You're listening to Cubicle to CEO episode 239. Is it possible to have a 100% conversion rate? Marketing Strategist Sophia Parra's case study today proves that with a well timed nurture event. Yes, Sophia started hosting Q&A text parties with their audience last year, and found that over the course of one year, all but one participant converted into paying customers. The best part, these simple Q&A parties only required a few hours of Sofia's attention a couple times a year, no launch or tech setup and did not rely on having a large audience to be effective. This non sales event may be the missing precursor to selling out your next launch. Here's how Sophia structured each Q&A party scripts, data and strategy included.
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Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. I am super excited to have my friend Sophia Parra here with us today all the way from the UK in London. And Sophia is a marketing strategist and founder of the Go- To Coach Club focused on helping coaches create memorable content and build high touch relationship systems that make your audience sighs are relevant. That last piece we are definitely going to be digging into in our case study today. Sophia is also the host of the marketing hashtag unfiltered podcast which I've had the joy of being on. So Sophia , welcome.
Thank you so much for having me. I love your podcast, I have to say it's so it's such a joy to be here with you today. And you know, I already love you too. So, like wins all around.
Yes, absolutely. It's such a great way to start my day. I know it's your evening time. Today's case study is all about Q&A parties. It sounds as fun or it is as fun as it sounds, I should say, to get 10 to 20% conversion rates. So this is incredible. Sophia, you know, like many others uses traditional sales strategies like webinars to enroll students in her program. But this extra element, this Q&A Party is skyrocketing her conversion rates to 10 to 20%. Which if any of you have been in the online education space, you know that typically with live webinars and recorded webinars, you know, the conversion rate can really vary more so in that like one to 3% on evergreen and then for live I mean there's a wild variance but 10 to 20% is excellent.
So, Sophia first I obviously you know before we get into this case study I have to ask you what is your Cubicle to CEO story? That's our first question we ask all our guests so tell us about how you made that jump into entrepreneurship.
Yeah, I love this question. And I have to say I don't have one I came out of school I went to acting conservatory to be an actor. I never landed in a cubicle. I think I spent one day as a temp. And I had a cubicle on that day. And I was like, I'm never coming back again. So I did I really don't have a Cubicle to CEO story, what I do have as an accidental CEO story, I was an actor and I always like to say, you know, you kind of chase this dream, inspired by like, Almost Famous and all of these, like movies that make it seem so easy. It was not Almost Famous for me, it was almost homeless. Like it's so inconsistent the acting world as much as I had an anti manager, I had an agent, I was working within the industry, and yet, it's just such a competitive industry.
So on the set of Blue Bloods, in fact, I, someone mentioned this random photo album on the internet that they're like, oh, like, they just took a photo of me, like, you should put that on this thing called Instagram. It's a photo album. So I actually- I actually thought this thing was an actual photo album. So my first photo that I posted was actually a picture of my now husband in his underwear, because I thought it was a private photo album app. Then I found out because I got a ton of text messages, like people laughed, like, either laughing and be like, Oh, my gosh, I love that picture or being like Sophia, why did you post a picture? So that's when I realized, okay, this thing is actually not private. But also people are watching, like, how can I like leverage this, right?
So I'm, like, struggling to pay my bills every year. And I decided to use the app for my acting career. And it was a game changing year for me, I suddenly had this marketing asset that most actors don't even think about, you know, after not really thinking about marketing themselves. They're thinking about their agents and managers doing it. But for me, I was doing that work. So I was really appealing to a lot of casting directors and managers and agents. But then I realized I preferred the marketing more than the acting. So I ended up shutting down that my acting and I turned to start an agency.
And that grew to be a successful agency where I serviced multiple six and seven figure business owners, and I really focused in on the coaching realm. Now from there, I've had lots of iterations I moved to London, my life completely had to shift. I had timezone issues. I mean, this agency, that was my baby that grew into this massive thing, where I had literally, I'm feel lucky to say, some of the most well known coaches in the industry were my clients, right? I had to shut that all down a because of the logistics, but B, I was burnt the heck out. So I really started exploring different ways to help people get clients on social media first, but now just honestly, like market their business in general, right, I really had to explore different ways. And I now share that inside of my memberships and more in an education style business model, rather than the agency model that I shut down.
Oh, my gosh, first of all, I just that is such a funny story. I didn't post anything quite as like, what is it interesting, or depending on who you ask salacious, right on Instagram. But I like you also did not understand back in 2012. When I first got Instagram, I also did not realize it was any form of social media app, I thought that it was an app that you use to filter your photos. So I would literally like filter my photos on Instagram using one of those horrendous, you know, like, Lo Fi, may fare things that we would never do anymore. But anyways, I would use those. And then I would download the photo, save it to my camera roll and upload it to Facebook, which is hilarious. So anyway,
I love I love. It's hilarious.
I'm sure there's so many so many people like us who had a similar experience back in the early days of IG that's anyways, I love that you shared that story. And I also can really relate I think to your even though obviously, I am not an actor and do not come from an acting background. I can relate to that shift from agency to education, made a very similar pivot myself, you know, about two years into my business. And so I am really excited to have you talk about your case study today because I think your acting background and having to learn how to market yourself. You know, when you come from those diverse industries, I think it brings new ideas, new ways of thinking into an industry that can often look like a lot of people copying each other.
