Are you the go big, or go home person in your life or business? Maybe you don’t enjoy taking things slow in your business, and love the boost events bring to your bottom line. In this episode, Krista Miller of Summit in a Box®, shares how utilizing virtual summits not only increases your income during the event, but is the gift that keeps on giving in the future of your business. If you are looking for the one thing that can skyrocket your success and give you a marketing advantage, this episode is for you!
The Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast is brought to you by Dolly DeLong Education. This podcast is for creative business owners who want to learn tangible steps to automate their business through workflows, systems, tools, and strategies to go from scattered to streamlined with purpose because even muggles can become automated wizards.
At Summit in a Box®, Krista helps online business owners replace slow-growth and costly marketing strategies with high-converting virtual summits that lead to record-breaking course, membership, and group program launches.
Her method incorporates highly-targeted positioning and feel-good, engagement-based strategies that lead to higher-than-average conversion rates, true connections, and making a difference through your summit in a way that creates ongoing benefits for months after the event wraps up.
The best part? She makes it easy in her Launch with a Summit Accelerator™! With every strategy, template, script, tutorial, resource, and support element you’d ever need, your summit just got a whole lot easier AND more profitable!
Are you ready to automate the backend of your business with systems and workflows…but you have no earthly idea where to begin? Well, the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle is coming out again in February of 2023, and this time the theme of the bundle = is The Systems and Workflows of All the parts of a Funnel! Doesn’t that sound like FUN(nel)?
To get on the waitlist for the Systems and Workflow Magic 2.0 Funnel Edition head on over here or go to (remember this opens up only ONE time a year and the 2.0 version is jam-packed with Systems and Workflow magic centered around Funnel Trainings! https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/
Introducing Krista Miller (1:51)
Defining a virtual summit (5:57)
Krista’s origin with summits (8:21)
Fitting summits in your business (12:44)
Using a summit as a marketing advantage (15:16)
Diving into to the funnel of a summit (18:49)
Connecting with others through summits (29:52)
What Krista has to offer other business owners (37:34)
Krista’s contribution to The Systems and Workflow Magic 2.0 Funnel Bundle (39:12)
The Systems and Workflow Magic 2.0 Funnel Bundle https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/
Waitlist: The Foundational Funnel Training Private Popup Podcast
Krista’s product: https://www.summitinabox.co/programs
Krista’s Freebie: https://www.summitinabox.co/roadmap
The Summit Host Hangout Podcast
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facebook.com/DollyDeLongEducation
Dolly Delong 0:01
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast. I am your Systems and Workflow BFF Dolly Delong and I just want to say thank you for being here today, I’m so excited that you chose to come here today. So if you have been joining me live, you already know this, but I have been featuring different contributors to the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle 2.0 Funnel Edition for the past several weeks. Now if you’re brand new, and you are just joining us today, and you want to do a major binge on all these episodes, just go back and re-listen to episodes 53 to present so 62, and that way you can be introduced to some of the best contributors ever, and I’m not exaggerating about that, these are amazing female business owners who are contributing different parts of the digital funnel or education of what certain parts of the funnel mean and I wish I could have done all like 35 different contributors, podcast interviews, but that would have taken over a year you guys so I was able to record these podcast episodes with these contributors. Anyways, so today’s episode features Krista Miller who I have deemed the Queen of Summits in my head, and I am so pumped to have her on the show because you are going to learn so much from her. Plus, let me remind you again, the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle goes live in two weeks. So everything Krista is going to chat about pertains heavily to how you can apply this topic to a potential funnel and so she is going to teach you some great strategies today. So I hope you will take some notes or re-listen to this episode and before she hops on, I wanted to give her official bio so that you can learn a little bit about Krista All right. So Krista Miller is the creator of Summit in a Box and at Summit in a Box, Krista helps online business owners replace slow growth and costly marketing strategies with high-converting virtual summits that lead to record-breaking courses, memberships, and group program launches. Krista is also a podcast host as well and she teaches on leading online summits. I have learned so much from her even though I haven’t ever led a summit myself. I learned from her every week. So her method incorporates highly targeted positioning and feel-good engagement-based strategies that lead to higher than average conversion rates, true connections which I love, and making a difference through your summit in a way that creates ongoing benefits for months after the event wraps up and the best part she makes it easy in her launch with a summit accelerator with every strategy template script tutorial resource and support element you’ll ever need. Seriously she makes summit so easy because she’s so organized. So Krista, welcome to the Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast. I am so pumped to have you here and like I told you earlier before we hit record, I totally fangirling right now I’m bet you’re like “okay, easy freak”, but I am just like so pumped you’re here. It is an absolute honor to have you as not only a part of the bundle but as a podcast guest. It is an honor to have you here and I’m so excited for my audience to learn from you and get to know you. So do you mind giving more of a personal introduction to the listeners and letting them know a little bit more about you and your business?
