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AMY PORTERFIELD:
Hey there, welcome back to another episode of The Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast. I’m your host, Amy Porterfield, and today we are talking about how to use a virtual assistant on your live webinars to make them more profitable and easier.
By easier I mean the whole thing running like a well-oiled machine and you not worrying one bit that the tech is not going to work. We’re going to use a virtual assistant to make sure you can just focus on the content and nail it so that your webinar converts.
I’ve got to back up just a bit because right now you may be thinking this is interesting and you want to know how to use a virtual assistant on a live webinar. You want me to walk you through all of the roles a virtual assistant could do so that you could just focus on your content.
By the way, you’re not even sure if your business is ready to create a digital course so you’re not ready for webinars.
You all know I teach webinars to use to sell your digital courses. I teach my students how to create high-converting webinars and on those webinars they are selling their digital course.
I wanted to talk about making your live webinars easier today because last week I talked about the fear of launching and how we’ve got to get past the fear of messing up and the tech not working and people thinking we look like idiots because we can’t get it together.
I talked about all of the mistakes I’ve made on webinars and how I still believe they are the best way for you to promote your digital course.
Getting back to that question you might have, “Amy, I don’t know if I should create a digital course for my business. I’m still on the fence.” Before I get into how to use a virtual assistant on your webinars, I created a brand new quiz.
The quiz is called, Should I Create A Digital Course For My Business. Let me tell you, we spent months and months and months on this quiz. We had created it and then we put it on the shelf because we needed to make it better and rework it.
I wanted to create Digital Course Academy®️, my brand new program, and then come back to the quiz to make sure it’s really dialed in so that whoever takes the quiz, at the end of it, they will genuinely know if they are not ready to create a course because they are just too new in everything they are doing online; or, they are ready but might want to take a step here or there before they dive in; or, yes you are totally ready to create a digital course, here’s what to do next; or, you are not right for a digital course because a digital course is not what you need.
That’s what you’re going to find out from this quiz. I can promise you I’m not going to tell you that you or your business is right for a digital course if it’s not.
This quiz has been dialed in. We have worked on it so much to make sure it really gives you accurate results and I’m so incredibly proud of it. So go to https://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/coursequiz and you can take the Should I Take A Digital Course For My Business quiz and get the results immediately.
The cool thing is when you get your results I’ve also recorded a video based on your results to give you a little bit of information as to what to do next based on the information you give me.
You will also get a little extra from me in terms of what to do next now that you’ve gotten your results. I’m really excited for you to dive in. I want you to feel really good about your decision to create a digital course or not so this is definitely the quiz for you.
Once you take the quiz if you find out that you and your business are right for a digital course I want you to really pay attention to this episode. I’m going to future pace you.
What I mean by that, I’m going to give you a little glimpse into what you can do with your webinar once you have your digital course created so that your webinar is more profitable and easier and you don’t have to worry about all of those fears that something’s going to go wrong because I’m going to show you how to work with a virtual assistant.
I understand that you may not be ready for webinars but it’s good to start thinking about what things will look like once you have your digital course created. I’m not going to just let you create a digital course and hope people find it. Oh no!
My specialty is helping you get out in front of the people that genuinely need and want your digital course so you can make some money, money, money. And, of course, make an impact in the students you are going to serve.
We can’t just stop with course creation. Don’t worry, if you are one of my students or if you become one of my students in Digital Course Academy®️, I will teach you step by step by step how to create a digital course.
Again, I’m not going to end there. I’m going to move you right into how to launch that digital course and I’m going to teach you how to use webinars.
You’ve likely heard me say that webinars are definitely the best, above anything else, the best way to market your digital course online. But they can be scary. We just talked about it last week how launching live and doing live webinars brings on a lot of vulnerability and a lot of feelings of, “Oh my gosh, what if everything goes wrong?”
One way to ensure more things go right that wrong is to have a virtual assistant on your webinar when you go live.
