Best Practice Webinar Process Flow

Lee Anne Wimberlyhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/leeannewimberly

http://www.twitter.com/lwimberly

This is a process developed over several events that have resulted in more than 1000 attendees to each session and many closed deals. Key learnings are: Content is king. Share something people want to hear about. Keep in mind key take-

aways and learning. Make sure content supports your key value. You can contact a webinar register before the event, just do it with class so they don’t

feel hounded. Survey data related to the guest speaker’s content can lend credibility to the event and

can round out holes in guest speaker’s experience. Survey and polling data can provide qualification information as well as enhance content

if done well. Preparation is important. Timing of presentations, key points covered and speaker

interaction should be planned and practiced. Enough lead time is essential. Automation enables immediacy. It provides the ability to send confirmations immediately,

add to calendars, send reminders, etc. Take advantage of these best practices that online event vendors have built into their products.

Follow-up. Webinars are a lot of trouble if you do them well. You throw away all that effort (and money) if you don’t follow up promptly.

Webinar Content Flow

Define TopicGet Customer

or Expert toParticipate

Send SpeakerEvent Brief with

Expectations

1 on 1 MeetingTo Set Up

Participation

Content ReviewMeeting

Dry RunCreate Poll Including

Qualifying QsLive Event

Post ArchiveAlong with

Other MaterialsPost Q&A

Determine Lead & Support Roles

Create surveyOn topic including

qualifying questions

8 weeks prior 6 weeks prior

4 weeks prior 2 weeks prior 1 week prior

1 week post

Success Criteria:•Case study best. If case study not possible,

share real-world learning. Not theory, not product.•Speaker identified with 2 week lead time

to promotion beginning•Survey results included•Tightly scripted event

•Well-prepared guest speaker•Speaker view in line with value prop.

Key Tasks:•Developing theme in line with

competitive advantage•Creating abstract

•Developing survey•Creating/gathering draft content

•Scripting event•Managing creative/technical resources

Lead Generation Flow

Create surveyon topic including

qualifying questions

Create registration pagewith link to survey

Send 1st Invite

Follow-up to set meeting prior to event

Registered?Attend?

Remove from next invitation list

Follow-up to Get registration &

Demo set up

Send 2nd invite Send last chance

Send 24-hour &1 hour reminders

Send Sorry Email

Send Thanks Email

Click-through?

Y

N

Y

N

Leave in Database

Y

N

4 weeks prior

4 weeks prior

4 weeks prior 2 weeks prior 2-5 days prior

2 days post

2 days post

Success Criteria:•Timely and appropriate level of follow-up

•Targeting of message•Email testing

•Clear lead distribution rules•Auto-confirmation with attendance info

in ICS format (add to calendar)•Reminders

•Attendance details set before 1st invite sent•Data resource scheduled in advance

Key Tasks:•Registration back-end set up

•Frequent registration list updates•Writing/list building/testing emails

Follow-up via Phone to Qualify

Depending on your timing, you can do invites weekly.

Data Flow (Using Salesforce.com)

Pre-EventAgreed UponRegistration

Reports Frequency to Sales/Lead Gen

Leads Importedinto SF.com

Add Survey Datato SF.com

Add QualifyingQuestions from

Polling to SF.com

Add QuestionsFrom Webinar

Q&A

Post EventAdd Attended/

Registered Statusvia Attendee Report

Prioritize Follow-Up Based on

Qualifying Info

If Qualified,Create Opp.In SF.com

Report on Progress

Success Criteria:

•Data rules determined in advance•Sales/Lead Gen access to all qualifying info

Key Tasks•Lead assignment

•Process leads into SF