Sarah Fejfar 0:00
because there's always a segment of your guests, and prospects who identify themselves as VIP, they will be looking for a VIP offer for your event. So when you're selling tickets, I never want you to overlook. Creating a VIP offer and a VIP offer is not different. It's not that different.
Sarah Fejfar 0:25
It's just adding a few additional things. How are entrepreneurs like us during bravely to build a stage? Ditch the sweat pants, and step up to the mic? How do we create our own transformative events? So we can get our message out into the world in a bigger way. It's not only profitable, but it's actually something we can be proud of.
Sarah Fejfar 0:50
That's the question. And the answers are inside this podcast. My name is Sarah Fejfar. Welcome to greenroom Central.
Sarah Fejfar 0:57
I totally overdid it yesterday, I was starting to feel better from the the COVID and I cleaned house all day. And now I feel like I've been run over by a truck. And no, my voice still doesn't sound better. But I I feel better from a pandemic standpoint. Anywho I have a bad back and anytime I overdo it with manual labor, I feel it and I now have like, it feels like I have arthritis every single joint in my body. very promptly went to the chiropractor this morning are saying, okay, that's not what this podcast is about.
Sarah Fejfar 1:33
This podcast is about V I P experiences. So in daily life, it's rare that we identify as VIP that we go out of our way to choose to stay at the highest end hotel or the book, the fanciest air b&b, or buy the VIP backstage pass to a concert was a rare things for us, right? Well, I think when you're an event scenario, and you're basically pooling people's money to create this experience for them, you have this unit, you're in this unique position, then, where you have a little bit more money that you're playing with than typical, if it was just one person.
Sarah Fejfar 2:38
And so you can do things that are a little bit more special. And so I wanted to kind of crack that can open today and talk about what that looks like to kind of get your juices flowing on this topic, and help kick off some brainstorming perhaps on how could you inject a little bit of something into your event that makes your guests feel like VIPs. And so the first idea I wouldn't want to give you is around food. So let's say you're hosting a mastermind, and you've rented out a private space, like perhaps a fancy Airbnb for it.
Sarah Fejfar 3:29
Well, wouldn't it be special if you hired a private chef to come in and cook the meals for your guests, instead of ordering, delivery or doing it yourself? You think about hiring a private chef in your daily life, that kind of seems like a little bit of a stretch. But when you've got a small group mastermind, and you're again, pooling everybody's money to make this experience happen. It's not quite a stretch.
Sarah Fejfar 4:03
In fact, it's probably quite reasonable and even maybe fiscally responsible choice to make there. And so, I want you to consider that. Perhaps also, when we're talking about booking a space for that mastermind retreat, perhaps you are able that and to look outside of the norm and book, a property, rent a property that you wouldn't normally do for a personal vacation because it's you know, it's a little bit bigger. It's a little bit fancier, but it fits when you are looking at an event budget.
Sarah Fejfar 4:43
Another thing is, you know, we were overseas for a couple of weeks, you know, I was producing that event for a client. I talked to you on the last podcast, I think it was for episode 43. And I was talking to you about how we were in Greece for the event and We went to Turkey for the site visit for the next event. That happens next year. And you know, while we were there, we were reviewing transportation options for the group.
Sarah Fejfar 5:13
And if you've ever studied Istanbul, you know, it's one of the most largest cities in the world. I don't quote me on this, but I think it's like number 18 right now. Or maybe it's 18 million people. What are the do, there's a lot of people there, it's big, it's crowded, the streets are crowded. And as we found, having a driver take us around, it's kind of not really conducive to driving in that city. And even getting from the airport to the hotel was a little bit ridiculous in terms of traffic and duration.
Sarah Fejfar 5:53
And as we dug in with our destination management company, and transportation provider, we found out that there's a river running through the town, and it touches most of the major areas of the town. And it is very common to rent boats, to take you places. In fact, we can even rent a boat, to take our guests most of the way from the airport to the hotel. And we could take rent a boat to take our guests from the hotel where we're meeting during the day to dinner at night. And it's not that much more when you're thinking of it in a group setting of an expense to rent that over minibus and so why not? It's gonna be more peaceful.
Sarah Fejfar 6:46
If it's going to be perhaps maybe faster. It makes our guests feel a little bit more taking care of VIP. Let's it's a go. In my book, right. Another thing on that trip, we found that the airport in Istanbul was a gorgeous, newish airport. And but waiting for a your driver after your flight plans can be a little bit tricky, because it's kind of not the nicest, newest part of the airport. And it's quite busy and smoky. And as we dug in a little bit more, we learned that there is a service that the airport offers where you get VIP, you can purchase VIP arrival and departure service.
Sarah Fejfar 7:43
And it's not that expensive. I want to say it's something in the ballpark of maybe $125 For arrival. And you know, each each piece of it each leg rivals with 125 to purchase about 125. Again, don't quote me on that number, but so reasonable per guest, and you get like picked up at the gate, take into your luggage helped through customs taken right to your car in a special waiting area. I mean, if when we talk about creating an event experience for our guests, I am all about managing the experience, especially the arrival experience, you only get one chance, right to make a good first impression.