Krista Miller 4:33
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me and for that introduction. I also just have to like plug you because everybody, if you want to know how to run a bundle the right way just like go and stalk what Dolly is doing and how she’s doing this. I have never felt so valued as a contributor as I have as a part of this bundle. The process has been so organized and wonderful to be a part of so thank you, that like really stands out and it’s just really cool to see. Anyways, I am Krista, I run a Summit in a Box and we teach other business owners how to plan and launch virtual summits, whether you are up and coming and just getting started in business and want to use the summit to get your first let’s say 500 subscribers and really hit the ground running in your business, you know, we have stuff going that route. Then we also have resources and information for more advanced business owners who maybe already have that proven course that sells, but you just need more people to sell it to and since what we’re gonna talk about today is not being a full funnel in one, it really works wherever you’re at, and whenever your funnel needs to look like. So I’m really excited to dive into that.
Dolly Delong 5:36
I am so excited to dive into that as well. As I mentioned earlier, I deemed her the Queen of Virtual Summits and I know that a lot of my listeners are creative business owners, and they’re at various stages of their journey, but a lot of them are at the beginning stages of their creative business. So do you mind filling it back a little bit more taking a step back and just defining what an online virtual Summit is? Because I’m gonna be leading a bundle in a couple of weeks, it’s very different from a bundle. So I would love for you to introduce that concept to my listeners.
Krista Miller 6:17
Absolutely. Yeah. So like a virtual summit and a bundle giveaway like you have, the thing in common where it’s generally one person putting it together, and a group of other people supporting it in one way or another. But as for a summit, specifically, it’s going to be one person hosting an event that’s related to something about the audience they target and they’re going to bring together a group of speakers to speak in their specific area of expertise related to the topic. If you think of an in-person conference, it’s a lot like that, except online, everyone’s coming together, the speakers are able to benefit by getting in front of this audience that came to the summit for you know, whatever purpose is being advertised or learning from the speakers and getting connected with them in that way as well. From an attendee standpoint, if you were to register for a summit, you know, you’ll sign up because you’re interested in the presentations and you’ll go and you’ll learn from those. But there’s really so much more to it, there’s so much strategy behind it from the host perspective with looking at exactly who they’re targeting, and how they’re going to attract those people, what kinds of speakers they’re bringing on, and what audiences those speakers target and then how as a host, you’re going to make all of the work worth it. Because I will never tell you that if somebody is easy, it’s a lot of work and there are a lot of strategies involved. So if you’re going to do it, as much as we need it to be beneficial for our speakers and attendees, it needs to be beneficial for the host too and it gives you an incredible opportunity to grow your list by hundreds or 1000s. I always tell someone who’s like really early in their business, I want your minimum goal with the summit to be 500 to the sky’s the limit type situation there and then you know, the host also needs to bring in money for putting this summit together. There are all kinds of ways you can make money through a summit but the primary ways we’ll probably talk about today are through the All Access Pass. So I teach the free summit model where people can register for free and upgrade to an all-access pass for ongoing access to the presentations, can be some live sessions and a bundle of bonuses, which is very similar to the bundles we’re used to seeing and then also if you have an offer, whether it’s a course membership group, program, service, whatever it is, this sets you up really well to be able to sell that on the back end of the event.
Dolly Delong 8:21
Gotcha. Do you mind me asking you how long have you been leading summits? Like, what is your origin story with Summit?
