How a Client Lost 1800 People That Were Registered for His Webinar

When you read that headline your first two reactions should be:

1. Ouch!!

and

2. Hey I’d like to have 1800 people registered for a webinar!

There are 2 big lessons here, so pay attention. I’ll also tell you why I wrote this post.

Getting 1800 people to sign up for a webinar was no small feat. It’s a huge success and a lot went into it. Needless to say, the client was happy.

Then I got the panicked call…

… “Chris, we’ve got a MAJOR problem. All 1800 people are gone. How do we get them back in?”

Me: “Ugh. What happened?”

Client: “I deleted them.”

Me: “How?”

Client: “I clicked the wrong button and now they’re gone.”

The webinar was a day away so we had a little over 24 hours to get this fixed. So a few questions later I figured out what happened. We had a series of webinars scheduled. The plan was to add the next webinar on to the end of the one we just completed that way everyone would be registered for the entire series. A few simple mouse clicks and it was smooth sailing.

Instead of that, the client created a brand new webinar series and closed the other one out. All 1800 people that were signed up for the series would no longer be registered since the client mistakenly closed it out. He figured it was a new webinar, so no big deal, he would create a new webinar and life would go on and everyone would be signed up. We were using GoToWebinar and if you’ve ever used it, you know that when you create a brand new webinar EVERYONE has to resubscribe. NOT an ideal situation.

Makes for an awkward moment “Uh, sorry, we goofed and deleted everyone so please sign up again. Oh, and by the way, we’re really smart and experts at what we do” … I’m sure more than a few people would be lost.

So I went in, cleaned up the mess and got the series back on track. The next problem was that we had to get 1800 names back in.

And there is no automated way to do this. Nope this was going to require some good old fashioned manual data entry. Posts were put in to my wife’s homeschool community for mom’s or kids that wanted to make some money, and the overseas team was working around the clock to get everyone back in.

The good news, we got everyone re-input with minimal issues. After a VERY frantic 24 hours, all 1800 people were registered once again.

Here’s why I wrote this post:

My client said, “Chris, this looks so easy that anyone can do it. Much like all of internet marketing. Internet marketing looks SO EASY but the reality is that it’s not. There are so many ways where you can get into trouble. Just look at what I did! You should really write a post about this to tell people that it’s not as easy as it looks”

This was from a client that is incredibly smart and VERY successful – much like most of my clients. Most of my clients have strong thriving businesses they are looking to take to the next level or are starting new ventures. Most have built successful 7 figure businesses and some have run Multi-Billion dollar companies.

BIG LESSON #1 – Internet marketing is NOT as easy as it looks. There are a lot of snake oil salesman that prey on ignorance and tell you it’s easy to make big money online. The reality is that while it APPEARS easy, it’s NOT. It takes a lot of hard work, understanding your market, having a great value proposition and strategy and using the right media in the right way to reach your market. It also involves understanding technology.

There are so many moving pieces that from experience working with hundreds of entrepreneurs and business owners, the only thing that is easy, is to mess things up. Just like this client did.

BIG LESSON #2 – you really need someone that knows what the heck they’re doing to work with you. All my clients are smart enough to figure this stuff out on their own, and I’m sure you are smart enough to figure this stuff out – EVENTUALLY. The problem is most people are so busy being successful that they don’t have time to figure things out on their own. If you have an hour a month, you can put someone else’s expertise to work for you to make more. Also, you can cut years off the learning curve by having an expert on your side.

Very rarely do I work with someone that is brand new to internet marketing. The reason why, is that they haven’t been burned badly enough yet and they fall for a bright shiny object that is pitched at them. Remember, fish chase after bright shiny objects. They also end up dead on the dinner plate.

The internet is a remarkable way to get business. And webinars are fantastic.

I would go into detail about how to get 1800 people to sign up for a webinar, but I’ll save that for another day!

If you had 1800 people registered for a webinar, how much revenue would that generate for you?

If you can’t wait for that article, or have a big goal you want to hit, then click here and sign up for a consultation.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Blessings eh!

.