# Using Your VIP Buyers To Find Your Warmest Coaching Prospects

> VIP buyers have already paid to get closer to you. Here's how to tag, nurture and invite them to a calm conversation when the fit is right.

URL: https://virtualsummits.com/funnel-architecture/vip-buyers-warmest-coaching-prospects
Author: Steve Eriksen (https://eventraptor.com/about-steve)
Publisher: EventRaptor (https://eventraptor.com)
Published: 2026-06-19
Updated: 2026-11-01
Section: Funnel Architecture

Your VIP buyers are usually your warmest coaching prospects. They paid to get closer to you before you ever asked for a call. Tag them the moment they buy, give them a VIP experience that puts them in the room with you, and invite the ones who keep engaging to a short, pressure-free planning conversation.

That's the method. The rest of this article covers how to do each part well.

I'm writing for coaches, therapists, healing practitioners and other experts who run a service business and have hosted (or are planning) a summit, workshop or webinar with a paid upgrade. You already know how to help people. What's often missing is a simple way to see, out of hundreds of registrants, who's ready to talk now. Your VIP list is the best place to start.

## Key Takeaways

- Treat a VIP purchase as a hand-raise, and put those buyers under their own tag in your CRM the moment they pay.
- Make the upgrade include real access to you, like front-row Zoom seats or a VIP-only session, so buyers get to know you before any sales conversation.
- Send VIP buyers their own short email sequence that helps them use what they bought and ends with one gentle invitation to talk.
- Invite the VIPs who show up, reply or ask questions to a planning conversation within about a week of the event, while interest is at its peak.
- Keep following up with everyone else too, because some of your best clients will never buy the VIP pass.

## Why a VIP Purchase Says More Than a Free Opt-In

A free registration costs someone an email address. A VIP purchase costs them money and a decision. They've looked at your event and decided it's worth paying for more of you and your speakers.

Event strategist Bari Baumgardner put it plainly on the Virtual Summit Strategies podcast. VIP programs are "your best buyers paying you to tell you, Hey, over here I'm your best buyer." She added that her team's best buyers come out of their VIP upgrade.

Jennie and I have watched people raise that hand at our own events. At Own Your Stage, the first summit we ran on EventRaptor in February 2022, about 600 people registered and 109 bought a $47 VIP ticket. At my very first summit, which started on August 31, 2020, VIP tickets brought in $3,500. In both cases the buyers were a small slice of the list, and they were exactly the people I wanted to know better. (These are results from our own events. They don't predict what yours will do.)

## Reading the VIP Signal Without Overreading It

A VIP purchase is a strong signal, but it's still one signal. Some buyers collect replays and bonuses and have no interest in coaching. Some bought because a friend was speaking. So watch what each buyer does after the purchase and let that build the picture.

| What you see | What it probably means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Free registration only | Interested in the topic | Standard event emails and post-event follow-up |
| VIP purchase | Trusts you enough to pay and wants more depth | Tag as VIP and start the VIP sequence |
| VIP who shows up live on Zoom | Wants time with you and the speakers | Note it in the CRM and greet them by name |
| VIP who replies or asks a question | Thinking about their own situation | Reply personally, not with a template |
| VIP who answers a fit question or clicks your booking link | Ready to talk | Invite them to a planning conversation |

The further down the table someone moves, the warmer they are. If you want a fuller list of the small behaviors worth watching, I've written about [spotting quiet buying signals in your coaching CRM](/automation/quiet-buying-signals-crm).

## Start on the Thank-You Page

The moment after someone pays is when their attention on you is highest. Most hosts spend it on a receipt and a login link.

Destini Copp described on the podcast how she offered her all-access pass on the summit's thank-you page at its lowest price for 15 minutes, and those sales paid for her Facebook and Instagram ads. That's the purchase moment working hard. The page they see after buying can work just as hard at telling you who they are.