Krista Miller 8:28
Yeah, so the first summit I ran was in April 2018. At the time, I was running a web development business. So I did website development for designers and I just needed more clients. I needed more connections, and no one knew who I was and I could not grow my email list any faster than like a subscriber or two per day. I was like, let’s try to send it like, I’m not a big deal. This could be a total flop but let’s give it a try. My goal was to bring in $2,000 for the summer, and we brought in $16,000 instead with that very first event. ever again. That’s $16,000. Yeah, it was great. I was making $3,000 a month at the time. So to bring in 16k in one shot, I literally couldn’t even process it. That 100% changed my life, it told me like this is possible. I also grew my email list by 1400 people, booked out my services for six months, and then had all these connections. I was like, Oh my gosh, this is powerful and my plan after that was not to go teach people how to, I thought I’m just gonna do this again. So I plan my next one for six months out. But other people had different plans. They’re like, that was amazing. That was so well organized. Please teach me how to do this and after telling lots and lots and lots of people now I was like, Fine, okay, here’s my Asana template, and they bought it and I was like, Oh, this is a thing.
Dolly Delong 9:43
I love that so much. If you are listening to this episode live, I have some time-sensitive news to share with you today. After listening to this week’s episode, I really want you to head on over to the show notes and get on the waitlist For the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle 2.0 Funnel Edition today. Yes, you heard me the popular bundle is back, but in 2.0 form. So if you are ready to sprinkle in some systems and workflow magic of funnel building into your business in 2023, get ready my friend. Coming February 6 through February 10 of 2023, you are going to have access to over 30 plus experts who are going to be contributing different funnel-related resources to help you grow your own top-of-the-funnel, middle-of-the-funnel, bottom-of-the-funnel, and beyond-the-funnel strategies for 2023. This bundle includes resources from experts such as Ellen Yin of Cubicle to CEO, Ashlyn Carter, Linda Sidhu, Krista Miller, and Kate Doster, just to name a few and so many more amazing experts and industry leaders. You don’t want to miss out on the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle 2.0 Funnel Edition. So head on over to systems and workflow magic.com to get on the waitlist or head on over to the show notes. Either way, is 2023 the year you learn more about funnels and how to apply them to your own business? I certainly hope so, and as always stay streamlined and strategic with your workflows, you amazing muggle you. I’ll see you at the funnel bundle. I know 2018, a lot has changed in the past four years. But that was only four years ago. I’m gonna have Krista talk about her Summit in a Box Program and all that fun stuff, just so that you can continue to learn more about summits from her. But I was just very curious about when your first summit was and I just also want to do a plugin for Krista and say that she also successfully led the summit in 2020. So you guys, that was a very hard year for everyone. And that was a year of change for a lot of people. So summits, they sound like they’re very, what’s the word I’m looking for? Tried and true? So I’m really excited to learn more about summits from you today and how like we can start setting up systems as creative business owners. Let me just ask one more question and then we’ll dive into the heart, in your opinion, how do Summits fit in the lives or in the businesses of a, let’s say, creative business owner?
Krista Miller 12:56
Yeah. So in my mind, a summit I don’t want to say should be can be, yeah, a very foundational part of your business and the funnel and what keeps it running. I have students and clients who run quarterly summits, every quarter their thing is a summit. To me, that’s exhausting. As much as I love summits, that is a hard pass for me. I’ll do maybe two a year, but honestly, I prefer one. But the thing is, you build so much momentum with a Summit every time you do it. Like that’s good. If your funnel needs a boost, once a year, boom, a Summit does it all it brings in the leads, it gives you the connection, it builds momentum, and it gives you a huge influx in sales. You have those 1000s of subscribers to continue nurturing after the summit is over, which makes everything else you do more effective than any other type of launch you do. You now have hundreds or 1000s of extra people to launch it to plus all of these people, you’ve connected with your speakers who can you know, if you have extra affiliates, maybe you have more JV Webinar Partners, people you can do little partnerships with here and there. It fuels everything and is so so powerful. So if you’re finding yourself feeling like you’re always having to launch or your launch is just aren’t big enough, or you just need, like one thing a year to really give you a boost, like a summit is really perfect to fit that spot in your business.
Dolly Delong 14:12
Yeah, well, I just want you to know you’ve already sold me on summits in my head. I’m like, Okay, how can I plan out a summit for the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle? How can I incorporate that? My wheels have been turning for the past several months. I’m just like, Okay, I just need to like have baby number two, figure out how to live with two kids, and then conquer the summit with Krista. So that’s now my goal. I just want you to know when I set a goal, I’m like, I’m doing this. I’m doing this. So, Krista, I know that today specifically, you’re going to be sharing how summits are a full-funnel marketing advantage. That’s what I’m calling it and when you pitched that topic for the bundle, I was super curious about diving into that, especially for my systems and workflow magic podcast audience, because I want to share all the strategies with them as much as possible. My listeners know, I love breaking down and different aspects of the funnel of systems and workflows, and today specifically about a funnel, I just want to dive into what you meant about how it’s a marketing advantage for the creative business owner, especially. So do you mind sharing as much wisdom as possible with what you mean by it’s a marketing advantage?
