4 simple things you MUST do (and most won’t) to get clients from live events
It’s no secret that I am a huge proponent of attending live events to get clients.
I wrote about it here, here, here, and most recently here.
Right now, I’m sitting in Cleveland listening to Dan Kennedy host “hot seats” at Brian Kurtz’s Titan’s Masterclass. There’s some people in this room that paid $20K to be here.
This is my room. I’ve made multiple 6-figures from people here and people connected to people from here. Just this morning, I got 2 great leads and a list of software recommendations to improve the Freelance Co-op experience.
I’ve noticed something interesting. There’s probably about 100 people in this room and 5 or 6 of them are going to get the lion’s share of the results when it comes to walking out of this room with deals.
They’re doing 4 simple things to get the attention of everyone in the room. Anyone can do these 4 things and if you’re at an event, you should too.
(Note: These are “in the room” strategies. I have more to share later about what to do on breaks, before and after the event, and of course, at the bar. Here we’re talking about what to do while Dan Kennedy is speaking.).
1. Sit with people you don’t know or people you WANT to know
Seat selection is key. Don’t sit with your spouse, business partner, or bestie. Sit with people you want to get next to. Then, during the event, whisper insights, funny thoughts, or even just simple things about the food, coffee, room temperature, whatever. Then take notes about what you talked about so you can follow up with something personal later (email subject lines I’ve actually used after events to follow up with clients: “bonding over shitty tea” and “side boob guy was so annoying.” Those came from whispered chuckles during a presentation)
2. Hog the mic
Hot seats, Q&A, and “biggest takeaways” are moments for you to get 100 people looking at you, kid. Take every opportunity to hold that mic you can. By the end of the event, people will feel like they know you, even though they won’t know why. (It’s become a running joke that my first goal in a room is to find a mic and get my hand on it).
3. Wear your dang nametag
I wear my nametag, say my name, make other people say my name. At the last event I was at, I made a joke that it was a bad day for me because only one speaker said my name during their talk. Which leads to…
4. Talk to the speakers BEFORE their talk
Find out what they’re talking about, ask a question and have a conversation. They may refer back to it during their talk which is instant authority. Nothing’s better than sitting next to a potential client and suddenly the speaker says, “this is what Abbey Woodcock and I were talking about last night at the bar.”
Now, I get it. This seems like a lot of work.
That’s because it is. Finding clients is my job. And I treat it that way. Every minute I’m at an event is an opportunity. So I capitalize on all of them.
The best part? No matter how many people read this post, nobody will do this. That’s great news. It means it’s easy to stand out.
Question, are you getting value out of this live event content? I’m thinking of putting together a program that includes my entire live event checklist but I wonder if there’s interest.