Sarah Fejfar 0:00
If it is not you, they will go find it somewhere else, they may still love on you and buy your stuff and love learning from you. But they will forever be more deeply connected to a different brand. Because that brand was able to figure it out and bring them together live because people crave it.
Sarah Fejfar 0:19
How are entrepreneurs like us daring 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. That's the question.
Sarah Fejfar 0:41
And the answers are inside this podcast. My name is Sarah Fejfar. Welcome to greenroom Central.
Sarah Fejfar 0:47
I hear so many big name influencers say that events are the least profitable thing that they do in their business, yet they keep doing them. So what gives? Well, I'm gonna break it down for you. We're gonna talk about how to be long term thinkers about events. Because what if the short term gain the direct attribution of doing an event and making sales wasn't all there was? And I think that that's a lens that we need to try on, and see if we can get comfortable with. Because what if there was so much more to producing events in our businesses then making in event sales?
Sarah Fejfar 1:34
Okay. I know you're thinking, Sarah, well, I don't want to lose money. That's not why I'm doing this. We're not a charity. And I feel you. And I totally agree. I'm not here to lose money any more than you are. But let's talk about how there is a very real long game, to starting and scaling events in your business. I remember going to my very first personal development event, it's almost six years ago now. And being in that room, and not knowing that my life was about to change, not knowing that it was going to kick off massive transformation.
Sarah Fejfar 2:21
I mean, in under 12 months, I had left my corporate career of over 16 years, and I moved across the country, out of the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest, crazy big things and started a business. And none of that would have been possible if I hadn't gone to an event. And now for ever, I connected that transformation that was kicked off with the host of the event, the business that hosted the event. And I forever feel, I don't know if indebted is the word or like fan is the right word, or perhaps even a kind of sewer of the brand. But there's a connection that is not broken.
Sarah Fejfar 3:18
And I do not foresee any breaking of that connection in the very near or forever future. And what I mean by that is I'm kind of like a ride or die for this brand now, like whatever it is that they have for sale, I'm game to buy it. And like whatever the Kool Aid is like, give it all to me. I'm here for it. And I think there's it's because there's magic in the room, when you create a live event experience for your community, you build that know, like or love and trust factor with them because the intimacy is so much greater than in a digital space. And you know, and I'm talking in terms of social media and email because I know that this magic can happen in a virtual room just like it can in an in person room.
Sarah Fejfar 4:19
And I think that the building of long term relationships happens when we are together. synchronous learning ideally in person can also happen virtually but that you're really building long term relationships and you may not see an ROI immediately. Did I buy anything at that first event other than perhaps a sweatshirt? Not a huge ROI there right probably still lost money on me to be frank because the ticket price was quite low. So but over the long term, but more bought courses, hired them to speak at an event, bought books, referred them to other friends and peers and businesses. I mean, the list goes on. And we're still inside of six years, I can't imagine what the lifetime ROI is.
Sarah Fejfar 5:35
So what I'm what I think the first thing that I want you to get anchored in here is that an event is a very key piece of building, lifetime customer value that is higher than it would have otherwise been without an event, you're building brand loyalty, you're building trust, you're building an emotional connection. And I truly believe that that happens when we're together, live. And it's very, very, very hard. Unless you're a pop icon, to create that without being together live. So that's number one. really believing that and I and I know you can come up with an example right now while we're hanging out together here of you being at an event live.
Sarah Fejfar 6:45
And now forever feeling connected at a much deeper level to that brand. Can you come up with one right now. It's something bubbling up for you. And I hope that you can then see and translate that into your own business and brand and how that will play out over the long term to increase the overall lifetime value of each of your customers. think the second thing that I would want you to know is that when you start hosting events, you become the go to in your niche for events of that type. And if you don't fill that space, someone else will for your community, that your community wants to get together to network to learn new things, live away from the distractions of the rest of their life.
Sarah Fejfar 8:03
And they want it to be you who gathers them. But if it's not you, they will go find it somewhere else. I'll repeat that because that's so important to let sink in. If it is not you, they will go find it somewhere else, they may still love on you and buy your stuff and love learning from you. But they will forever be more deeply connected to a different brand. Because that brand was able to figure it out and bring them together live because people crave it. We just lived through an entire world wide experiment of why people crave community and connection and content in a live together environment. And how we will do everything in our power to get back to it if it's taken away from us.