Krista Miller 15:35
Yeah, absolutely. So I think the biggest way you can kind of get a look at where this advantage really shows up, and how powerful the strategy really is, is kind of compare it to the things we’re used to doing in business. Most online business owners are used to bringing people through their funnel by piling strategy on top of strategy. So for example, if we’re going through the funnel, we have the top of the funnel is like your visibility, so how are you getting more visible to more people? The middle of your funnel is lead generation. So now you’re visible, now you need to collect those leads, get those email addresses, and you’re engaging those leads as well. The bottom of the funnel is purchasing and making them into fans or ambassadors. So when we go back up to the top of the funnel, right now, we’re used to doing things like speaking, running ads, being on a bunch of podcasts, kind of trying to be everywhere, creating endless content, JV web partnerships, networking, doing bundles, participating in bundles, being on social media, all of those things that a lot of us are doing, a lot of those things are all things, which can be exhausting. But I also I do think it’s important that we are using multiple strategies for you know when something changes, but right now we’re doing those things, just for the visibility piece of our funnel and that’s a lot. Then we get into the middle of the funnel where we need to, okay, now we’re visible, we need to collect those leads and we’re used to doing things like making and promoting opt-ins, selling low ticket offers. Again, bundles can kind of play a part in that too, running challenges, doing webinars, people are having to opt-in for those things. So now you took all of those strategies we just talked about in the visibility part, and now we’re piling on this other layer. Then we have the middle of the funnel, where we’re getting engagement, we’re trying to engage these leads we’ve gotten so far that we’re sending weekly emails, maybe we have like a Facebook community, we’re doing live videos, again, we’re running challenges on webinars, a whole bunch of more strategies we are piling on top of all those other things. Then you finally get to the bottom of the funnel, where you’re getting purchases. So you did all of this work to get in front of people gather leads and engage with them. Now you’re doing the things that convert again, some of these things overlap, but like webinars, email sequences, challenges, flash sales, and sales calls, those are the things that are getting people to buy, which is wonderful. Then afterward, you’re trying to create fans and ambassadors, which is kind of like delivering to your audience, re-engaging them showing up just kind of doing your thing and being awesome at it. Again, hear me when I say there’s nothing wrong with any of these strategies like I love speaking, I love being in bundles, I’ve hosted two or three challenges per year, for the past several years, I’ve spent hundreds of 1000s on ad sold low ticket offers all of these things and I still build those things into my strategy. Doing it all and needing it all to work together to take leads all the way through your funnel is a lot and it requires piling on strategy on top of strategy and after all of that, you still might feel like those things aren’t getting you to where you want to be. That is where the power of a Summit comes in. The most powerful strategy for online business, it takes care of literally every step of that funnel we just went over and it does most of those steps more effectively than all of the individual strategies I just listed and I’m happy to like start going through all of those things. But just wanted to pause to make sure it makes sense.
Dolly Delong 18:47
That totally makes sense, and if you can peel it back even further because I’m very familiar with top-of-the-funnel, middle-of-funnel, and bottom-of-funnel, but I would love for you to peel it back in relationship to Summits as well.
