Is a Summit Actually Right for Your Business?
It's no secret that virtual summits have gotten harder to do well lately. And yet - for the right business, at the right time - a summit still has the power to bring momentum into your business unlike any other strategy.
But if it isn’t right for you (or at least for where you’re at right now), the last thing you need is to invest months of energy into the wrong strategy.
In this episode, I'm breaking down exactly what a summit is designed to do, the two business types that are most set up for success, and the signs that tell you whether now is your time to host a summit (or whether you'd be better off waiting a little longer).
If a summit IS the right move for you, I want you to be crystal clear on that so you can stop sitting on a strategy that will change your business! And if it isn't right for you right now, this episode will help you know that clearly.
Listen to the episode
What a Summit Is Actually Designed to Do
At its core, a summit is a list-building, revenue-generation, and launch strategy. Specifically, it's designed to:
- Grow your email list by thousands in a short window.
- Generate revenue through an All-Access Pass and, optionally, sponsorships during the event.
- Create a warm, engaged audience who's an ideal fit for your signature offer and primed for you to launch immediately after the event.
That's a lot of power packed into one strategy. In order for all these moving pieces to come together well, there are a few things you need to have in place first.
What a Summit Is NOT Designed to Do
A summit is not the place to figure out who you're targeting or what you help them with. If you're unclear on that, work on it first, BEFORE hosting a virtual summit!
It's also not a fix for unclear messaging. A bigger audience just means more people seeing something that isn't landing yet - and that's not a good use of your time or theirs.
And it's not a one-time magic fix! If your offers feel off, a summit isn't going to change that. What it will do is amplify what you already have. So you want to make sure what you have is solid.
While you can absolutely host a summit without a course or membership to launch, the biggest long-term results come from what you do with your new audience after the event. A summit is a powerful launch pad, but you'll want a clear next step for those people.
The Two Business Types Built for Summit Success
So who is a summit right for? If you have clear messaging, you know who your audience is, and your offers are solid, you have a good foundation for hosting your summit. These business owners who are set up for summit success usually fall into one of these two categories:
Option 1: You have an established course, membership, or group program
You've put in the work. You have a proven offer and your students are getting results. But you feel stuck with how many people you can actually reach to fill it. You've tried challenges, webinars, content - and things just aren't progressing the way you want.
If that's you, a summit was practically made for you!
Heather is a perfect example. She had a membership she believed in, but couldn't get people in the door. After hosting a summit, she brought in $30,000 and over 200 new members - and her business has been thriving ever since! She was even able to move her family internationally. She didn't change her offer. She didn't rebrand. She just needed people to see it.
Shelby had 26 people in her membership. She knew it was good. People loved it and got real results. She just needed more people to find it. She hosted a summit and added over 300 members the first time around. (Check out more of her story in Episode 212)
If you have a great offer that not enough people are seeing, a summit will change that!
Option 2: You offer services or one-on-one coaching
This is actually how I started. I was filling my WordPress development services through summits before I ever launched a course or membership - and it worked really well.
If you're an expert who needs more people to know you exist, a summit is a fantastic strategy for keeping yourself booked out. It also gives you a revenue influx that can be hard to generate when you're already at capacity with client work.
When I hosted my first summit, I was making about $3,000 a month through my services. The summit itself brought in an additional $16,000 on top of that. The way I approach summits is a little different for service providers vs. course and membership owners: the first group is launching an offer with essentially unlimited spots, while service providers are more limited and often need a higher level of trust-building first. But either way, you are set up SO well for summits.
Signs You're Ready to Host a Summit
Here's what I like to see before someone dives in:
- You have a proven offer - or at the very least, a clear expertise you want to monetize. A proven offer is ideal because it signals that your messaging is dialed in and you know what your people want. That said, we've had students come in with a brand new business and host a successful event when their clarity was already there.
- You can clearly articulate who your summit is for and why they'd show up. Even if you need help refining the exact direction and wording - that's exactly what we help with in the Launch With a Summit Accelerator® - you have a solid starting point.
- You're committed to the full process, not just the event itself. A summit is probably the biggest project you'll take on in your business. It's also likely the most impactful. But it does take time to put together. If you're not launching an offer, plan for at least three months. If you are launching an offer, plan for four.
- You want to break through a plateau, have your biggest launch yet, and step into new visibility and opportunities. If that's the energy you're bringing to this, you're ready!
Signs It's Not Quite Time Yet
I'd encourage you to wait on a summit if:
- You're still figuring out exactly who you help and what they need from you
- You don't know how to talk about your offer in a way that makes people want it
- Things feel unclear in the fundamentals of your business - your messaging, your offers, your tech - and you're still in that figuring-it-all-out stage
The thing is, a summit will bring you more clarity than you'd expect. But if you go in already feeling lost, you're going to have a really hard time crafting a compelling event that attracts speakers and attendees - and that sets you up poorly from the start. Get your footing first, then let a summit come in and amplify what you've built.
Making a Strategic Decision
I am not someone who pushes everyone toward a summit. I genuinely want to see if it's the right fit for you before you invest months of energy into it. So often we're reactive in our businesses: we stumble across something that sounds like a magic bullet and we're off to the races. And while a summit has genuinely been a magic bullet for a lot of people, it's a decision worth making strategically.
If you've listened to this episode and you have that gut feeling that a summit is your next move - and you don't want to do it alone - I'd love for you to apply to the Launch with a Summit Accelerator at summitinabox.co/apply. Or DM me the word ACCELERATOR on Instagram, and we'll figure out the best next step together! I'd love to see your application come through.
Resources
- Episode 212: B2C Virtual Summits: Seeing Your Summit as More than a List-Builder
- Episode 213: Is a Virtual Summit Right For Your Business? Consider These 3 Things
- Episode 278: A Last-Ditch Effort That Brought in $30k and 260 New Members
- Summit Host Hangout® Facebook group
- Launch with a Summit Accelerator®
- 6-Figure Summits Workshop Bundle
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5-Minute Virtual Summit Roadmap
The 5-Minute Summit Roadmap leads you through the 7 essential questions that will guide the rest of your summit planning process and help you finally start making meaningful progress toward a profitable event.