I often tell the story that my very first webinar I did it out of my little condo in Carlsbad, California. I did not have a virtual assistant so I hired (and by hired I mean I called my best friend, Gina, and said, “Can you please come over to my condo and help me out?”) Gina and had her literally practically on my lap.
I was so nervous. She sat right next to me. She had her computer. I had mine. She just made sure everything was good. I just needed to know that people could see my slides and hear me.
I think that was what I was most nervous about. Is anyone out there? Can they hear me? Can they see me? She just made me feel really good.
I didn’t know the different roles that a virtual assistant could play on a webinar. I didn’t know anything back then. You’re going to know so that when you are ready to do your first webinar you’re going to know what you can give somebody else to help you.
I wanted to tell you that on my very first webinar it was my best friend, Gina, because if you don’t have enough money to hire a virtual assistant (you don’t have to hire a full time one, I just mean hire them for this project for you to do a few live webinars), if you just don’t have the funds to do so get somebody else to help you.
If I walk you through these roles then you’ll know what you’ll ask them to do.
It’s funny. I don’t know if I’ve ever told this story. On my very first webinar that I did alone, that day Lewis Howes had called me. He was just calling to say, “Hi,” because that’s what Lewis does.
He just called to say, “Hi,” and we were chatting. I told him I was doing my very first webinar “today” all by myself for my brand new program. I had never done it before and he said, “Let me intro you.”
I was like, What? He said he would just intro me so that I would look really official. I would have someone intro me into the webinar and then I could take it over.
I don’t know if I’ve ever even told that story before but on my very first webinar Lewis Howes did my intro. It was very random but he also cringed because he stayed on the whole webinar.
At the very end I forgot to put a URL where people could buy. I told them to go to amyporterfield.com/whatever but I didn’t have that on the screen. They needed to hear me and type it in.
Usually, the thing to lock it in is to put it on the final slide. I didn’t have it anywhere in the slide deck. I totally forgot the buy link. I didn’t put it anywhere. He asked, “Are you kidding me?”
Anyway, he was nice enough to intro me so that was really fun. And, I had someone sitting next to me to kind of calm my nerves.
If I were to do it all over again, if I was starting over and doing my very first webinar, I would do it like I’m going to outline for you right now. I would do it with a virtual assistant and I would give my virtual assistant different roles.
I would tell him or her what I wanted them to do from the get go. I would set really clear expectations. I would pay a little money to get somebody to help me that knows the technology, knows how to support somebody. When you’re on a shoestring budget you do what you do and just get resourceful.
If you can put a little money toward this I highly recommend you do so.
Let’s look at the different roles that your virtual assistant can play on your live webinars. The first role is the most important. It kind of covers a lot of ground. That is your webinar experience manager.
Your VA is creating a tone or vibe alongside you that will help with the overall webinar experience. From the get go your virtual assistant can help you schedule all of your webinars. They can check to make sure all of the links are working, the buy links, the order form, all of that good stuff.
They can be your tech support. They could actually set up the webinar software on the back end. They are going to manage everything while you are on live.
The most important thing for your virtual assistant to know is that you’re looking to them to be the eyes and ears on the live webinar so you don’t have to be. The whole goal of a virtual assistant on a live webinar is so that you genuinely do not worry about a thing.
They are going to be equipped with any kind of Plan B. If something doesn’t go right they know who to call or if something is not going right in the moment they know how to contact you (if you’re working virtually, of course) to let you know to hold on, there is a problem, we’re fixing it, here’s what’s going on.
When you put that role into the hands of your VA you then can breathe a little easier knowing your job is to wow your registrants, the people watching your webinar. Just know your virtual assistant is responsible for the overall experience that people are having outside of the content you’re creating.
What I mean by that, they are chatting in the chat box and asking questions. They are engaging and your virtual assistant is going to manage that.
That leads me to Role #2, live support in the chat box for your registrants. This one’s important. The operative word here is “support” and this is a big one. Your VA will be the person who greets your guests as they first join your webinar online.
As people get in there, if there aren’t a lot of people then your VA can definitely type into the chat box, “Hey Jane. Nice to see you here. Hey Rick, so glad you joined us.”