So first, explain what a Q&A party is right? Like, what is it? How is it structured? How's this different than a normal Q&A? Give us the deets?
Okay, love it. Love that we're getting started right here. First of all, I want to say one day I will Come up with a better name. I just cannot think of anything else. It's so literal. But that's like just the way it is.
You know, the best pieces of advice, though I've heard is that clear is better than clever. So, you know, I knew instantly, at least what the what the premise of you know of this event is. So I think you're winning there.
Okay, I'll take it, I'll take it. So a Q&A party, what I love about a Q&A party, I'm going to I'm just going to start there is it is so freaking simple. If you're listening here, and you tend to check yourself out of a lot of the strategies out there, because you're like, I don't have a big enough list for that I don't have a team for that I don't have an email platform, I don't, whatever it is, whatever stage of business you're in, like, this is not fancy at all, it really comes down to why businesses work. And that is relationship first, in my opinion, right. So what it does is it creates an actual event around the nurturing of your community.
We create events all day long. We create events for growing, we have bundles, we have summits, we have all of these like appointment based marketing to grow our audience. We create appointment based marketing for our sales strategies, we have launches, we have discovery calls, we have bonuses, we have flash sales, we have all these events that we have thought about for growth, and that we have thought about for sales, but we are not thinking about nurturing in the same way.
And I think this is really why it is so hard sometimes, especially in the beginning to see sales inside of your business. Because we think nurturing is just about posting content. I'm gonna post great content, people are gonna see it, and they're gonna think, damn, I cannot wait to work with this person. Like, when are they going to start selling to me, I'm so excited. Like, that's what we think is supposed to happen. But that's just that's not how it happens these days. So the the Q&A text list party, or I do mine out on a text list, but you can do it in lots of different formats. This is designed to bring that same appointment based marketing that works so well and the other important pillars within our marketing strategy, and bring it into the nurturing pillar.
So what is it? A Q&A text list party as our Q&A party again, I don't want to make it a text list thing. But for me, that's where I do it. It's essentially a an appointment that you have with your community, there's a start time, there is an end time, and you're inviting people to ask a question that you are going to get back to one by one. So for me what that looks like is I have a text list, right? I, it was always a surprise. I don't always tell them when it's happening. Because I want them to I want it to kind of feel like, act fast. Like it's happening now. Right? And I don't even want them to think too hard about it. Like whatever the first thing that comes to mind, I want them to feel like they can just shoot me the message, right?
So I literally open the doors, kind of like you do on Black Friday, right? Like we start at like we're going to open at 4am Surprise, here are the deals you're gonna get, right? That's like what we do for Black Friday. For the Q&A party. I'm literally like surprised it's 9am until 5pm. I am answering any question you got over on my text list. Shoot me that question at this is my phone number. I'm gonna go one by one. This ends at 5pm. Right.
And the idea is throughout the day, like I usually pick a light day, I will go one by one and answer the questions. I do voice memos. I do. Like sometimes it's not that it's a screenshot of something that they're asking like a logistical or a technical question, but I try to give them as much of an answer as possible for them to be able to take the next step on whatever the thing is that's keeping them stuck right now. Yeah, the reason I'm doing this, and I'm sure we'll we'll dive into this even more, but the reason I'm doing this is to create the kind of conversations that tell me a few things.
One, what is my audience struggling with right now, this is a profound market research tool, but to who in my audience needs what I sell today, right? So I often strategically use this right before a launch, for example, to understand who's a perfect fit for the program. I'm about to go into launch week with for next week, right? So that I can make personal invitations and make sure they're on my webinars. But the Q&A let text list party for the time being at this stage is really an event for people to raise their hand and say, I need you so that I can respond and say I got you.
That is so smart. It's such a clever way, like you said, of getting people to identify that they may be interested in working with you in some capacity because they have this question they want to ask you right. And what a great way like you said to do market research as well. So one thing that I didn't realize until you said in this moment, so I want to kind of expand on this piece is that, at least if I'm understanding correctly, these Q&A parties kind of come by surprise, right? Like people aren't anticipating necessarily the same way that they might anticipate, let's say, attending a virtual summit or a webinar, like you mentioned as other examples of appointment based marketing. So you are just like out of the blue texting your list and saying, Hey, like, I'm going to be answering your questions today. Did I understand that? Right?
You did understand that right. And I think there's a world where I could make it an actual like, here's the date, put it on your calendar thing. And I think I've even played with that before. But what I love about the spontaneity of it is I there's multiple uses for it. Do you know what I mean? So for example, like before my launch, right, I have affiliates promoting my this fun launch that I've got planned. I've got it, you're coming to a webinar, people are signing up, there's some buzz around this launch that I've got coming on next week.
So I have some fresh blood coming into my email list. It is such a fun way to surprise and delight and be like, Hey, before we meet on our webinar next week, I want to look at your content. I want to help you with your you Roblox meet me here, we've got a few hours text me your question. And it's such a great way while the iron is hot, to kind of leverage that buzz, turn it into a conversation beforehand, so that I can build that relationship before they even get onto the webinar. So that's one reason why I create that little surprise and delight offer. But the other thing is, I find when I give people a lot of time to prep for these things. They think too hard about it. Right? They're they're overthinking it, right?