Krista Miller 19:01
Perfect, let’s do it. So top of the funnel is visibility. The way your Summit is getting visibility is that you’re bringing on speakers, maybe it’s 10, maybe it’s 20, or maybe it’s 30. I’ve been a part of a summit that has over 100 speakers before. Do not recommend that but it is a thing. Your speakers share the Summit with their audience, so instead of getting in front of just one audience, as you would with something like a podcast interview or JV partnership, it’s those 10 audiences, 20 audiences, or even more, depending on how many speakers you have. You might also bring on additional affiliates or run ads to expand that visibility even more but either way, now you just got more visible than you would have in a full year of speaking, running ads, being in bundles, and doing all of those things individually because you’re grouping a whole bunch of them together at once in your Summit. So as the speakers are sending their audience your way and your attendees are spreading the word to their friends, your summit is also a built-in lead generator. So now we’re in the middle of the funnel. In order for this to work, your summit needs to be a free event, okay? A very successful paid event might bring in a couple of 100 leads but when lead generation is part of your goal, free summits really opened the door to bringing in literally 1000s more leads at a much higher conversion rate, all they have to do to sign up is opt-in and that brings in 1000s of leads at once. This works way faster and more effectively than something like a webinar or challenge where you’re only attracting people in your audience webinars and challenges were never created to be like lead generation tools but people just get confused by it and think that that’s what they’re supposed to do. That’s just not what they’re meant to do. A summit opens the door to a whole lot more engagement and recognition than something also like I love bundles but then something like a bundle allows as well, people to know who you are when you run a summit. So then we also get to the next step for the middle of the funnel, which is engagement and normally, the nurture and engagement period before someone is ready to buy. Once they find you can take months or longer it takes a while for someone to see what they need to see just on social media or through weekly emails. A Summit does it all in one week, hosting a summit accelerates the process by providing your new leads with an amazing and transformational experience that gets them ready for the next step with you. So you’re showing up, you’re running an incredible event you’re delivering value that your audience needs, and you have a whole bunch of social proof from all the speakers who are surrounding you in this event and that means trust is built incredibly quickly. So that was the top and middle. Also getting still kind of in the middle of the funnel and I feel like this could also be considered bottom but like a low ticket offer and this is where your all-access pass comes in, more of a middle-of-funnel type offer than the bottom. Your All Access Pass is a low-ticket offer and it doesn’t necessarily like specifically represent what you do but these people are giving you money and taking another step toward coming to know you and trusting you and being a fan of what you do. Like some of the other middle-of-funnel strategies we’ve talked about give you an opportunity to add a tripwire to the back end of an opt-in or something like that, which is great. But with the summit, you’re bringing in 1000s of leads within the span of a couple of weeks and if you do it right, you can convert them to a paid all-access pass at a rate of like 10%, 15%, or 20%. Bringing in 10s of 1000s of dollars really quickly. Like I said, at my first summit, I had a tiny audience at the time, and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was making it up and we still brought in $16,000 in sales, it’s like so powerful. Even if you’re small, my biggest summit today brought in $121,000 in all-access pass sales. None of the other strategies we talked about are going to get you that type of revenue at the middle of the funnel step, especially in the span of just a few weeks. So then we’re finally at the bottom of the funnel, which is the purchase. Once you get to the bottom of the funnel, your summit will have exploded, your visibility has gotten you 1000s of leads engaged, and warmed up those new leads made you 10s of 1000s of dollars. Finally, it’s time to sell your offer, and remember, all of this is happening within the span of a couple of weeks. The end of your Summit is the absolute perfect time for a signature offer launch, whether it’s a course membership, high ticket program, or even a service of some kind of VIP day, or coaching package, whatever it is, I’ve heard a lot of people recommend that you wait like several weeks to launch after a summit. I actually even recommended that before I did it myself. But now I know that the people who say that do not have experience with it, because at the end of your Summit if you position it well and position yourself well within it, people will literally be begging you to open the cart, they don’t want their journey to end, they want the next steps to continue the journey they started with your Summit. They’re like I’m ready, I’m making progress, and I want to keep going and if you don’t make your offer, you basically brought them along throughout your rank. I’m super excited, to help them make progress, and then you’re like peace out good luck, have fun with that. They want and need that next step with you and that’s where you can make your offer. So my first few summits booked out my web development services for six months. The first time I launched my course through a Summit we brought in an immediate $63,000 in sales. Now two years since then we’ve generated an extra $160,000 in sales from leads that came from that Summit. So those people weren’t ready to buy them but we’ve had them on our list. We’ve been nurturing them since they bought in every launch we’ve done since then. That is huge for your bottom line and that’s where I kind of say the benefits don’t end with the Summit, it keeps going. If you run one Summit a year, the results will continue paying off because people who maybe were brand new to what you do when they found you through your Summit, weren’t quite ready for those next steps then, but they stuck around to learn more and when they were ready, you’re there you have that offer for them. It is so so powerful, then, of course, throughout a Summit, you also have the opportunity to turn people into fans through attracting, nurturing, and converting new leads. It all just kind of can happen at once and especially with how much you’re showing up during your Summit. It is just a very powerful strategy. that I have not found something that can beat it. So I will say it’s a strategy that can’t be beaten.