Sarah Fejfar 8:38
And so if we could spend just a little bit more and know that our guests is going to feel so taken care of after a long travel day and know exactly where they're going and feel safe and healthy not covered in smoke in the outdoor waiting area like we were. And I say yes, like I'm all in. So there's just a few examples. Another one I thought of was, you know, if let's say you're going to take your group to Disney World, Walt Disney offers private VIP tours, when you look at the price, you know, somewhere in the 400 to $800 an hour range and they have a minimum number of hours but to have a VIP tour guide take you like door to door like cut through the lines, all the things
Sarah Fejfar 9:37
it seems it's a little high when you think about it for a single family. But when you're considering that they take like groups of 10 in this way. And let's say again, you have a small group mastermind and you could get a you know a few of these groups going and be able to save your time yourselves time when getting in line, have a more enjoyable experience seeing more attractions? Why not? And stuff like that is available in more places than we think.
Sarah Fejfar 10:14
And it just takes asking the question to find out. And that's that's what happened in Turkey, we're just digging in a little bit more going. Okay, is this really the only way to be picked up at the airport? Is this the only way to get from the airport to our hotel? This is the only way to get to dinner. Be curious. That's, that's kind of the underlining theme here, I think you can see that. Be curious. So that's all about kind of stirring the pot, getting your your juices, your brainstorming juices flowing on, how could you create experiences that feel a little bit more VIP for your guests.
Sarah Fejfar 11:04
Now, I also don't want to leave this out of the episode on VIP, and say that there will always be a portion of your audience of the guests coming to your event, the guests, the prospects, looking at investing in a ticket to your event that identify themselves as VIP. Fact, okay, and in for someone like me, who doesn't always identify themselves as VIP, it's, it was a little bit of a harder concept for me to grasp. But now that I've got it, I'm all in and I'm not looking back. What I want you to know is because there's always a segment of your guests, and prospects who identify themselves as VIP, they will be looking for a VIP offer for your event.
Sarah Fejfar 12:07
So when you're selling tickets, I never want you to overlook, creating a VIP offer and a VIP offer is not different. It's not that different, it's just adding a few additional things. And you don't have to throw all the things at the VIP offer. Pick three, maybe it's a special piece of swag item they get to pick up at the event, maybe it's a mini course that you give them access to maybe it's a happy hour at the event that they get access to and other people don't. You don't have to do all the things and definitely don't give every ounce of yourself to this VIP offer.
Sarah Fejfar 12:55
Because it doesn't require that maybe it's maybe it's priority seating. But I want you to have a VIP ticket offer. Because again, there's a portion of your guests who just identify as VIP and would like to have that little bit of extra special treatment. And so you're doing yourself and them your bottom line a disservice when you leave that out. And I know that's not you. So just this is your friendly reminder added in. I remember the first time that I bought a VIP ticket offer. I felt special. I'm not gonna lie, I felt special. And I was so thankful that it was available.
Sarah Fejfar 13:46
Because to me having front row access priority seating access is priceless. I want to sit in the front because I have such attention deficit issues that being up there in the front helps keep my focus Eyes on the Prize much better than if I was in the back of the room. And so when I did that, and I bought that VIP ticket and I got access to sit up front. I just felt better the whole event because I just got the seat that I wanted I didn't have to worry about like racing from the general admission entry point to like, see if I could possibly find one that was still open it was just I always got it
Sarah Fejfar 14:40
and I loved it. And now I think I might identify myself as VIP for more things because once you get a taste of like just one step better. You kind of want to stay there right? So let's give our guests that that option to buy that VIP ticket. And then let's see how we can surprise and delight our guests with VIP experiences that they wouldn't ordinarily have access to. I remember, back in my corporate event days, we had larger size groups.
Sarah Fejfar 15:19
And we were able for one of the evening events to rent out a portion of a theme park, I think it happened to be we were in Florida at the time. So it's a portion of universal and it included, like some fun rides and the Harry Potter section. And I was before I'd read the books, and before I knew what I was looking at, now, I would think it would be really cool that I know that I read all this series, I digress. It felt fancy, it felt special to be able to go on a ride and never have to wait in a line.
Sarah Fejfar 15:54
And to just have the whole place to ourselves. And there's so many ways that we can give that feeling of I just feel special. And I'm connecting that to the host of the event like they did this for me. And that builds that know like trust. Even more, it builds that intimacy. And that is the goal when we have these events. So see, if you could brainstorm today maybe write down three things that came to mind of like how you could inject a little bit more VIP feeling experiences into your next event.
Sarah Fejfar 16:45
And then also be writing down what came to mind when we talked about adding a VIP tear to your ticket price. And just file that away for the next time that you're planning your event so you can refer to it. Alright, thanks for hanging out together today. I appreciate it. Make it an outstanding week. Take care. Thank you for listening to the greens and Show podcast. If you love this episode, then please take a screenshot on your phone and post it to Instagram. And be sure to tag at Sarah Fejfar.
Sarah Fejfar 17:21
And let me know why you liked it and what you'd like to hear or who you'd like to hear from in the future. That'll help me know what to create for you. Also, I've been hearing a lot of business owners say people are tired of virtual events and it's just not true. Which is why I created a brand new five day challenge called the virtual event. I want to show you how to make your next event more profitable, engaging, and most importantly, how to make it happen. And the best part is that this five day challenge is absolutely free to register right now simply visit greenroom central.com And you can get started today.
Sarah Fejfar 17:58
This podcast is built on Kajabi. I loved how easy it was to get things set up but more so I'm thrilled that my entire business is from within one platform from my emails to pages to courses on my podcast to all under one roof. If you love simplicity and scalability as much as I do, then go to Graham central.com to get a free 14 day trial from Kajabi.
Sarah Fejfar 18:21
I appreciate your commitment to leveling up and learning mindset and strategy. Keep going, keep learning if you want more, head over to greenroom central.com For show notes and all the links from today's episode.