And so then it becomes not so much of a Q&A, it becomes like, Okay, I thought long and hard. Here's three links of examples of where of what I would like to ask you about plus my page that you cannot, it's like they think they're making it bigger than it is, this is pure as truly a question, I'm probably going to rapid fire through them, give them everything they need to feel complete. But for me, the energy is going to be like, Go Go, go, go go. And it's just going to have a completely I'll be able to get more done in that day. And I have found that to convert best.
That makes complete sense to me. And I do feel that an invitation that comes kind of, you know, with surprise, the element of surprise there also makes it feel like it's a more special invitation rather than this big like you said orchestrated event that, you know, you're you're driving, for lack of a better word, like registrants or like attendees to for weeks on weeks. So I totally see how that brings a more personal element to it. And you know, you're mentioning you're answering these questions privately, right, you're receiving them privately, you're answering them privately. I'm curious, because for me, sometimes I find that with Q&A days, sometimes people don't even know what they want to ask.
But they benefit a lot from hearing other people's questions and kind of just being like a fly on the wall or getting to eavesdrop in on those conversations. Do you ever take the questions that you're answering privately in these Q&A text parties and repurpose them in some other way? Or do you allow for people who maybe don't have a question, they want to ask you off the top of their head, participate in some way so that they can like passively observe and listen to other people's questions? Is there any sort of group element to this is what I'm asking?
Yes, I love this question. For this particular effort. It's not a group thing. But I do take those questions and like I repurpose them for content I like like I repurpose them in other ways. And, and often because I'm selling into a program that it does have a group element to it. Like they're all meeting one another. And they're like, we always talk about what's the question you ask the Q&A part like that comes up a lot inside the community. So it does come up in that sense.
However, the reason I don't do that here is because I feel like the beauty of this is that private conversation aspect of it right? It feels like they're getting a a free coaching call with me, especially because I do a lot of Voice Memos with them. Right. So I think that there's an energy here there's a lot of group stuff that I do in my community it especially on the like the people that are just learning about me, before they've actually become paying members of my community. There are a lot of group things that I offer, obviously, the webinars a group thing, there's lots of these group opportunities, but that one to one opportunity feels so personal to them, and it actually creates that relationship, right.
The whole point of this, of having nurture events is to create that relationship. And while you can absolutely build relationships in a public way and in a group setting and I do it all the time. This brings things I find accelerates things a little bit further. I shared with when I was first talking about doing this episode with you. I shared that I thought it was something like almost 100% of People over the course of one year, bought from me, like over the course from me for one year, who took part in the Q&A party bought from me in some way or another, right. And I double checked those numbers. And it's every single one who took part in a Q&A party last year, bought from me, except for one person.
Wow.
So the one person who did not buy for me, she's still talking to me, every single launch I do, she's like, Oh, my gosh, I want to do this. So it's, uh, she's not, she's still there. She's around, right. So I have no doubt that when it's the right time for her, like, I'll be able to support her. And there's no pressure for me ever. But we have a relationship. And she trusts me to stay in my community and be an active part of my community.
But every single person who who took part in one of my I think I did three Q&A parties last year. So every single person who took part in one of my Q&A parties either invested in one of my two memberships, which are slightly different pay tiers, or a VIP experience, which is either $3,000 or $4,500. So in terms of even how much they cost, that's not like the personal connection is what makes people trust you enough to want to take that next step. And I really, that's what I really want to build with this particular event.
I am blown away by that stat. I mean, that's basically a 100% conversion rate, right. I know earlier in this case study, just to clarify for our listeners earlier, in this case study, I mentioned that 10 to 20% conversion rate. And that was specific to people who bought like on a webinar after attending or participating in one of these Q&A parties. But like Sophia said, over the course of an entire year, these like 100%, basically 100% of the people who participated bought something from Sophia, and I do want to circle back to that piece in just a moment.
But first, I wanted to touch on this point that you made about how because you are having these conversations one on one in a private setting. And because you are utilizing tools like voice memos to to respond that it does feel in some way, like you're giving people a free coaching session. But I just want to ask you, how do you structure these Q&A parties to be really clear and to keep the questions centered on the actual offers that you have in your business so that I guess for lack of a better word, it doesn't start to feel like people are just taking advantage. And you know, having these turn into these long drawn out free coaching conversations, I imagine some of our listeners may be hearing that and worrying that you know, they could be giving away too much of their time in a way that's not actually moving people forward towards the decision. So talk to us about how you navigate that situation.
Yes, this is such a great question. So first of all, talking about the structure, my number one tip is to actually have a structure going in. So I made that mistake. The first time I had zero structure, I was like, just answer your questions. And I was just sitting there answering. Now I do something different. So now I actually reply, sorry, I start with the email. Right.
So the email is literally the I think the title of the email, and I've done a lot of testing on the best title. So I do feel like I have to share the title of the email. It literally is. And literally is free coaching today only. So that is like already like whoa, gotta open this this up. And we have such a high open rate for this email, even if they don't act on it, we have such a high open rate, right. And then it's a letter like very simple invitation. Hi, for today only between 9am and 3pm, or whatever the time works for you. So I do suggest having a time where you turn that you put the phone away, and actually marking that as the end for people so that you're super clear that it ends. So from 9am to 3pm. Let's say you can ask me one marketing question. And I cannot wait to support you back and forth on my text list. Right?