Dolly Delong 25:04
I love it so much. Hey, friend, if you’re listening to the systems and workflow magic podcast, I just want to say thank you for allowing me to bring some systems and workflow magic into your earbuds every single week. It seriously means so much to me that you are tuning in. As a thank you to all of my listeners, I have a special gift for anyone who wants to take their system and workflow strategies around funnel training to the next level. Are you ready? I have created a free private pop-up podcast dedicated to the systems and strategies of funnels. It’s called the foundational funnel training private podcast. If you try to look it up in your favorite podcast app, you won’t find it because it is a private training. So here is what is inside this free, fantastic foundational funnel training private podcast, you’ll get access to four episodes, all dedicated to teaching you the different digital funnel parts and strategies which you can in turn, apply to your own creative business in 2023, and hopefully beyond. So day one is dedicated to the top-of-funnel strategies. Day two is dedicated to some middle-of-funnel strategies. Day three is dedicated to you guessed it, the bottom-of-funnel strategies. And finally, day four is dedicated to more of a continuation of funnel strategies, meaning, what you should do with your new leads that have come through your funnel so that they are not scattered but streamlined and want to continue to get to know you. The best part, I have invited over 20 different industry leaders who are experts in these different parts of the digital funnel so it’s not just me who is going to be educating you, you are going to be learning from some amazing female business owners who are not only encouraging, but they are so knowledgeable when it comes to these specific strategies at the top, middle bottom, or a continuation of the digital funnel. Again, this is all for free. You’re probably wondering, well, what’s the catch, Dolly? Well, because one, I just want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the new Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle, the 2.0 Funnel Edition, coming later in February of 2023. I wanted to give you some strategies to use straight out of the gate when you begin planning and strategizing for your business in 2023. So I want to give you some free education. The fun begins on January 31 and again, as a reminder, each episode drops until February 3 of 2023. But don’t worry, I’ll have replays up until February 11 of 2023, then it does go away forever. Not kidding, it really does go away after that. So if you are wanting access to this private podcast, then make your way to the show notes and snag the first intro episode. And that way you can get the episodes all queued up for January 31. When they drop in, then they will stream to your favorite podcast app. Again, go to Waitlist: The Foundational Funnel Training Private Popup Podcast, I realized that’s a really long URL, or just simply head on over to the show notes and get on the foundational funnel training private podcast waitlist so that you will get instant streaming to the four days of digital funnel training when they dropped. And again, if you sign up today, meaning before January 31, you will get instant access to that first intro episode. So let me ask you, what are you waiting for? Are you ready for some fantastic foundational funnel education? I truly hope so. I look forward to seeing you in the private podcast training. And until then stay streamlined and automated magical muggle you. I do want to say to like let everybody know a real-life example of what Krista means by like you never know when the answer is gonna land and stick with you. I am one of Krista’s audience members I’m on her email list. I found her, I don’t even know threw a bundle two years ago and I think it was probably Kate Doster’s. But yeah, I haven’t been following her like, very, very meticulously, like, for the past two years, just like learning from her. I’m in that warm middle of the funnel, I’m still learning about it. I’m one of the slowest people ever. Like if you want to know something about me, Krista and my personality is like I over question everything. My husband if he’s listening to this, he’d be like, No, you don’t over-question because I’m a fast action taker in comparison to my husband. But when I’m making purchases for the business, I’m like, so slow about everything. So I finally told him, I know I mentioned this earlier in the episode to Krista but I was like, I’m ready to buy it. But like after baby number twos come, I already know when I’m buying it, I am like, yeah, so if you guys are wanting to know what Krista means by you just have to know where your audience is personality-wise. That’s my personality. I’m in the middle of the funnel right now with Krista and she’s literally nurturing me with her email marketing with her weekly podcast episodes. I’m just so excited about Summit, I was sold. But now I’m like, even more, sold. So I don’t know if that example helps anyone. But I was just thinking about that randomly. I love that.
Krista Miller 31:31
I think that is super helpful to hear, so I’m the person who would go to the Summit and buys immediately like I make decisions so quickly. I’m like, I want that. Okay, cool. buying it. Yeah. But people are so so different and I don’t think you realize that until it is pointed out to you. So I love that the two of us are on here, polar opposites. But you can see where something like a Summit is so beneficial because you can convert those people who take action quickly right away and you can let the other people join on their own time as they’re ready. You continue nurturing them afterward and you know, you’re there when they’re ready. And when they need you.