A good VIP confirmation page does three jobs:

1. Confirms exactly what they bought and when they'll get it.
2. Explains how their VIP access works, such as when the Zoom link arrives and the date of any VIP-only session.
3. Asks one optional question, like "What made you upgrade?" or "What would you most like to change in the next 90 days?"

Keep that question short. Jon Schumacher, talking about application funnels, recommended capturing minimal information first and following up from there. One answered question is more useful than a long form nobody finishes, and it gives you something real to respond to later.

## Tagging and Segmenting VIP Buyers in Your CRM

You can't follow up well with people you can't find. Set this up before the event opens:

1. Create a VIP tag for the specific event, such as "Spring Summit VIP".
2. Apply it automatically at purchase so nobody depends on your memory.
3. Store the thank-you page answer in a custom field on the contact.
4. Add a second tag when a VIP engages: attended live, replied, or answered the question.
5. Remove VIP buyers from the remaining VIP sales emails so they stop being pitched something they already own.
6. Save a filtered view of "VIP plus engaged" and check it daily during and after the event.

This part gets much lighter on EventRaptor. The registrant list shows each person's VIP status and which promoter sent them, and you can filter by registrant type, so you can see your VIPs and which speakers brought them in at a glance. Registrants sync into GHL/CRMRaptor with tags, which means your VIP workflow can start the minute someone buys, with no exporting spreadsheets at midnight.

## Making the VIP Upgrade Put Buyers Closer to You

If the VIP package is only replays and PDFs, you'll learn very little about the people who buy it. Make the upgrade mean something personal.

A few options that work well:

- Front-row seats on the live Zoom sessions, so VIPs can come on camera with you and the speakers.
- A VIP-only session after the summit where you teach one deeper idea and answer questions live.
- For a top tier, a short one-on-one call that genuinely helps them, with your program mentioned only if it fits what they need.

Each of these lets you meet buyers as people. When you call someone by name on a live session and they come back the next day, you've learned more than any open rate will tell you.

For example, a career coach running a summit for mid-level managers might give VIPs a 45-minute live session the Tuesday after the event on preparing for a promotion conversation. The VIPs who show up and ask detailed questions become the short list for follow-up. (That's a hypothetical, not a client result.)

## Nurturing VIP Buyers Like the Customers They Already Are

VIP buyers have already said yes once. Their emails should help them get value from that yes. Here's a simple sequence you could adapt:

- **Right after purchase:** a warm welcome, what's included, and the one session you'd watch first.
- **Two days later:** a short note on how to use the bonuses, plus a reminder of the VIP session date.
- **During the event:** the Zoom link reminders and a quick "see you in the front row."
- **One to three days after:** a recap of the biggest ideas and a question about what they're putting into practice.
- **Within a week:** a personal invitation to a planning conversation or to your post-event workshop.

This is one rung on a longer climb. If you want to map messages to how ready each lead is, my article on [building a buyer readiness ladder](/funnel-architecture/buyer-readiness-ladder) walks through it.

## When To Invite a Conversation and How To Keep It Pressure-Free

Timing matters. Interest is usually highest in the days right after an event, so aim to invite engaged VIPs within about a week. Wait a month and many of them will have moved on to the next thing in their inbox.

Before you invite someone, check a few things:

- [ ] They bought VIP and engaged at least once after buying
- [ ] Their thank-you page answer or reply connects to a problem you solve
- [ ] You have an offer that genuinely fits what they described
- [ ] You can say in one sentence why a conversation might help them

Then write the invitation like a person. For example:

> "You mentioned you want to stop losing clients after the first session. I'm doing a few short planning calls this week with VIPs who are working on exactly that. If it'd help, grab a time here. If not, no problem, enjoy the replays."

Not every VIP deserves the same amount of your time, and that's fine. I've written a separate guide on [deciding which warm leads get a personal follow-up from you](/automation/how-to-decide-which-warm-leads-deserve-a-personal-follow-up-from-you). Once someone books, the [pages and emails between booking and the call](/funnel-architecture/pre-call-trust-path) help them arrive prepared.