All you do is DM the words Q&A and your question to this phone number. I'll see you there. That's it. Now-
Wow.
In the PS, I give, I said oh, just realized maybe you might not know a question you want to ask. Here's some examples. So I share these are three great questions to ask. So I give examples like could you check out my bio, and give me ideas on how to change it? I'm not growing, looking at my content. Do you have a sense why things like that, that I know I can really, like I don't need a ton of information. I know how to help them right. So it gives like three examples. And then I say here are not great questions to ask. And then I say things like could you listen to this podcast episode and tell me how I did? Things like that, that I have absolutely gone before. Right.
So I, I really have. So I give some structure around what kinds of questions we're looking at what kinds of questions we're not looking at The timeframe 9am to 3pm, when it starts, etc. That's step one. Now, when I get into the text list, I also send a text to the community who's on the text list, but maybe not on my email list. And I say very something very similar. I say, all right, doors are open to a Q&A text list party today starts 9am and 3pm. One question first, come first serve and go. And then people start replying with questions right.
Now, in this process, what ends up happening sometimes I think people have been enormously respectful of this, by the way, when I put the boundaries in they are enormously respectful. But there have been a couple of instances where someone asked me a question, I answer it, and then they reply with another question, right? They're like, Oh, that's so great. What about this right? Very natural thing to do? You're in a conversation, it feels like that makes sense. In that situation, what I will say is, ah, that is such a great question. And I'm so happy that you're excited to keep asking me questions. Here's what I'm going to do. I only have 9am to 3pm. And I'm trying to help as many people as possible. So if by the time I get to the end of my day, and I still have some time, I'll circle back and answer that question for you. Right.
So now, there's no expectation that I answer a second question I've kept to my boundary. And I also have the opportunity to say, and by the way, we are going to do another Q&A text list party. So that's a great question to ask the next time if I have to do that. Right.
Right.
It also gives me an opportunity to say like, at the end of the day, if I couldn't get to that question, I can say if I especially when I use this before launch, I can say I didn't have the opportunity to answer this question, because it was one of those days, and I had to get to everyone else. But this is something we're discussing on the webinar next week. And I really hope that you can make it right. So it just really gives me so many opportunities to not say I'm not going to help you anymore, but give them other avenues if my time has run out. So there are ways you can put structure in this, you do have to keep your boundary you have to communicate that boundary. And my experience so far has only been like complete respect for those boundaries when I when I create them.
This is so so helpful. Sophia, I just know that our listeners love hearing scripts and and just how to think through certain situations. So I feel like the very clear wording that you shared with us. And of course, if you're listening to this, feel free to adjust to the scenario and to your audience. But it's such a great example of how you are clearly like what I call like a pre frame, right, you're setting that expectation up front, like you mentioned, and the golden nugget, I really want to pull out for listeners that I, you know, hadn't thought to do before but it makes total sense why you do this is the these are great questions to ask. And these are examples of questions not to ask, it reminds me of when you're reading a sales page, and it's like you're a great fit for this offer or this program or whatever the service if XYZ you're not a good fit if XYZ. I don't know why I never thought to translate that to question asking. But that's an excellent use case.
And to your point, like someone asking if you can listen to an hour episode is obviously not a conducive use of your time if you only have a few hours to provide feedback. So that was extremely, extremely helpful. I really want to thank you for that. I also was wanting to know, on average, just because you know, let's say your average Q&A party is like six hours, how many people do you tend to see participate in, in your average Q&A party? How many? And if you feel comfortable sharing to like, how many people are on your email list and your text list, because I think that might also help give our listeners some frame of reference for depending on the size of their audience, what volume they might anticipate receiving.
Yeah, yeah, another great question. So I feel in terms of how many people take part in the Q&A party, honestly, it varies so wildly from from the time that I started to now write I think now, I pretty much consistently see like 30 to 40 people wanting to take part in it. But like, in the beginning, it was like three or four. Do you know what I mean? It was not a ton of people. People didn't really know how to respond to it. They didn't really know what it was yet. They were feeling it out. But I have to say even those three to four people, they all converted.
So for me it was time very well spent. I did not mind at all that I didn't get a ton of questions. I mean, right in the beginning, I minded but then I realized, oh, wait a second, they convert it actually, I don't mind anymore. You know, to me, it's just one of those things, because it's like you're focusing on the relationship, right?
Yeah.
So yeah, I can sometimes get between 3040 people. I also should mention that like one of the ways that I use this as strategically like at the beginning of a launch Right. So, for example, if I am going into a launch week and my definition of a launch week is like when you're doing your webinars, right, so it's like, for me, I love to webinar launch, I think it's like a great way to provide information, it just works well for my audience. So I usually do three live webinars, I do not do replays, I do three live webinars, you got to show up live. And I go through a very in depth training, and then I leave time for Q&A at the end. Right.
