Right now, you are almost certainly wasting a significant portion of your marketing dollars.

I’m not talking about losing money in the lead generation phase. What I’m about to describe is even more insidious and completely unnecessary.

Today, in the final step of the “5 Steps To Getting More Clients From Every Workshop or Webinar You Do” series, I’ll show you exactly what it is and how to fix it immediately.

I remember doing a strategy session with Don, a highly successful financial advisor, a few years ago.

I asked him what he did with all of the leads he generated for his dinner seminars that didn’t schedule meetings with him.

He answered with, “What do you mean?”

“Don, not everyone shows up for your dinner seminars, and not everyone in the room schedules a meeting, correct? And what about all of the leads you generate outside of your seminars? What do you do with those?” I asked.

He replied, “Nothing. I just get back on the hamster wheel and do another seminar. That’s what nearly everyone in our industry does.”

I could not believe what I was hearing.

He was spending around $10,000 per seminar and doing absolutely nothing with prospects who didn’t schedule meetings.

Yesterday, during another strategy session with another advisor, I got the same answer.

This is insanity.

You can often double your profits simply by putting a follow-up system in place for every lead you attract.

Before I outline the system, here are a few numbers that should light a fire under you.

Studies show that only 18% of prospects will decide to work with a professional services provider within the first 90 days.

The remaining 82%, who will eventually engage someone’s services, will take 18–24 months to make that decision.

Which means that unless you have a follow-up system in place, most of the money is being left on the table.

You’re already investing money to generate leads.

Not following up is a business-building sin and a huge waste of your hard-earned money.

And the frustrating part is that fixing it requires almost no additional marketing budget.

You need two follow-up systems.

A short-term system and a long-term system.

They serve completely different purposes.

The Short-Term Follow-Up System

The goal of short-term follow-up is simple and extremely profitable.

Convert interest while motivation is still high.

Immediately after a seminar, webinar, or workshop, your prospects fall into four categories.

Some did not show up.

Some scheduled a meeting on the spot.

Some are interested but hesitant.

And some are curious but not ready yet.

Your short-term follow-up system needs to address anyone who didn’t schedule a meeting.

That means several touchpoints over the next 10–14 days.

Each one has a slightly different purpose.

The first step happens the morning after the seminar.

Simply re-offer the same strategy session you mentioned in the presentation.

Not with a generic “thank you for attending” email.

With a short, personal invitation.

The structure is simple.

First, a personal invitation.

Something like: “I have a few openings this week for the retirement strategy sessions I mentioned last night. Would you like one of them?”

Second, a quick qualification checklist so the reader can decide if the conversation applies to them.

Third, a brief statement of expertise to help them understand who you help and what you do.

Fourth, a clear description of what happens in the meeting.

And finally, a low-friction call to action.

Instead of sending a calendar link, ask them to reply to the email. You then follow up with your calendar link.

Reply → conversation → meeting.

That small distinction alone can double response rates.

Over the next several days, you continue following up.

One email might revisit a key idea from the seminar.

Another might expand on an important lesson.

Another might share a brief case study showing how someone benefited from the process.

Each email ends with the same simple invitation to schedule a strategy session.

About a week later, you might invite them to a short webinar that expands on the same topic.

Many prospects need to hear an idea more than once before taking action.

Finally, you address common objections.

The entire sequence takes about two weeks.

Most professionals send one or two emails and stop.

That alone costs them a tremendous number of potential clients.

The Long-Term Follow-Up System

The long-term system serves a completely different purpose.

It’s not designed to create immediate meetings.

It’s designed to build familiarity, trust, and authority over time.

This is where your regular emails live.

Short insights.

Stories.

Observations from your work with clients.

Lessons that help your readers make smarter decisions.

They are informative, interesting, and sometimes entertaining.

But they also quietly demonstrate expertise.

Over time, these emails keep you top of mind.

Which is why many people schedule meetings months or even years after first hearing about you.

Trust compounds over time.

When you combine a strong presentation with short- and long-term follow-up systems, something powerful happens.

You stop relying on a single moment to convert a prospect.

Instead, you create multiple opportunities for the right prospects to say yes.

And that’s how workshops and webinars consistently produce clients.

Tomorrow, I’ll share one final insight that ties all five steps together and shows you how to turn your presentations into a predictable client acquisition system.

Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!

Dave “Higher Profits” Dee