The PACE Method: How to Fill Your Events
Sales Training to Help Fill Your Events
To check out the video of this article in my FB group — click here — you’ll also get access to my popular money healing videos (you’ll just need to join the group to get access).
Today I am talking about one of the most important topics — sales training on how to fill your events and increase revenue.
After my Master Your Money event, so many people have asked about running and filling their own events, so I want to share with you my PACE Method. If you don’t follow all 4 steps then you are missing some really critical pieces that could lead to fuller rooms for you!
One of the things that I know about events is that it is not easy to fill a room. It is, in fact, far easier to get someone to buy a virtual product from you.
Attending a live event requires a high level of commitment from someone. They have to keep the event hours or days open on their calendars. Organize child care and pet care. They have to keep from being distracted by another event or activity. Wake up on time on the day of the event, get in their cars, or on a plane. They have to get to their hotel. And then they have to get to the event each day (or come back after lunch).
At each of these decision points — they could decide to cancel, not show up, or not come back.
It takes more effort on our part as entrepreneurs to convince people of the value in attending and staying at a live event because people are naturally going to be more hesitant to put in that added level of commitment.
That’s why my PACE Method is so important to filling your rooms.
Before we even get to the four steps, I want you to know that there is more than one way to fill an event, and you must use more than one way at the same time for your event to truly fill.
And just in case you are already feeling overwhelmed — be sure to check out my 4 part series on time management — this will help you learn how to use your time effectively.
The number one mistake that entrepreneurs make when they are trying to fill an event is only using one method to try and get registrants. They say, “oh I am just going to send out emails and fill the event that way.” And it just doesn’t work.
That is why you need the PACE Method, it shows you multiple ways to connect with people and invite them to your event.
P – Partnerships
Partnerships are when you connect with people who have communities full of your ideal clients. They agree to come to your event and/or promote your event to their community.
This is a core, critical piece of filling your events because we can’t do this alone.
So how do you find people who will be willing to partner with you? The biggest way is networking. At Revenue Breakthrough I don’t advocate networking as a way to find clients. I advocate networking as a way to build a network so that you can find partnerships and opportunities.
Another way to do this is to Google “events” and “organizations” in your area and see who is running the events who might want to partner with you.
It is a good thing to think through what is the win-win for your partners for partnering with you.
One of the best ways to reward your partners is to give them a commission on the tickets they sell; anywhere from a 20-50% commission on the ticket price.
Another motivating factor may be that you give them a free ticket and in return they get the word out to their email lists and on social media.
A – Asking
So many people rely too heavily on email and social media. But if you don’t have a huge list or a giant social media following—you are going to have to physically ask people.
The best way to do this is to make a list of all of the people you think might be good for your event and just start calling/texting them. You can also start telling people about your event face-to-face when you go to your networking events.
C – Calling
Now you might say, “Monica, didn’t you just say calling people in the last point?” Yes, and I am reinforcing this, because somehow in this technological age of text messaging and social media we don’t call each other anymore.
We are all afraid of picking up the phone. But the number one strategy that works even better than partnerships, is calling people and actually having real conversations!
Making that verbal connection and getting people excited about the event. Tell them why they should come, tell them who else is coming, tell them what you will be teaching.
As you get into bigger events and progress in your business you will hire someone else to make your calls.
E – Emails
Emails are crucial — to announce your event, to tell people details, and to give them a way to register. But you don’t want to just send out continual emails about the event but to create urgency with the emails.
For example, if they register by a certain date they get bonuses, or they get a savings, or they get upgraded to VIP, or they get to attend a special event with you — that creates urgency for people and increases revenue for you.
You might think that sounds a bit manipulative, and perhaps this is a strategy that you want to skip — which is fine.
But the truth is most of us will not buy unless there is some urgency. Even for myself, I often need to be told — today is the last day, or this is my last chance to get this special offer. I think it is just human nature. And we want to work in the flow of human nature instead of against it.
So there you have it, four steps to filling your event, the PACE Method. Keep in mind that there are more steps to filling your event — but I think these 4 steps will give you a solid start.
The reason why I chose the word PACE is because you want to start trying to fill your event as early as you can — 2-3 months before the event at least. When we do our larger events we start 6 months ahead of time.
What I mean by starting to fill your event is that your sales page is up, your payment funnel is ready, you are on the phone and starting to ask people to attend your event.
A huge component of sales training to fill events is to pace yourself to fill the event and give yourself plenty of time instead of trying to do it last minute.
As always, what I want for all of you is to go out, fill your events, make tons of money, and change the world for the better!
Check out the video that this article is based on by heading over to the Revenue Breakthrough Facebook group (you’ll need to join, if you haven’t already)!
