Sarah Fejfar 0:00
An event requires people and people don't just show up without much notice to something when they haven't yet built up a little bit of that know, like, and trust the person who's hosting the event, they definitely don't get on a plane without a little bit of that.
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.
Sarah Fejfar 0:40
That's the question. And the answers are inside this podcast. My name is Sarah Fejfar. Welcome to greenroom Central.
Sarah Fejfar 0:47
If you're feeling called to host an event, but you don't have an email list yet. This is for you. So I will tell you that the road from here is uphill, but it's doable. And so I want you to keep listening because I've got three things that you must consider. If you're deciding to go down this road. Recently, I was on a one on one coaching sales call with a prospect. And they were extremely interested in hosting an event. And they didn't yet have an email list, they thought it would be an excellent place to start to drive some cash fast.
Sarah Fejfar 1:31
And then we talked about how an event requires people and people don't just show up without much notice to something when they haven't yet built up a little bit of that know, like and trust the person who's hosting the event, they definitely don't get on a plane without a little bit of that. And so we strategized a little bit on how we could work. And so I want to piggyback off of that conversation and share some of those ideas that we came up with. So that if you're in that same position, you can use these ideas as well. Of course, I've always got that guide to 107 ways to fill your event for free, the guide is free, the ideas, got the money, but the guide is free. It's over at filling events.com.
Sarah Fejfar 2:26
So you can always grab a copy of that 107 ideas, but I want to talk specifically about ones that are just for someone without an email list when you're just starting. So the first question is, can you afford to buy your way? So what I mean is, if you don't have a list, and you want to host an event soon, you know within the next three to six months, then your one of your options is to buy ads and buy your way there. And so I am not up to date on exactly what it costs today to get an in person. Event guest. But if I had to guess, or make an estimate, give you something ballpark. What if I said it would take $200 in ad spend for each paid or free event guest?
Sarah Fejfar 3:37
Would you be interested in spending that amount of money in order to get there because that plus the monthly management fee for an agency that knows what they're doing, and maybe that's in the ballpark of $3,500 a month. So you've got your ad spend plus your management fee. But it's doable, run those ads to a webinar funnel, and go teach live and make the offer to come to the event. It's absolutely doable, but it comes at a price.
Sarah Fejfar 4:17
So you'll have to work with your ad specialists to determine what is a ballpark range for what it would cost for your niche in the timeframe that you want to bring in those event leads. Because obviously every time a year has come to a different event, add costs. So have a conversation heart to heart with an ad strategist and see what you're up against. Maybe it's not 200 Maybe it's 50 Maybe it's 500 I don't know what it is for you. But if money isn't an object and you can afford to buy your way there this is an option. And a really effective one. I've seen it work.
Sarah Fejfar 5:08
I've seen it work to bring in more than 1000 guests inside of six weeks. So no, it's possible. The second thing to consider is, if buying your way there isn't an option, do you have the connections to get your way there. And what I mean by that is, one time I had a client who did not have, she had a small email list. But it was not an engaged email list. And it wasn't going to get her to the amount of guests she wanted for her event. And buying her way there didn't feel like a viable option.
Sarah Fejfar 5:58
And so we created a plan to leverage her connections, because she was extremely well connected to a lot of people and organizations that had already congregated, her right fit perfect people for her event. And so we crafted some personal notes, to send out to as many of her connections as possible, asking if they would support her by sending their people to an invite to her webinar series. And we in I feel like that was under four weeks, it was very high pressure, super tight timeframe.
Sarah Fejfar 6:53
Got her the event guests she needed and wanted for her event by leveraging her connections. So that is an option. Think about who you know, who has already congregated your perfect people and has a close enough connection to you that they are willing to send out an email or make social posts are go live with you to share the information about your event or a pre event, sales vehicle like a free webinar. And then the last thing I want you to consider is what other resources do you have at your disposal disposal, maybe you don't have a community in your email list.
Sarah Fejfar 7:53
But maybe you have a community online that's engaged. But you've never really asked them to move to your email list. Perhaps you have podcast listeners, perhaps you have no podcast listeners, but you do have a new podcast. And you can use it as business development and bring on guests who are willing to be on your podcast, who have congregated, your perfect people. And you can use that podcast interview time as an opportunity to build a relationship with them and then make the ask if they would invite their people to your event or to your free thing that's going to have an offer at the end of your event.
Sarah Fejfar 8:43
And maybe you have a social following. Again, that hasn't been turned into an email list, but you could do some things to move them swiftly to your email lists so that you can or a free event like a webinar where you can start to sell them. I hope that it gave you some perspective, this conversation that we had today because while it's not my preference that people start their business by hosting an event, I know that people do it all the time. It is just some people's preferred medium.
Sarah Fejfar 9:23
And I want to support you if that's your choice and desire. But also I want to make sure that you are going into it eyes wide open knowing it will take a significant amount of effort and planning and a runway of time in order to move those guests into registered guests status from prospects. I hope that this gave you some actionable tips, some inspiration so that you can decide what the night next right action is for you.
Sarah Fejfar 9:57
I'll tell you that after we had That conversation about the potential of working together one on one to help that prospect that in that recent sales call that I was on, get to their event within, they wanted to have the event within six weeks or so. They wrote to me afterwards saying the call was so valuable. And it gave them the perspective, they needed to realize it, an event may not be the quick cash infusion, they were looking for, quick, easy cash infusion they were looking for because they don't have a list, because they don't have connections and because they're not in a position to buy their way there.
Sarah Fejfar 10:41
And so they decided to postpone it for 12 to 18 months and really use this time with huge amounts of intention to build up their lists. And I when I saw that note come in, I said yes, like I really applaud your decision. I support it. I'm cheering you on. We can work together when the time comes. But I love that you've decided to put in the work of doing the list building. And it takes time. It takes time. But I've given you some ideas today that if time isn't an option, you have other ways around that you can buy your way there, leverage connections, or any of those other ideas that gave you I hope this was helpful.
Sarah Fejfar 11:33
If it left you with some questions, slide those into my DMs over on Instagram. And I appreciate you hanging out with me today. This was so fun to hear. 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 zero 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 that will help me know what to create for you. Also, if scaling events in your business sounds like something you want to tackle this year and you need a coach.
Sarah Fejfar 12:08
Let's connect to see if one on one coaching is for you just go to greenroom central.com You and I can work together one on one throughout the course of the year and dive deep into the inner workings of your events business to receive mentorship, personalized feedback, and customize guidance to define your goals and achieve your next level of success. Just go to green room central.com right now to apply.
Sarah Fejfar 12:33
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.