Dolly Delong 32:05
So I know you’ll be there when I’m ready. I’m ready.
Krista Miller 32:09
Gonna have a baby first.
Dolly Delong 32:13
I’ll be like, okay, my brain is in your hands. Krista. Oh, wow. This was great. So you mentioned the top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, and bottom of the funnel, and how it combines everything together for a summit. I love that so much because it is true. Like what Krista pointed out is so true that these strategies take months or sometimes years to piecemeal together and to build out an engaged audience, which, for those of us who are in our creative businesses for the long haul, like, I’m willing to put in the work in the long haul. But it’s always good to have that infusion and boosts, not only cash injection, but like audience booster, and builders email list builder. So I love that you made sure to communicate, you can accomplish these long-term strategies in a short amount of time with a summit. So much awesome. Do you have anything else to share about how summits have a marketing advantage or anything else about summits?
Krista Miller 33:20
And maybe one thing I will point out about another advantage you have to the summit is the speaker connections. One of the biggest fears people come to me with when they want to host a summit is oh my gosh, reaching out to these speakers is terrifying. Like no one’s gonna say yes and I think we’re used to thinking of things like if we were to just like message someone randomly on social media or ask someone for something like a JV webinar, they’re probably gonna say no to those things, or ignore your random DM on social media. But things like Summits and Bundles right now are pretty easy yeses for people. When you position it well, it doesn’t take a ton of work for them. But you’re getting them in front of the audience they want to be in front of they are not having to pay for Facebook ads to do it. Like we kind of know the process at this point, it’s fairly easy. So that’s something else I want you to consider if growing your network is a goal of yours, something like a summit is an incredible way to do that. Like I have a weekly task on my calendar with all of these different networking strategies I’m supposed to do. But when I’m in Summit mode, I just like move that thing down like three months because you’re doing it all. It’s like for me, there’s so much less anxiety in that process and you’re getting to know people on a much deeper level as you bring them through, so your network is another big thing to consider.
Dolly Delong 34:35
That is very true and again, I’m not trying to like burst your head, whatever, grow your head, whatever that phrase is. I can’t pregnancy brain, but because I’ve been getting to know you these past two years, through Summit In A Box, through your weekly newsletter. I’m like, I really want Krista to be a part of this bundle that I’m hosting and I’ll be honest, I pitched Krista last year, but she had already worked out her calendar for the 2022 year. But she was so kind enough. She said, If you pitch me for 2023, I will, I’ll remember, and usually people when they say that, I’m like, that’s not true. They’re just being nice. Krista was being 110% genuine and so I pitched her again, she said yes, and she probably regrets saying yes, because I’m really annoying about everything but I was so just elated that you agreed to it. I will agree about the networking aspect has been so much fun for me as a creative business owner, and I work from home like I am managing this, then also stay at home with Lord-willing two kids very soon. But I get very lonely, and I just want to engage with other entrepreneurs, I can’t go out and network because of the whole, I can’t bring my kids with me to the networking events, so it’s been really fun, just meeting new friends in the past two years through networking, and it’s been a positive experience for me so far.
Krista Miller 36:09
Yeah, and it goes as far as you take it, you know, there are bundles where you get pitched and you never hear from the person again until they need something, and then it’s like, Okay, thanks, bye but like, you can be intentional about it, and like really build meaningful relationships with people.
Dolly Delong 36:24
Yeah, I’m just again, so excited that you were here, Krista. Thank you so much for sharing these different bullet points about like the advantages of summits for those of you who are listening, if you’re brand new to your creative business in general, I would definitely say like, just like lean into more education about summits don’t feel like you have to jump into the deep end. Although Krista does have a great step-by-step strategy, which I’m gonna have her share really, really soon. I just want to say, don’t feel pressured that you have to like, do this right now. Just continue to learn more about it and then learn how to create a marketing strategy that involves a Summit later on down the line. Once you know your business more intimately, that would be my argument, because you’ll know your audience, and you’ll know who you want to market to. I think that’s one of the reasons that held me back for those two years, because I haven’t liked niching down even more, and I know my audience now and I’m like, Okay, I’m ready because I knew who I want to talk to you. So maybe that’s it, I feel like I just have a light bulb moment. I love it. That’s why it’s taking me so long. I’m gonna have you share so many things. But do you mind sharing more about your Summit in a Box and the different programs that you have to offer to creative business owners?
