Don't Let Them Go Away And Think About It

I'm heading up to Newcastle next week for Atomicon. If you've got tickets and fancy meeting up, hit reply and let me know.

I attended Atomicon last year after seeing endless posts about it the year before. It felt like every other freelancer I was connected to was at the event and I'll admit I felt like I was missing out.

So last year when I saw people talking about it again, I did a bit of research and decided to book.

Atomicon ticket prices increase gradually throughout the year. The earlier you buy, the cheaper they are. It's a good incentive to get off the fence - it certainly worked on me.

Full price tickets are listed at £650 but they start much lower than that. Last year I booked in February and paid £339. This year, I only paid £189 because I signed up at last year's event. The early bird offer was only available for a limited time and I didn't want to miss out. I wasn't alone - loads of people signed up there and then.

Creating that urgency pushes people to make a commitment which means they don't "go away to think about it" and then never get around to booking.

Don't let give them too much time to think about it

When I used to work as a holiday rep, we used to do welcome meetings as soon as guests arrived at the hotel (or first thing the next morning). The goal was always to get people to book trips straight away. If we let them "go away and think about it" we knew there was a good chance, they wouldn't come back to us.

In fact, we were told that if they needed to go up to their rooms to get cash (most people still used cash on holidays back then) or they needed to go to a cash point, we were to go with them.

Why? Because we wanted to get financial commitment when they were at their most interested. And if you left them alone, they would often start talking themselves out of booking. Not because they didn't want to to the trips, but because doubts would creep in. They'd end up convincing themselves and each other that it was better to wait. Interest would wane and it was hard to get it back.

If we went with them to get the cash, we could keep their interest by getting them excited about the trips and making sure those doubts didn't take over.

I know this sounds like a sneaky tactic, but it's not. Rarely did guests ever regret booking the trips straight away because it meant they didn't miss out on the stuff they wanted to do. They could go off and relax knowing they had their tickets and itinerary sorted.

Other guests would go off and do their own thing. They would still have a good time. But occasionally, I'd get guests coming to me at the end of their holiday saying they wish they'd booked more trips because they'd heard other people talking about how good they were. They felt like they'd missed out.

And I think we've all felt like that at some point.

How often do we come so close to buying something we really want or need and then change our mind at the last minute. We convince ourselves that it's a good idea to wait and we make excuses for why we shouldn't commit straight away. Or we tell ourselves we'll definitely come back and do it later.

And then we don't come back.

The interest and excitement fades. Or we start making up reasons why we shouldn't buy. Or we just forget about it because we get busy with other things.

Most of the time it doesn't make a big difference. But sometimes we regret not doing stuff when we had the chance.

I wish I'd booked tickets to see Meatloaf when he was on tour in the UK. Instead, I talked my husband out of it and we didn't book. He never toured again and he died a few years later.

And there have been times I've put off buying something I wanted or investing in something for my business and then the price went up or it was no longer on offer.

I'm not saying we should always buy without thinking about it. But I think if we're 90% sure it's a good decision, we can afford to trust ourselves a bit more.

And that's exactly how I ended up booking a ticket for this year's Atomicon a year in advance.

The event was good. I enjoyed it, met some great people, caught up with some people I knew from LinkedIn, and got to hear from some excellent speakers.

I wasn't entirely sure whether I'd book again, but when I was offered a ticket for just over half what I'd paid, I didn't want to miss out. Plus, they offered a full refund if you changed your mind before February, so it reduced the risk.

I don't regret buying so quickly. If I hadn't signed up there and then, I probably wouldn't have signed up because I wouldn't be getting as good a deal.

And so, next Monday, I'll be heading up to Newcastle.

If you're heading up but find networking daunting, I'd love to meet up before the pre-party or on the morning of the event. Just let me know and we'll arrange a meeting place.

And if you aren't heading up, don't worry, I'll share my favourite learnings from the event in a future email.

Meanwhile, think about how you can convince people to make a financial commitment when they are at the most interested. How can you create a sense of urgency or a fear of missing out? Make sure you include a strong call to action in any sales copy - tell people what to do next.

And if you need help with that, book 90 minutes with me.