Sarah Fejfar 9:06
And so just know like if it's not you, it will be somebody else that fills that gap. And I don't want that to happen. I for your brand, I want it to be you. And so what do you need to figure out in order for your community members to be able to gather together live? What's the domino? Like what's the resource that you need? Is it time is it discipline? Is it money that is holding you back from making this dream a reality not just for you as a business owner, but for your community.
Sarah Fejfar 9:53
The third thing that I'd want to chat about as it relates to the long game is putting yourself in the shoes of somebody who is playing the long game. And as such, you're going to measure what matters along the way. Because when we keep an eye on the metrics, we're able to grow, right? It happens in every other aspect of your business, whether it's social media engagement, stats, or podcast downloads, or funnel sales, conversion metrics, like what we measure, we're able to grow. And so let's, from the outset, have the mindset that we're, we're gonna to win it, this is a long game.
Sarah Fejfar 10:50
And so we're going to measure all the things from the outset, in a way that we can compare event over event over event. So we can start to spot trends. So we can start to make minor adjustments here and there to continue to evolve, grow, get better, we're building a machine, right. And I know there's so much more magic to it than that. But when you think about it as building a machine that you're going to scale, that's, you're going to make more of you're going to repeat, I think that lens informs our decisions in a really special way. I always say that, if we go into our first event, as if we're going to have another that we put in different we make different decisions, we put in different systems, systems that are scalable, we measure what matters.
Sarah Fejfar 12:03
And all of that is really important when you're playing the long game because it helps you see. And imagine where you could go and be watching the progress along the way. And while having that conversation about measurement, I also want you to know that when we're playing the long game, we might not be able to tie back every little bit of ROI and a direct attribution kind of way. And so, back to the first thing that we talked about is just opening ourselves up to how we're really building long term relationships. We're building brand loyalty, we're building trust, we're building an emotional connection, that will be very hard to break.
Sarah Fejfar 13:11
And that that will pay off over the long term. But I think if we're, if we're short sighted, and we think that the only benefits of hosting an event is the amount of dollars made from the event sales and how that compares to what we invested in that event, I think it's so short sighted. And I don't think that, that every major influencer hosts events and is shouting from the rooftops that it's the least profitable thing they do, yet they are still doing it. I think that we that should be turning our heads. It should, it should be it should be a signal to us that way. I think there's something to this whole event thing.
Sarah Fejfar 14:14
And maybe it's more than how many butts are in seats and how many dollars are made. Maybe there's a long game here that I should be thinking about and paying attention to. And be open to you know, when they say you know, when you build your, your first funnel and you get it going and you're really looking to, you know, put $1 in and get $2 out pretty much immediately right? Let you know within the first maybe it's the first day or the first week or the first 30 days but As you get more established, you're able to extend that return on investment window, you're able to wait a little bit longer, maybe it's a year, maybe it's two, to get that $2 back for the dollar that you put in.
Sarah Fejfar 15:20
I think I think you could kind of have a little bit of that lens on here, too, with events is be open to the magic that happens in the room. And how that can translate into higher customer long term like lifetime customer value. And so what if we just focused on making the magic and focused and making sure that we get people in the room? Because unless they're in the room, we can't change their lives, right? And then worried last about what we were investing in and what we were getting out on an immediate short term basis.
Sarah Fejfar 16:10
What if we focused on the service and trusted that it would all play out over the long term in a way that served both our business in the community, what if I hope this conversation is leaving you feeling like you're ready to get into the game of events, even if you were worried about am I going to make enough money. And perhaps, if you're already in the game, it's leaving you feeling like I want to up my game, I really want to step up into a place of service. Give my guests the best experience that they've ever had at a live event. And I'm going to detach myself from the outcome and trust that it's all going to work out.
Sarah Fejfar 17:26
That's my wish for you today. I so appreciate you hanging out. I so appreciate you opening up your mind in your heart to this type of conversation. If questions came up, drop them into my DMs over on Instagram, and help you brainstorm. Thank you for listening to the greenroom central 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 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.
Sarah Fejfar 17:59
That'll help me know what to create for you. Also, if it's on your heart to host your first or next event this year and you need a jumpstart. Let's connect for a strategy session. Just go to green room central.com in a two hour intensive, private session, I can help you pivot scale or start your event vision. Together we will build an actionable plans that you feel confident and clear on your next steps. Go to green room central.com right now to sign up.
Sarah Fejfar 18:28
I appreciate your commitment to leveling up and learning the mindset and strategy of live events. Keep going, keep learning if you want more head over to Greenham central.com For show notes and all the links from today's episode.