So that's kind of how that structured. So if my first webinar is on Monday, I will do this on a Friday leading up to my launch week, right? And the reason that I'm doing that is because I'm going to pick the topic that's aligned with the launch topic, right? So I have a marketing membership. So I have a marketing I'm sure that solves a lot of marketing problems. So I can take pretty much any marketing question. And it'll probably align with my webinar and my membership. So that makes it a little bit easy for me. But let's just say I was creating what my webinar was something specifically about launches or content, right?
I could then do the Q&A party right before a launch, leading into a membership about content and make the question like talent, like if you've got any questions about creating content, right, or not coming up with ideas, or like whatever the specific topic is, I could make that invitation the Friday before my launch. And those people who are signed up for that launch are the ones that are going to be engaging, right. So all of those people are already probably signed up for my webinar or thinking about it. And now I have the opportunity to promo my webinar as part of that experience. Right.
Now, I tell you this, because this explains why sometimes those numbers vary depending on how many people are at the Q&A party, depending on the topic, depending on the season, right, I will have a different number of people showing up. Because not all of them are there for that launch that I've got coming. Right. Some of them are there for the other things that I sell. So that's one of the reasons it varies. But like I said, I think now I'm kind of at like the 30 to 40 people mark.
Thats extremely helpful. And you're saying that in general, you would recommend kind of seeding this this opportunity, this this text Q&A, right before your launch week. But you can also just utilize it throughout the year to nurture your audience, even if there's nothing like there's no direct launch attached to it. Am I understanding that right?
Completely, right. I use this to warm up people for my launch. And also, like I just did it a month ago, I was planning on doing a launch this year, which I have pushed, because I'm going to completely change my marketing membership. So I was like, it's not a good idea to launch right now. I should change my marketing membership, and then launch right after that. So I pushed my March launch to May, right. So for that reason, I was like, oh, shoot, I'm not selling anything right now. Like, like, I feel like I need to put something on just to kind of like keep keep being out there right now. Right?
Right.
So I hosted a Q&A party, it wasn't a complete surprise. And my objective behind the Q&A party was to get people talking to me about the roadblock that they are experiencing. And if they were the right fit, inform them about my VIP experiences, which I thought I did not feel like enough of my community actually knew about them. So it was an opportunity for me to have a genuine conversation here the thing that they were struggling, I think give them a tip and then say something like, by the way, if let's say they were asking about growth, which I can think of one person specifically, she was feeling super burnt out about social media, she asked a question about how she can create a marketing strategy without social media.
So we had a back and forth around this. And then I said, I gotta be honest here. Like the questions that you're asking are exactly the things I discussed in my VIP experience. And not a lot of people know about these things, because I don't promote them as often as I do my membership, which I know you had mentioned wasn't the best fit for you. Do you want to know more about about my VIP experience? And she's like, Heck, yes. Tell me right now. And she purchased a VIP experience.
So it could also just be an event, right? Where you are creating essentially a sales conversation where you can cut out the discovery call aspect of it and just have it right then and they're Sso smart. You're creating a demand for an offer that you don't normally publicly promote as as often that's really really smart. The CTA so like as I'm listening to you I'm hearing you kind of like almost end these conversations in different ways depending on a the timing of the Q&A party, like you said, if it's like right before launch, you're probably driving people to that webinar. Or if it's, you know, at a random time during the year you'll you're kind of like tailoring that next step for them.
Do you have any other tips around? Or even real life examples that you could just read aloud of how you're wrapping these conversations with a clear call to action that leads someone to actually doing the thing?
Yes. Okay. Well, first of all, have a CTA, I've what I do find is a lot of people do these and they don't think about the CTA. So, honestly, part of my recommendation here is in the prep work for your Q&A party to think this through, right, think through the purpose that you're moving towards, right. So for example, if I'm doing this for my launch, my general CTA, is to make sure that they're at that webinar, because if they're taking part in that Q&A, they absolutely must get inside of that webinar, right.
And there will be selling to them. But also, they are going to really see the impacts that my work can do for them, because I have put it all out inside the webinar. So for me the call to action for that one is literally I start off by saying and I'll give you a few examples. But I think just this is a good one for launches, right? By the way, I know this feels like a total script, but it's always 100% accurate. So, so I would like to say, if this isn't true, don't say this. I think everyone gets that. But for me, it's been true.
So I literally will say something like, this is an awesome question. And definitely something I'm gonna be discussing in my webinar next week. So I really want to remind you, if you haven't already, to sign up for that webinar. It's happening on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and you are actually going to learn something from this. Now let me ask answer your question. And then I go into the question. And then I conclude it and saying one final reminder, like I said, you're gonna get so much out of this webinar, if this is the thing that's really keeping you stuck. So if you don't have the link to sign up, let me know. And I will give it to you. And if you have signed up, what day of the week, are you going to be there so that I can look out for you?
Right, so now I am creating accountability, reminding that like really been hyping up this webinar, which I think is I believe in my whole heart is truly awesome. So I feel confident and unable to do that. Right. But I'm also get this like a butts in seats strategy like this really has increased the amount of people actually show up for the webinar as well. So that's what the call to action looks like in the launch circumstance, now.