It’s not just a copy and paste, but actually use their name to welcome them to the webinar. We used to do this all the time when we had smaller webinars. Now that they are bigger it’s a little bit more difficult but I always tell my students when your audience is smaller to take advantage of being more personal.
Using first names to everybody that joins your webinar is a great idea so this is something your virtual assistant can do. They will also answer content and product questions that come up throughout the webinar.
If someone asks a question about something you just taught your virtual assistant is going to be very aware of what you’re teaching. They will have your slide deck in advance. If you have a webinar workbook that you send out in advance your virtual assistant will have that.
They will be well versed in your content so they can answer questions that might come up. Then, when questions are asked about your product, if you don’t answer them in the live Q&A session then your virtual assistant can have some information in advance that you prepare to help them answer questions about your product as well.
That live chat is a goldmine for engaging and solidifying relationship. But you, my friend, should not be in there. You are not typing things into the live chat and engaging with people while you’re teaching in your webinar, especially if you’re new at webinars. It’s very distracting to you.
Leave it to your virtual assistant. The key here is that you get them any information in advance that they might need so that they feel supported and they can get in that live chat. But it’s an important place for your virtual assistant to be looking at everything that’s going on in that live chat.
If there is a problem people will tell you in the live chat. Your VA will see it. They will fix the problem or they will make you aware so you do not need to be looking in that live chat if it distracts you from teaching your content.
Role #3 is your live DM support. This role has been a lifesaver for me. This is the support your VA will provide you throughout the webinar. When I say DM I’m talking about direct message. I’m referring to any way your VA and you can quickly communicate back and forth.
I kind of alluded to this earlier. You can use Skype or Slack or text messaging, whatever works best for you and your VA. I usually use Skype because I like a dedicated line of communication.
If I have my VA text me if there are any issues I am really confused when another text comes in from my husband or my mom and I’m live on a webinar. I wonder what they are doing texting me and I’m trying to look for texts from my VA.
I like to just keep my VA out of my text messages and, instead, into Skype on a dedicated line. Again, use whatever works for you. Essentially, this communication will likely be limited because your VA will be sending you just quick messages if some sort of tech issue pops up or if your VA might want to pop in and have you answer a specific question that keeps coming up.
Believe me, it’s really nice to know that if anything goes wrong your VA knows where they need to communicate with you. To me this is one of the most important roles.
Yes, I want them to be in the live Q&A. Yes, I want them to help with the overall experience of the webinar.
But I just want to know that everything’s going well. That part, to me, is really, really important.
The fourth and final role is the Q&A organizer. Inside of my program, Digital Course Academy®️, I teach my students that they should have a few questions prepared in advance if they go into their Q&A and it’s crickets.
If they don’t have a lot of people on their first webinar or people are shy to ask a question I always have my students prepare a few quick questions that are likely going to come up or are often asked when they tell people about their program.
It goes down something like this, “Okay guys, we’re going to move into a live Q&A. I want you to type in any questions you have into the live chat right now. My VA is going to organize them and send them to me one by one so that I can make sure I get to as many as possible. So go ahead and type those questions in now. But, while I’m waiting for you to ask your questions I wanted to address two questions I get asked all the time as it relates to my brand new program.
“The first question is, ‘How long does it take to get through the course from start to finish?’ That’s such a great question. I knew some of you are probably thinking it now so here you go.”
Just right away you want one or two questions that you can kick things off with. The first thing that is going to happen is that you’re going to get right into the Q&A with your pre-planned questions.
While you’re doing that your virtual assistant is now collecting questions that are coming through. He/she is going to send them to you (my virtual assistant would Skype them to me) with the person’s name and the question.
We do this because I don’t want to be hunting and pecking for the best questions in the live chat. When your webinars become bigger and more people sign up you’re going to get a flood of questions and you’re not going to be able to answer all of them.
You only want to answer the questions that will be valuable to everybody who is listening. You also want to choose questions that will allow you to showcase your program and talk about it and reference it in different ways.