Here's why this matters so much. Early on, I saw that EventRaptor made running a summit easy, yet many of our customers still struggled afterward. They'd add hundreds of people to their list and convert few or none, because they had no process for turning attendees into clients. In my experience, a good [post-summit follow-up process](/automation/coaches-use-automation-follow-up-human-touch) might turn 10 to 15% of them into clients. That's my experience, not a promise, but it's why I'd never leave the VIP list sitting untouched.

Warm people do book when the moment is right. Lucy Bedewi, a copywriter who hosted the Out-Earn Your Man summit that we produced for her in September 2021, booked 4 discovery calls right after she presented, and all 4 became clients. This is one person's result. It doesn't predict results for another host.

## Keep Following Up With Everyone Else

Your VIP list is where you start, not where you stop. Plenty of people skip a low-priced summit upgrade and still buy a bigger offer later, once they've seen enough of you. So everyone on the event list should hear about your post-event workshop or offer. The VIPs simply get more personal attention, sooner.

## Adjusting This for Therapists and Healing Practitioners

The same approach works for private practice, including virtual summits for therapists and healing practitioners, with a few guardrails:

- Keep VIP perks educational. A live Zoom session that explains a topic is public education, and it shouldn't be presented as therapy or as a substitute for care.
- Frame the follow-up conversation around fit for a group program, workshop, intensive or waitlist, and screen as your professional standards require.
- Keep thank-you page questions general. Don't ask for clinical or sensitive details on a marketing form.
- Never use stories or testimonials from therapy clients, and check your licensing board's advertising rules before you publish VIP pages or emails.

For example, a couples therapist hosting a summit for newly married couples might give VIPs a live session on handling the first big money conversation, then invite interested VIPs to hear about an upcoming group workshop. (A hypothetical, again.)

## What Our Team Takes Off Your Plate

When we run a summit for you on the done-for-you service, our team writes the VIP sales page and the VIP promotion emails, sets up the Zoom sessions, and schedules the welcome, reminder and follow-up emails to run on the event's timing. Registrants and VIP buyers flow into your CRM with tags, so the segmenting I described above is in place before the first person buys.

Your job is the part only you can do: teach, host, show up for your VIPs, and have the conversations.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What Is a VIP Buyer in a Virtual Summit?

A VIP buyer is a registrant who pays for an upgraded version of a free summit, often the warmest step on [the journey from registrant to client](/your-customer-journey-strategy). The upgrade usually includes replays plus extras like bonuses, live Zoom access or a VIP-only session. Because they've paid, VIP buyers are often among the most engaged people on your list.

### Should I Offer Every VIP Buyer a Sales Call?

No. A purchase alone doesn't mean someone wants coaching, so wait for a second signal, like attending live, replying or answering a fit question. Invite the VIPs whose needs match your offer, and let the rest keep enjoying what they bought.

### How Soon After a Summit Should I Follow Up With VIP Buyers?

Aim to reach engaged VIPs within about a week of the event, while the sessions are still fresh. Send a recap first, then a personal invitation to talk. People who aren't ready can stay in your regular follow-up.

### Can Therapists Use a VIP Upgrade Ethically?

Yes, as long as the VIP content is educational and clearly separate from therapy. Avoid clinical claims, don't use client testimonials, keep intake-style questions off marketing forms, and check your licensing board's advertising rules. Frame any follow-up conversation around fit for a program or workshop.

### What If Only a Handful of People Buy VIP?

A handful of VIPs can still be your best short list for conversations. Give each one more personal attention, and keep following up with the wider list. A small VIP count often points to an upgrade that needs more real access to you.

## Your Next Step

Before your next event opens, write down three things: the VIP tag you'll use, the one question on your thank-you page, and the invitation you'll send to engaged VIPs the week after. Those three decisions do most of the work.

If you'd like help designing a VIP upgrade that shows you who's ready to talk, and the CRM follow-up behind it, [Book your Client Attraction Planning Call](/planning-call). We'll look at your offer and your event and map out what to tag, what to send and when.