And the other circumstances like the one I said, were like the one I just did, where it wasn't for a launch, it honestly could have gone anywhere I just dependent on who was talking to me and who the conversation was. What I do ahead of time, is I write out a list of the things that I would like to be selling into, right. So for that particular situation, I thought the best way to support people it at that time of year was in my VIP experience, my memberships are closed, I have three different VIP experiences. One is focused on creating your signature talk. One is creating your launch content, and one is created is to rehab your messaging, right.
So these are all very common things that people come up with. But I didn't want to control the conversation and like pick one for this one. I was like, let's just see where people are at. Right. So depending on the conversation, I was listening to know if any of them would be a good fit for the VIP experience. So that I could say same format started off saying great question, I'm gonna let you know right away, that this is really something that could be greatly solved, for example, greatly solved with a signature talk. I don't know if anyone's ever talked to you about a signature talk before but for me, when I've struggled with this at the beginning of my base, my business, my signature talk completely saved my butt.
So if you want to talk more about a signature talk, I'll invite you to do that at the end of when I answer your question, but I just wanted to let you know that right away. Okay, let me answer your question. Go into the question, answer the question. And then at the very end, I say, it was like, let me know if that's helpful. I really want to hear back from you and make sure that I answered all your questions. But I also want to invite you to chat to me about the signature talk if you want to know more about what I was referring to. And I'd be happy to give you all that information as well as a way for me to help you do that. Right.
So I again, seed it, answer it and then actually make that invitation. Now, people always respond because of the the energy and the care. I took an answering. They always respond. And they because they like of the time I spent they will always address my call to action. Sometimes it's Oh yes. I can't wait to learn more tell me and sometimes it's like I love the signature talk thing. I don't think I'm interested in that right now. But I'm happy I know about it or whatever it might be right.
Right.
But they always address it. I'm never ghosted, which for me is like that's the only thing I want. I just want to know they heard it. I don't have to do anything like you know what I mean? I don't care. They don't have to say yes to anything, right?
Yeah.
And then but like I said, with the conversion rate by the end of the year, there don't go anywhere, right? I also now have them, I know about them in my community. So when it comes time to selling into this or offering something of a great fit for them, I've got them to personally invite I can say, hey, Jennifer, like I remember we were briefly talking about how frustrated you are you were your lack of growth. And I talked to you about creating a signature talk. I wanted to check in on your growth, how's that going for you? And half the time, she'll say, it's not going, like I'm still struggling?
And I'll be like, I hear you. This is a tricky nut to crack. Do you want to talk about that signature talk that I was talking about? Because it might be good timing? And she usually will say yes, once I get to that point, right. So that's kind of a bit of a follow up strategy. And then also an in the moment strategy for for helping people take action on the things that you believe are the best fit for them.
Thank you so much for getting so tactical. With all of your examples. Again, I just know that our listeners will immensely immensely appreciate that you're a dream guest, by the way, Sophia, because you're like two steps ahead of me, like every time I have a question pop up. As you're talking, you've answered it by the end of you know, your next sentence. So I just love it, you're like reading my mind, we're blowing through these questions, because you're taking them right out of my head. So we must have some telepathic, you know, energy going on here. Super, that were insightful.
Again, I want to address that one. circumstance. I don't know if this has even come up before. But has there ever been a time where in a non launch circumstance, you're texting someone and through your conversation or the question they asked, you actually don't see a dot connect between what they're asking and any of the offers that you have? And in a scenario like that where you don't have a particular offer to you know, get their interest in? What do you do in in a situation like that? Do we even give them a call to action? Is it just to stay in touch? Talk to us about that?
Oh, my gosh, that's such a great question. So yes, that has happened to me before, I have to say not often. Because I feel like I do a lot of work and like who I'm targeting who I'm speaking to, and like, and I feel like I have thought about my solution. So it doesn't happen a lot. However, it has absolutely happened. And for me, like, I know that you'll probably agree with this, like I'm not here to pressure anyone into a buy. If I do not think they are the right fit, they will not get an invitation for me. Like that is fine. Right?
So for me, there's there's never any pressure for me to come up with something if there isn't anything there. But I do take note of these things. So what I'll do is one of a couple of things, probably the first thing is I will note it, I'll be like, whoa, I got nothing to sell this person. That's weird. I'm going to write this down. Because this is this could be content, right?
If that conversation keeps coming up, right? If someone else starts asking that question, if I start to really start hearing about this topic, that's when it turns into content that I can create. And I know people are looking for it, maybe even an eye this hasn't this part hasn't happened yet. But like, if I like people keep asking me about for example, my launch system, let's just say I don't have a class teaching my launch system, I have a bonus. But I don't have like an actual class that teaches my launch system. If people kept asking me about my launch system, I might start considering maybe I should sell this as a course. Right?
So I look at as I look at it, like market research. I also will usually say something like if I like the topic, and I've heard it a lot I will say like this is let me answer your question. So I answer that question. And then I will probably say something along the lines of by the way, I feel like there's so much more I could say on this topic. It's really difficult in this text stream to talk for another hour about this topic.
But I do have a lot more to say, here's what I'm thinking. And then I will give some kind of invitation like I'm going to write an email about this for my list next week. If you're not on my list, do you want to be on my list to make sure that you see? Right, so now I'm growing my list, right? Yes, the same thing. If I'm creating a summit or something down the line, or I have a waitlist for something like I do start to think what are things that are kind of like they're not things that are going to lead to revenue right away, however, like they could lead to them staying in my community long enough for me to actually support them on thing I like think start to think about those calls to action because I do have wait lists.