You want to be selective. In advance you will talk to your VA and ask him/her to look for questions that address this or that related to the program. Give your virtual assistant some parameters of what to look for and then he/she will actually send those to your via Skype.
All you have to do is look at Skype and say, “This question came in from Ryan. Ryan wants to know…” and then you just answer your question. If makes things a whole lot easier.
I’ve been on many webinars where the webinar presenter is looking through the chat and what you typically hear and see is, “Uh, okay, I’m looking. I’m looking. Let me find…No, no, not that one. Hold on. Who is this from?”
The thing is, the virtual assistant can help you make money because the Q&A is a moneymaker. The Q&A, if done right, is a way to solidify all of the people that are still on the fence.
You are genuinely letting them know if they are right for your course or not. You want to address as many questions as possible during your Q&A and the more you stay grounded and focused on the responses to your questions versus having to look all around chat and try to find the good ones, the more you stay grounded as the presenter the more valuable your responses will be so your audience will know if they are right for your course or not.
There is a lot of value in doing your Q&A right and using a virtual assistant will make it easier for you and likely more profitable as well.
That’s it. Those are the roles your virtual assistant can play on a live webinar. Let me walk you through them one more time:
1) Webinar experience manager.
2) Live Support in the chat box for your registrants.
3) Live DM support (that is the lifeline to you. I think it’s the most important one
so you know everything’s going well).
4) Q&A organizer (that’s the one that’s going to make your webinars more
profitable).
Hopefully you already listened to Episode #244, How to Get Past The Fear of Launching. That episode is so perfect to be aligned with this episode to give you some tactics and tools to use on a live webinar to further eliminate that fear and scary feeling of, “Oh my gosh, what if things don’t go right?”
When you have a sidekick, a stealthy sidekick, who really has their eyes and ears on everything, you can work your magic on a webinar.
You can be fully focused. Let me tell you, it is very obvious when a webinar presenter is distracted or nervous or awkward versus grounded and knowing that everything’s getting taken care of no matter if it goes flawlessly or not, you feel supported and you show up in a different way.
When you’re grounded like that you get to engage and have fun. They hear it in your voice. They hear the energy and they hear the confidence. I know you want to have great energy on your webinars and feel confident in what you’re doing.
Always get what I call a “stealthy sidekick” for your live webinars, which is a virtual assistant, so that you can show up as your very best.
This is a shorter episode. I just wanted to dial in what it would look like for you to do a live webinar with some extra support so that you feel fully confident when you are ready to launch.
I know many of you listening are not ready to launch. You want to do webinars and hopefully you want to learn how to do webinars from me. I would love to teach you my profitable webinar framework where I walk you step by step through every single slide that you’re going to create in your webinar slide deck so that you can convert like gangbusters.
Before we get there you likely need a digital course. If you’re still on the fence, if you don’t know if you are ready to add a digital course to your business, maybe you’re afraid that your list isn’t big enough or you don’t have a good enough idea or you’re not sure if anyone will buy it or you just don’t know if your business is ready for it take the quiz.
Like I said, we spent months and months perfecting this quiz to ensure your quiz results will be truly accurate to where you are and what you need to do and if you are ready for a course.
If you are ready for a course you will see a video from me where I’m going to give you your next steps, things to think about, where you’re going to go now, and how to get started.
There is a lot of great, valuable content in the quiz results. Also, if you do land on the result that you are not right for our course then that’s great too. Why spend time, effort, and money creating a course if it’s just not right for you?
This course really does a great job of pulling that out of you. Of course you have to answer honestly. When you do I’ll be able to read between the lines and really get a good feel for you based on your responses if you are someone who should create a course, maybe it’s just not right for you.
Not everybody is perfect for a digital course so this quiz is going to find out. It’s called Should I Create a Digital Course For My Business. It’s free and you can go to https://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/coursequiz to find out if you should create a digital course.
Alright guys, thanks so much for tuning in. I hope you found this episode valuable. I cannot wait to connect with you again next week. Bye for now.
