Several years ago, I headed up sales at Basecamp.
The founder, Jason Fried, hosted an event called “The Basecamp Way To Work Workshop.”
You spend an afternoon with Jason and see it all.
How they communicate internally.
How they divvy up and manage work.
How they resolve conflict.
Everything was on stage; nothing was off-limits.
Subtly, Jason told stories that set up buying criteria in Basecamp’s favor.
Tickets cost $200 per person.
Workshops sold out in 24 hours.
The Basecamp workshop got me thinking about webinars.
The no-show rate for webinars is ~70%.
Why?
There’s no skin in the game.
Webinars are free.
You can catch the recording later. Or not. It doesn’t matter.
Reps “chase” webinar leads, however, most prospects aren’t interested in seeing a demo.
It’s a vicious cycle.
What if instead you *gasp* charged people $200 to attend your workshop?
Your cold emails/calls promote your workshop, not your demo.
You get a paying customer in days, not months.
When people pay, they show up because they’re invested.
You teach people something instead of trying to sell them something.
You subtly set up buying criteria for that stacks the odds in your favor.
Even if people don’t buy, they tell others what they learned.
The takeaway?
Teaching forms a strong bond you don’t get from traditional outbound sales messages.
Prospects will trust you more too.
It’s what I’m doing now.
Some of you will continue reading my posts.
One day you might buy my Badass Guide.
Perhaps you’ll hire me to talk at your sales kickoff.
Good old-fashioned teaching for the win.
Inviting or pitching?
What do you think?