I do have people that have raised their hand for things that just aren't available yet. And they just want me to contact them when they are so I consider is this something I'm building and then I offer I offer that but nine times out of 10 in that situation. I'm using it as market research and to grow my email list.
Great strategy for, like you said, keeping people in your orbit keeping them your you rather top of mind in a way that when the right timing and the right solution come along that they are really the first to know about it, I assume if they're on your list. Okay, so Sophia, earlier you mentioned that 100%, basically, except for that one person, 100% of people who have participated in one of these Q&A parties have eventually bought something have eventually converted.
But I wanted to dig even just a layer deeper and ask if you know what the average turnaround is from participating to conversion is there like a few week window few month window, I'm assuming this also kind of varies depending on if you're doing like a launch circumstance, Q&A party versus a non launch one. But if you maybe even have separate metrics for those two things that you can share, that would be really helpful for context.
I so wish I actually had the numbers to show the exact timeline of people convert, that'd be such great information to have I consider you such a numbers queen. So I'm going to take that as inspiration. And I'm going to do that this year.
But for this for something that I do think is is helpful to see is that I noted that 60% of the people who purchased my membership in that launch, were a part of my Q&A party. So obviously, not all of them join the Q&A party, but a really big chunk of them. So and I think we're what I credit that is, obviously my The Q&A party was very specific to the topic of the launch. So the people that were signed up for the webinar are jazzed about the webinars saw this other opportunity to get one on one attention with me, they jumped into the Q&A, got a specific to them question answered about the topic of the webinar, I was able to be like you can't miss this webinar, it's gonna be so helpful for you. They then felt accountable and actually showed up on the webinar.
And from there, they were already so warm, right, they had had that experience of working with me, and then also got to learn about the program. And we're like, and so I think that's why there was such a large percentage of people that were signed up for the webinar also during the Q&A party, and then why such a large percentage of the people that converted, were also at that Q&A party.
Yes, that makes complete sense. And I wanted to circle back to this, like earlier thing that you mentioned about following up and how if someone, you know, was like, Hey, that's a great offer. I'm not interested in exploring that right now. But then later, you know, you following up and asking them like, hey, how's that thing that we talked about a couple months going?
And if they're still not doing well with it, you kind of give them another opportunity to consider exploring that solution with you. Have you ever experienced the opposite, where someone down the line after having attended or participated in one of your Q&A parties actually initiates the follow up themselves? And they reach out to you through the text line that you were originally chatting on? Has that ever happened?
100% I actually woke up this morning, to-
No way.
Yes, for real? No, I actually find it funny that you asked that question. I woke up this morning to two messages. One was someone that was kinda like never fully committed to the Q&A party, like I noticed, like, they would like ask a question, and then I would respond, and then they wouldn't reply back. But then they'd ask a question the next time, but they're just like, all hanging around. I could tell they're like lurking, but like they aren't fully engaged in the Q&A party. I got a message this morning asking how she could hire me for a coaching call, right? So I didn't get to the point of the call to action, because she wasn't responding to it. I was like, Okay, that's cool.
But this morning, she was like, Could you send me information for a coaching call, I'd love to, like, consider chatting to you for at least like an hour and a half, right? Because one of my coaching calls is just an hour and a half. So that was one where she initiated the conversation, which I found interesting, because she was super, like cold in a lot of ways. Like she wasn't given me much. And then I have another person. Both of these people, by the way, are from Q&A parties this year, so not last year, as part of that conversion rate there from this year.
Another person sent me a message because my call to action to her was something along the lines of my membership. And I was saying I think you'd be a really great fit for my membership, the questions that you're asking you're so in line with the trainings we have in there and the work that we do in there. Let me know if you'd like to have more information. And her response to me was, thank you so much, but I'm actually in another coaching program. And while we're talking about different things, I just don't feel like I can do two things at the same time. Fair enough. Totally fine.
So I said exactly that I was like totally get it. I love that you're setting your own boundaries around this and you know where to find me if anything changes, right. So to today this morning, she reached out to me and said, this was only like maybe a week ago, maybe 10 days ago that we had this conversation. And she was just like, hey, I just wanted to reach out like, I have not stopped thinking about our Q&A, and just how helpful it was. She was like, already, I feel so much clearer. I think I do want to reconsider and think about joining your program, can you send me that information? Right. So again, I would have followed up with her because she's such a great fit, but I didn't have to, she came to me instead.
Incredible. And it's like, all in their own timing, right. And that's, I think, such a valuable reminder to everyone, including myself that we cannot necessarily diagnose how interested someone is adjust by their initial communication, certain people think through decisions very, very differently. And they also, you know, may need different touch points or like affirmation signs, whatever it is to feel confident and investing.
And it's interesting, like, even for that person who didn't really participate in the Q&A party, it was kind of just like, on the fringes, and then never really had much more communication with you came around on her own without much input from you. And it's hard to discern exactly why that may be right. So I think just making yourself available. And the fact that you do keep such a low pressure environment for people to come to a decision in their own time, is, again, a really wise way to go about selling a very sustainable way to build that relationship. So love that.
