Robby: You're listening to the brand ed podcast with Robby Fowler, episode
93, the foolproof trick to start every webinar and guarantee engagement.
Hi, I'm Robby Fowler, a business strategist, helping consulting and
coaching personal brands grow a more profitable business at a life-giving pace.
I shared this trick with my email list this morning in my four wins
email, but I wanted to talk a little more about it here on the podcast.
So the story that I shared was an SOS call that someone booked with me.
This was a creative consultant and they had a webinar that they wanted to do and
then lead in from the webinar to an offer.
So a pretty standard marketing move for many of us in this space.
A webinar with the hopes of launching an offer.
So we hopped on the SOS call.
And I just asked her to walk me through the webinar.
And she started walking me through the webinar and initially everything is great.
The slide deck looked great.
Her information was very valuable as it related to the topic of the webinar and
her energy and her enthusiasm was great.
But one thing was missing.
And it was really how we started the whole webinar.
So, What I want to share today is a trick and here's what it's going to
replace at the beginning of your webinar.
Or at the beginning of almost any meeting.
This trick I'm going to share with you is going to replace some of these familiar
ways that you've maybe started these meetings yourself, or if you've been on
a webinar or an online training, you've.
You've received this, this is how I'm meeting has started.
That you've been on.
Tell me, if any of these sound familiar.
How's everybody doing?
So the call begins, the webinar begins.
How's everybody doing?
Or perhaps it's a training.
It's not a webinar.
It's a zoom meeting where you can respond.
And the leader will ask any questions before we dive
It's often followed by silence, or maybe you've heard this one.
Who's excited about X, Y, Z, whatever the topic is of today's webinar.
Or perhaps the reverse of that is the host says I can't wait to show
you 1, 2, 3, ABC about today's topic.
Those aren't terrible, but today's trick is going to replace that.
Instead of starting your meeting that way.
Here's how I want you to think about the way you start your next webinar workshop,
course training, or even a sales call.
Start to think about it.
Like the opening line of a Ted talk.
If you listen to any specialist that helps.
People give Ted talks or helps people put together.
Big presentations, slide presentations, any sort of speech.
One common tactic.
That you'll hear is to script your opening You don't want your
opening line to be a throw away?
So.
Great presenters will script their first line.
That's how I want you to think about the way that you start your
next webinar workshop, course training or even sales call.
So let's get to the trick.
How do you start your next webinar workshop or course, and guarantee
things, start off with a bang.
And you're just going to start it by asking this question.
What's the real challenge for you.
And then insert the topic of your webinar training workshop
course, or even the sales call.
That's the question you're going to ask.
That's how you're going to start your meeting.
What's the real challenge for you when it comes to insert the topic that everyone
there is on the meeting to talk about.
So in the example I shared at the beginning.
Of this episode.
I'm on an SOS call with a client she's running through her webinar.
All the normal things are, they're a great slide deck, great value,
great energy and enthusiasm.
So I stopped her.
A few minutes into her webinar presentation.
And I said, Can I ask you one question and she said, sure.
I said.
Do you know what the real challenge for me is when it comes to the
topic her webinar was about.
And she was very interested, she leaned forward and she said, no, what is it?
And I said exactly, you don't yet know what my real challenge is.
Now I credit this question.
What's the real challenge for you.
If you want to find out more it's from Michael Bungay stainer in his
The coaching habit, highly recommended that I've just co-opted that.
And that's how I start almost every training or webinar
or workshop or meeting.
Is what's the real challenge for you when it comes to insert the topic?
So why is this better?
Let's talk about that for a second.
It's a very subtle, very simple change.
And it's a very.
Impactful way to start any sort of meeting.
Why is this better?
Why is this approach better?
Number one, you get immediate buy in from your audience.
You start with them instead of starting with you.
On this SOS call, what my client was doing was starting with her presentation.
Which he was very excited about over a topic, which he was very excited
about, but it blew right past me.
The recipient or the audience.
So when you start with that question, you're going to get immediate
buy-in from your audience, because now they're sharing their pain.
They're challenged their struggle from their perspective as it
relates to why they are there at your webinar training workshop.
Or whatever.
And the reason why this is better is not only immediate buy-in from your audience.
Number two critical information for you.
So when you hear some of these responses, you can have them type it into the chat.
If it's a webinar or a zoom meeting.
You can go around the room and ask if it's a.
Face-to-face meeting.
If this is a prerecorded course or workshop, you can ask that question
before via an email or some sort of onboarding process as they get into
the course, you can ask that inside of a community, a slack channel.
But you can always ask that question at the top, at the start.
It gives you the information you need so that there can be empathy.
That comes from
So before you dive in, now, you can really empathetically engage the
same content with your audience.
The second piece of critical information.
This gives you is it's an agenda busting reminder for you.
So it gets empathy from you because now you've heard their challenge,
their present real life challenge right
So empathy from you.
It's an agenda busting reminder for you.
And then lastly, It allows you to give tailor-made help for them.
Empathy from you.
Agenda busting reminder for you.
And tailor made help for them.
Your audience.
And the story I shared at the top of this episode, once I shared my real challenge.
On that SOS call.
My client went right back to the top of the webinar.
She started with the same slide deck with the same set of information, all
the same value, the same enthusiasm, but the spotlight shifted from her
wanting to get through her presentation.
To me.
And she was able to quickly at different points in the webinar
address, my specific challenge.
To say something like, and here's how this would help you do 1, 2, 3.
Here's how this would stop you from.
Wasting time or whatever my challenge was, she was able to
quickly take her slide deck and direct a few things directly at me.
That's been my experience also when I've done this.
Is that gives you the information right upfront.
Typically you don't have to change your slide deck.
On the rare occasion, you might find out that you had an agenda headed one
way, but your client, your customer, your audience, your course purchasers.
They have a challenge and you need to call an audible to really serve them and
help them and go a different direction.
Start with that question.
It is a foolproof trick to guarantee.
You're going to get engagement from your audience.
You're going to get buy-in and you're going to be able to deliver value because
they're going to give you the most valuable information you could have,
which is what is their real problem, so that I can provide a real solution.
Try that out at the beginning of your next webinar workshop training meeting, or even
sales call and let me know how it goes.
Until next time go and build a life giving brand