I have reviewed and critiqued more than 370 one-to-many sales presentations, webinars, selling from stage. I can tell you there are five mistakes that I see all the time that people make over and over and over that cost them sales, cause people to disengage, leave the room, be on Facebook doing anything but paying attention and buying. We're going to go through what these five mistakes are, how to avoid them, and what to do instead. If you avoid these, you can virtually guarantee that you are going to have a successful webinar or presentation.
1. Being boring and rambling on and on
Number one is being boring and rambling on and on, going down rabbit holes and losing your audience. You can probably think of a live presentation that was absolutely painful, where you were in the room just thinking, "where is this guy going?" That story has nothing to do with anything, it's not engaging, and you got up and left the room. You might remember a webinar where you jumped off within just a couple minutes, or you were on Facebook trying to pay attention but you couldn't.
What causes this is people did not practice and did not build out a framework that led to a very clear story arc that led to the offer. The story arc should always be the beginning, establish credibility, your origin story, meet them where they're at, solve their first problem, solve their second problem, solve their third problem. Those are stairstep teaching points that get people to lean forward and start to get into a little bit of momentum. You take them from a one to a two and then you make the offer. So I say practice three to five times and then listen to yourself once. It's going to tell you all the stuff that you can pull out so that you make it very clear, easy to follow, and lead to the sale.
2. Taking people from a level 2 to a level 10
Number two is trying to take people from a level one or a level two to a level 10. One of my favorite movies is What About Bob, and if you remember it, it's baby steps, setting small reasonable goals for yourself one day at a time. The reason that people are tuning into your webinar is because they're at a level two. They've studied enough that they know they need what you do, they need the outcome to grow their business and to get the result that they want.
But you're probably at a level 10. You use a lot of vocabulary that they might not understand, and you're talking about very complex things very quickly because you're used to talking about them. Instead you need to dumb it down. Your goal for your presentation is to take them from a level two to a level three or level four. You want to show them just enough that they can start to get into momentum and then take the next steps with you, whether that's booking a call or buying your course. You don't want to overwhelm them.
3. Teaching too much instead of using stories
Number three is teaching too much versus using stories and getting people excited about working with you. If people just sit there and you teach and teach and teach, it overwhelms our brain. It's like RAM in a computer getting filled up and you can't process anymore. If you've ever left a presentation or a live event where you just feel overwhelmed and you're like, "I just need to go breathe," it's because they gave you too much information.
Instead you should be teaching just a little bit and then telling a story that highlights what you're teaching and gets people to see how exciting it is and how they can get the outcome that they want. You want it to be more like entertainment. Entertain them but teach them a little bit, make them have fun, and see how they can use it.
4. Slide decks with too many words
Number four has to do specifically with slide decks, PowerPoint presentations for webinars. You speaking should be the main concentration. You should always have your camera on and you should always be talking, because you want people to build rapport with you. Your slide presentation should be supportive. You want it to use pictures that get across the emotion of what you're talking about. What I see a lot of people do wrong is they use way too many words. You want no more than 10, 12, maybe 15 seen at the most, unless you're talking about your offer. You don't want a bunch of pie charts and a bunch of hard-to-follow things, you want emotion-building pictures.
The other thing is, think about how we watch television and movies. Every four to six seconds the scene is changing, it's zooming in, it's zooming out, it's taking a different angle, and we are used to consuming content like that. Instead, what we see during slide presentations is usually one slide that is up for a long 10, 20, 30 seconds. Build a lot of slides that change rapidly. This will build natural engagement and keep people engaged.
5. Giving everything away instead of using open loops
Last but not least is using curiosity and open loops. As teachers we like to teach everything, give everything away. But instead we can tease them a little bit, give them some curiosity, make them wonder what's going on, and then create open loops. Open loops are where you get them excited and leaning in but then you don't give them the solution, you make them pay attention to later. That gets people to lean forward, and you want to do that over and over and over again. But so many people just give everything away on the webinar, and it makes it really hard for people to buy.
The other thing with open loops is in your offer you should have five to eight things, specific tools that overcome ultra-specific pain points and obstacles that people have. You want to tease those earlier on in the presentation. If you're doing this correctly, people will type in the chat, "where do I get that tool? How can I get that? What was that tool you talked about?" If you're doing that correctly, people lean in and they'll say, "I want that," before you ever make the offer, and that's the key to massive sales.
Key takeaways
- After reviewing more than 370 presentations, the same five mistakes cost people sales over and over.
- Don't be boring and ramble down rabbit holes. Build a clear story arc that leads to the offer, and practice three to five times.
- Don't try to take people from a level two to a level 10. Dumb it down and take them to a level three or four so you don't overwhelm them.
- Don't teach too much. Teach just a little bit and then tell a story. You want it to be more like entertainment.
- Fix your slides: camera on, emotion-building pictures, no more than 10 to 15 words seen, and slides that change rapidly.
- Use curiosity and open loops. Tease the five to eight tools in your offer so people say "I want that" before you ever make the offer.
Questions people ask
What is the biggest webinar mistake?
Number one is being boring and rambling on and on, going down rabbit holes and losing your audience. It happens when people did not practice and did not build a clear story arc that leads to the offer.
How much should you teach on a webinar?
You should be teaching just a little bit and then telling a story that highlights what you're teaching. If you teach and teach and teach, it overwhelms the brain, like RAM in a computer getting filled up.
How many words should be on a webinar slide?
You want no more than 10, 12, maybe 15 words seen at the most, unless you're talking about your offer. Use pictures that get across the emotion of what you're talking about.
What are open loops on a webinar?
Open loops are where you get people excited and leaning in but then you don't give them the solution, you make them pay attention to later. Tease the five to eight tools in your offer so people say "I want that" before you make the offer.
Keep reading
- 7 Open Loop Strategies That Keep Your Webinar Audience Glued to the Screen
- Are You Teaching Too Much? How to Open Loops Instead of Closing Sales
- The 3-Layer Content Model: How to Teach Just Enough Without Killing the Sale
- Why Most Webinar Pitches Fail in the First 5 Minutes—Not the Last 15
Watch me break down all five mistakes in the video at the top of this page.