To wrap up this case study. One final question that I have for you kind of harkens back to the very beginning, when I was you know, sharing a little bit about you, and how your approach to marketing and building high touch relationships, help your clients make their audience size irrelevant. And I told you like that wording really, really stood out to me. And I was thinking, so in order for Q&A parties to be effective on some level, like people have to show up and participate, right, like that's the whole point.
So could you expand on how someone can leverage a strategy like this, to make their audience size irrelevant? Even though attendance is crucial to the success? Like it almost seems like an oxymoron, right? It's like, well, you have to have the attendance to make it a success. But the strategy makes audience size irrelevant. So like, how are both statements true at the same time? Do you have any insight on that?
Yes. Okay. So the reason I word it like that is because I think we are trained to to approach marketing this way. And also, it is completely true. Numbers, frickin matter. Do you know what I mean? Like, if you're going to launch to 1000 people at a 10% conversion rate, that's different than launching to 30 people at a 10% conversion rate, you know what I mean? Like numbers, at the end of the day absolutely do matter.
However, numbers with an audience that you have a high touch relationship with are so much higher when it comes to a conversion rate than numbers with a low touch conversion rate. So like what I told you earlier about how, in the beginning, I only had like three people show up to my Q&A party. Now, that's not a lot of people. For someone who's not doing the nurturing work and sells to three people, chances are, they're not going to make any sales. Right.
Right.
because that's not going to work. But instead, I sold something to all three of them. Right. So that's really what I mean by in terms of the audience size is irrelevant, because a lot of the marketing strategy strategies that we learn online, yes, they all work, but a lot of them like they're going to grow in effectiveness as your audience grows. But people can do this strategy with zero email list, right? And have instead, like, if you want to do something like this, you could make this referral base.
And you could have like 10 colleagues, like recommend this Q&A party that you're going to do, where they have to join your email list, let's say and you have to maybe your Q&A Party is gonna be on your email list. Instead of the text list. If you have no interest in joining a text list, right? You could do the exact same thing host a Q&A party instead of a webinar nine to six, ask 10 colleagues to say, could you invite your list to this Q&A party that I got going on? It's from nine to three right, even if they just sent three people your way, three times 10 is 30 People that have the opportunity to ask you a question. Like you are going to see a much higher conversion rate with those 30 people because of that conversation. Even if you have zero people on your email list before this, then if you are, you know, trying to sell on a webinar to 30 people like it's just the conversion rate will not be the same, right?
Yeah.
So that's really what I mean by that. This for me feels like such a great strategy for the people who have a big email list. Yes, because everyone needs relationships, but also for the people who don't, who are just getting started, who understands the importance of relationships and how they aid in your conversion rate, but don't know how to create those relationships because when they post on social media, no one response.
So now you're creating an event where people have a reason to reach out to you with zero skin off their back, right? No loss, they don't have to spend an hour on a webinar. They don't have to do any of these things that sometimes come along with launching, all they have to do is think of a question and submit it. And maybe they might get a response that changes their life, right. So that's really, that's really what I mean by that. I think for like for the person who's struggling to get things off the ground. This can help you grow, as well as build the types of relationships that can actually convert us into sales.
Great, great perspective. And you're speaking my love language, because you gave that example of how you can leverage other people's audiences, you can leverage collaboration and relationship based marketing to like you said, Get get momentum get lift. And that's really the key is like, I think sometimes people overcomplicate marketing, and they want to do all these fancy funnels and these really advanced like ad strategies, when in reality, it's like, you just got to get in front of someone who has an interest, or a challenge and an area that you have some sort of solution to and have a direct conversation. It is as simple as that.
And so that was an excellent reminder there, Sophia, this has been so tangible, so tactical, thank you for your time. Where can our audience connect with you and be part of your next Q&A texts party?
Oh, my gosh, this was such a joy. Thank you so much, I really had so much fun. So first things, I would love to invite everyone to my text list for our next Q&A party, which is sure to be a hoot, you can just text "Q&A" to 917-810-2418. And from there, you'll automatically be in our Q&A list. So if you only want to be part of Q&A parties, that's the list to join. But if you want marketing tips, as well as being a part of the Q&A, parties, text "Marketing" to the exact same phone number, and I can serve you that way. And if anyone's struggling to create nurture events, and like understanding that marketing strategy and how to create something that works for them, even if they like can't stand social media, you can also join our waitlist to our membership as we revamp it, which I think is gotocoach.club/waitlist.
Perfect, we will make sure all of those links and the number that you can text Sophia at or below in the show notes. So make sure you check out the show notes if you want to stay in contact with Sophia. And I also did remember I wanted to say that, like Sophia mentioned at the very beginning, if you don't want to host this Q&A party format via text, you can really do this in any channel that you have some capability of conversing one on one with someone whether that's email, DMs, I mean, there's so many different ways that you can do this.
However, if you do actually want to host it on like a texting platform. The one I recommend and love and use is Norby we have a free trial for Norby, you can check that out in the show notes as well. And then if Sophia has a platform that she recommends and uses, we can also drop that in the show notes for you as a resource. So that's just a little extra pro tip to go implement today. Thank you again, Sophia, and we'll catch you all in our next episode.
Bye.
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