that CTA one last time.

On the slides themselves, include more than just text.

Images, graphics, animations, and video interludes between slides are all crucial ways to maintain attention and engagement. Ideally, you’ll be on camera along with the slides, rather than a simple voice-over.

For an automated webinar, the entire presentation should take about 30-40 minutes (anything longer, and people may tune out). So give yourself roughly:

- 3-5 minutes for the introduction and “promise”
- 3 minutes to review the outline
- 3 minutes for “About Me”
- 15-20 minutes for your 5 x 3 steps
- 5 minutes for your sales pitch (if applicable)
- 1 minute to thank everyone and remind them where to follow you

We discussed the ups & downs of scheduled evergreen webinars vs the "Watch Now" variety. If/when you go the scheduled route, bear the following in mind:

Start with the second and second-to-last day of the workweek. This can vary depending on region (Fridays are workdays in the West, but off days in the Middle East, for example). Statistically, that’s when you’ll get the best attendance.

But don’t be afraid to schedule a showing or two on other days, and see what happens. It’s automated — so it’s not like it costs you any more time or money.

See what works, and schedule the available view times accordingly.

As with any event that’s important to your business, you’ll use the standard marketing channels to promote your evergreen webinar:

Your Website

Statistically, the two most traffic-heavy pages on most websites are the Home page and the About page.

Some people may not want to alter these pages to promote a webinar. But there are a few ways to do so that aren’t super intrusive.

For example, a narrow banner ad at the top of your homepage can be discreet, but effective. We actually include one for our upcoming live webinars on our own homepage:

Naturally, this chapter presumes we’re talking about product/service showcase webinars, or hybrids.

Your marketing webinars (and other promotions) did their work. Now, it’s time to close.

Remember, your evergreen webinars are part of a system. The goal of the system is to create customers. This can happen in two ways:

• In-webinar sales offers
• Post-webinar sales offers

As we discussed above, any webinar platform worth your money includes sales offers you can embed. You just add the copy and images, and the offer displays on the webinar whenever you choose.

So, Rule 1 — I’ve said this before, but it can’t be repeated too often — announce the fact that you’ll be presenting a sales offer. Do so in the beginning, when you outline the webinar.

No surprises! A sales offer ambush is the best way to lose trust and credibility — and that’s not worth a little short-term revenue.

There are 5 steps to creating a persuasive sales offer for your product or service. 

Step 1: Ask yourself the following:

1. What’s the problem? Always start with pain points.
   

2. What’s the difference? How does your product solve the problem more easily or better than people could on their own, or with another product? 
   

3. What’s the investment? In other words, the price. But don’t call it the “price” or the “cost,” if you can avoid it. Try to refer to the “investment,” which implies a valuable ROI. Speaking of which...
   

4. What’s the ROI (Return on Investment)? What is your solution worth, in dollars and cents? People only buy when the perceived value is greater than the price. ...and finally,
   

5. What’s the rush? There has to be a reason to buy now, rather than sleeping on it. You’ll provide that reason in the form of a special bonus or discount only available on the webinar.
   

Actually write those answers down, for yourself. Then move on.

Step 2. Address Objections

“Objections” are all the reasons not to buy your product/service. 

They’ll vary from product to product. But most objections fall into one of the following categories, each of which is followed here by the best “answer:”

• Price: They like your product/service, but they need to know it’s worth the money.
  
  Answer: That’s why you determined the value. 
  
  If your course costs $500, but it gives people a skill they can charge $1,000 for, the value exceeds the price. As it should As it must.
  
  Pro tip: don’t try to overcome this by lowering your prices. “Who can charge less?” is a race to the bottom that only giant corporations should play.
  
  

• Complacency: they like your product/service. They just don’t need it. After all, they’ve lived their whole lives without it so far.
  
  Answer: Show them what’s missing from the status quo. 
  
  Not having your product leaves them at a disadvantage against competitors. It leaves their true potential less-than-fulfilled. It’s not about making people feel bad. It’s about supporting them — you want the best for your audience. And they want the best for themselves. 
  
  

• Overwhelm: is there a challenge involved in the purchase? Is it a course that’ll take some time and effort? Is it a tool they’ll need to learn how to use?
  
  Answer: Provide support. Mention any Customer Service available. Offer closed social media groups where people can support each other. Offer live “onboarding” webinars where customers can bring any challenges to you. 
  
  Make it clear they won’t be using your product/service alone.
  
  

• Lack of authority: Sometimes, attendees aren’t authorized to pull the trigger. They have to bring the info back to a supervisor or team or spouse.
  
  Answer: Risk reversal. A free trial or money-back guarantee takes care of everything. If whoever’s in charge doesn’t agree with whoever made the purchase, it can be undone.
  
  

• Timing: “Not ready.” “Not a good time.” “Later.” You’ll hear that kind of thing from people who like the product/service, but think it’s not the best time to get started with it.
  
  Answer: Pose the question: “When is the right time?” Your attendees won’t be less busy a week, month, or year from now. The best time to make a positive transformation is always now.
  

Step 3: Plan the Transition

At the appointed time, you’ll drop that sales offer. But when should that be? Naturally, towards the end — it should follow your lesson or showcase.

After the lesson/showcase, your audience is empowered. They know something new. Now, you have to make the case that your product/service is the best way to move forward with that new knowledge.

It’s all about positioning your product/service as the “fast lane” or “easy button” solution (sorry, Staples). Yes, your audience can address this pain point on their own — especially now that they’re so well-informed. 

But they can make it so much easier by taking advantage of your offer.

No one wants to be “sold” or “pitched” to. But everyone is open to the most efficient answer to their pain points. So frame the transition into your sales offer that way:

“Now you understand [whatever they understand now]. You can tackle this problem on your own. But there’s a better way. You can use [your product or service].”

Step 4: Write the Offer Pitch

This isn’t for you to read from. It’s a guideline. Write down in 100 words (give or take), exactly what makes your offer worth the price.

What’s the point of writing this down? Again, you’re not reading it (that would be weird).

The point is that you must be able to distill the value of your offer down into those 100 words. You need the language — the efficient language — for transmitting that value. Getting it down to 100 words on paper is the best way to prepare yourself to pitch.

By the time you’re ready to drop that offer, your audience should be plenty warmed up. They don’t need persuasion at this point — they need confirmation. 

You’ve earned their trust. They believe in you and your product/service. They just need you to confirm — succinctly — that the decision they’re considering is the right one. 

If you can make it clear in just a few sentences, they can click that “Buy Now” button with a clear conscience.

Step 5: Social Proof

Always gather testimonials. Use quotes — or if possible, video — from happy customers/clients who are living proof that your product/service is just that awesome.

The more social proof, the better. We live at a time where consumers scroll right past product descriptions and straight to the customer reviews.

You’ll get a certain conversion rate on the webinar; i.e. some people will take your offer while they’re watching.

As for everyone else…

Follow-up is crucial. And the best way to follow up is via email. That’s another reason automated webinars are a smarter move than plain video: you have their email address.

Watching the automated webinar should trigger an automated email sequence (decent webinar platforms have this built in, or have an integration with your CRM software). The first email should thank the attendee for...y’know, attending...and include a sales offer.

Options: you can either send the same sales offer you offered in the webinar, or a modified “counter offer” that’s not as great as the in-webinar offer, but still better than a normal purchase.

Whichever you go with, make it strictly time-bound. The email offer (or counter offer) can only be available for 24-48 hours. Otherwise, there’s just no urgency.