Krista Miller 37:42
Absolutely. Thank you for inviting me to share. We have two main programs, one is called Summit In a Box and the other is a launch with a Summit Accelerator. If you are in like the beginning stages of your business, that’s why summit in a box was created for. Summit in a Box is for those of you who need the summit to be your product. It’s your lead generator, it’s your tool to connect with other people, and it’s your moneymaker all in one. So you know, that’s what that is. It has all of the pieces of training, templates, resources, scripts, tools, and processes, you need to host the summit, you literally upload our Asana, ClickUp, or Trello template into your own account. There are like literally 350 tasks in it and every single task is linked to a training or a template or resource. So you like don’t have to figure out a thing on your own, or make up anything from scratch, it’s all done for you. Then we have our lunch at the Summit Accelerator program, which is for the more experienced business owner. So if you have a course membership or high ticket group program that’s already successful, but you just need more people to sell it to you need more momentum around it. That’s what we coach you through in the launch with the summit accelerator. So it takes the high-converting summit piece and combines it with the launch piece and teaches you how to launch through a summit, and those are our two programs.
Dolly Delong 38:57
That’s awesome. Krista, I am so excited. So I will be sure to link that in the show notes for everyone to like check out Summit In a Box and then your Accelerator Program as well, so please check that out. Do you mind letting everyone know what you’re contributing to the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle 2.0 Funnel Edition?
Krista Miller 39:19
Yeah, so I am contributing my Magic Formula for Six-Figure Summits Workshop. So the goal behind this workshop is for you to learn the formula behind life and business-changing six-figure virtual summit that will fill your funnel with high-quality leads and fuel your signature offer sales for months and years to come. Now when I say six-figure summits that is not me trying to tell a brand new person that they’re gonna go host a summit and make $100,000 with their first summit. That’s why in the workshop, you start by learning why to me a six-figure Summit is a mindset and what that means. We also talk about how to determine your version of a six-figure Summit. We talked about the three pieces that make up a six-figure Summit. We talk about how to maximize profits with the stacked summit monetization strategy and talk about the true long term ROI of hosting a Virtual Summit. So that’s all in this workshop, we have a nice workbook to go along with it. So you can brainstorm and follow along and take notes. I’m very excited for you to get your hands on it as a part of the bundle. Normally, we sell this workshop for $97. So I’m excited to contribute it.
Dolly Delong 40:21
Awesome. Okay, you guys, for that workshop, as you know, there are over 35 different contributors for this bundle that I will be hosting in two weeks, and so you will gain access to everything for $97, including Krista’s Summit, a master course about Summit, and so I’m probably butchering the name, so sorry, but I am just so excited just to share the value of what you all will be receiving and Krista’s product is going to be amazing. I’m so excited. Krista, do you mind sharing where everyone can find you and work with you and connect with you?
Krista Miller 41:06
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. You guys can find me at summitinabox.co or I’m always over on Instagram at @summitinabox. Feel free to send me a message and let me know your biggest takeaways. Let me know if you have any little summit questions or, you know, maybe a podcast episode of my own, I can point you to. I mean, I also have a freebie for you. If you’re listening to this episode, our virtual summit funnel roadmap is where you can walk through the steps of what it would look like to plan the full funnel for your virtual Summit. So all the steps we talked through today, this roadmap was designed to walk you through each one of those steps and what it can look like for you, your business on your side.
Dolly Delong 41:40
Awesome. Thank you so much. Again, Krista. And you’re, as always, every single resource mentioned will be in the notes of your podcast player or in the blog post, which accompanies this podcast and I just want to thank you all for taking the time to listen to another episode of the Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast. Now, remember, next week is going to be the last week of a contributor highlight before the bundle officially opens and you certainly do not want to miss out on that episode. Don’t forget to sign up for the waitlist for the systems and workflow magic bundle so that way you can be the first to know when everything opens. As always continue to stay magical in your systems and workflows, you amazing muggle you. Thank you so much for listening to the systems and workflow magic podcast. You can find full show notes from today’s episode at dollydelongphotography.com/podcast. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be so honored if you’d subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast player. Be sure to screenshot this episode, share it with your stories, and tag me @DollyDelongEducation over on Instagram. Until next time, go make some strategic workflow magic.
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