[Awesomelife Logo]
Marketing Public Relations Advertising Sales Internet Marketing
HOME

Sales Mainpage

Enquiry
Getting Clients By Giving Talks
by Gerry Robert

The time is ripe for selling at seminars in EVERYWHERE.

Often I will speak to several thousand people in a 2 week tour. Out of that number a certain percentage will buy now and the others will buy later. It would be foolish for me to try to sell those people one on one. If you can sell to 4,000 in a week, why would you attempt the ancient, out-dated method of one to one selling.

Any seminar, workshop, speech, talk, panel is a great opportunity to:

  • attract prospects to you in a cost-efficient manner
  • build a solid, profit-maiking database in a hurry
  • make a sales presenation to hundreds at a time, instead of one on one.
  • get publicity that sells your product and services to people who can't attend and to enhance your professional image,
  • to get people in the audience to become paying clients?

How To Fill The Room

  • Hold it at a strategic location. Parking and proximety are important.
  • Place ads in the newspaper. Usually, 3 or 4 days before the event for a Free Seminar, longer for paid seminars.
  • Send out fax invitations or sales letters.
  • You can send out brochures.
  • Print tickets with a price on it then give them away complimentary.

The 3 PROFIT Zones

PROFIT Zone A: Making Money Prior to the event

The big idea here is that seminars, talks, speeches can be profitable and effective ways of attracting people to you. The ultimate goal is to get business in the door. Remember the first rule for growing any business is:
"How Can I Attract More People?"

  1. People love the word FREE. But a seminar is no bargain, even if it's free, unless people know what benefit they are going to get from it;
  2. Always sell what people will get by attending; Speak, then, directly to the prospect!
  3. Advertize the event well.
  4. Create an incentive or Offer to get them to act NOW.
  5. Focus on the client and what he wants. What do you think - does the client care about the seminar, even if it's free, or does he care about getting the benefit the marketer says he can deliver? Obvious, isn't it?

PROFIT Zone B: Making Money At the event

To begin with, you can't get business from people until you know two things: what's bothering them and/or what objective they want to achieve.

How do you get this crucial information? Easy. Ask for it and LISTEN.

Before you say one word...

Have them fill in a survey. This allows you to collect information about your prospects for several reasons:
  • You can find out about their buying habits.
  • You can collect information that might be valuable to others and sell it to them.
  • You can market that information to sponsors and non-competing businesses.
  • You can figure out what their problems, concerns, interests and fears are then fill those needs.

What we do is have everyone fill in a one page survey. They all do it! If they don't they don't get in. I'll give them a solid two hour seminar for Free, I don't think giving me two minutes to fill out a questionnaire is really out of line. Do you?

Getting Information From Your Prospects Is More Important Than Giving Information To Your Prospects If you're going to be a success using workshops to get clients, you need to learn right away that the information you get from clients is infinitely more valuable than the information you give to clients. In other words, finding out from a prospect (via a survey or questionnaire) that he has a want you can satisfy, enables you to control the sales process. Giving him information on what you can do for him, puts the prospect in control of the sales process. Exactly where you don't want him to be?

That doesn't mean that you should skimp on content. Whatever is said should be of immediate and tangible benefit to those attending the seminar or workshop or lecture. The main part of the event should be free from commercials. If you give solid solutions for one hour, it is perfectly acceptable to take 10 to 20 minutes at the end to sell your product or service.


How To Make The Seminar Worthwhile

Put on a first class event.

So many people have told me that they like the idea of selling at seminars but they can't give a speech if their life depended on it. They hire someone who can.

Provide handouts.
You should have some very client-centered handouts for your event.

Give a special offer.
Package what you sell in such a way that people will buy it because they are at the event.

Get others to pay for everything.
If you do things right, you can have others pick up the entire costs associated with your seminar or workshop.


PROFIT Zone C: Making Money After The Event

Here are a few things you can do to cash in after the seminar:

Send letters the next day. Give them another chance to buy. Give them another offer but contact them immediately.

Next, follow-up with a telephone call and attempt to get an appointment.

You could consider sending them a fax or a postcard informing them about additional information or products.

Re-contact them frequently, once a month for the next few months. People's lives change. They might not be able to afford what you were selling at the seminar but a lot can change in 4 months. Stay in touch.






This Website Designed, Hosted & Marketed By:
WWW.MALAYSIA-BEST.COM
Internet, Marketing & Business Resources
Note: This website is created with the aim of providing a place for Marketing personnels, executives, students, entrepreneurs, CEOs, COOs, COEs, and business owners to communicate, share and learn from each other, marketing techniques and strategies, business ideas and opportunities. Instead of the traditional "negative competitive mindset", we can all benefit more from a new WINWIN paradigm we call "positive collaboration mindset". Instead of competing with each other blindly, and wasting much precious resources, we can instead work together to produce better products and services that satisfy the increasing expectations and needs of our customers. In the new millenium, only companies that come together to work together will eventually survive and make profits.

Apart from business ideas and strategies, this website will under permissible circumstances, offer reports and articles that help enhance our life. It is often said that we can change our life for the better while at the same time build a better world, if we put to practice our new mindset and make an effort to help others as well, while we are working towards our dreams.

Through positive discussions and exchange of ideas, we can all inspire each other to great heights. The most important thing is that, we believe that we can all help each other in life and to achieve our dreams. Yes, we can all make this world a better place :)

If you happen to come across any broken link on this website, please inform us. Thank you and please come again.

This Website Best Viewed With 800x600 Resolution
Copyright © 1997-2000 MBC Marketing And Business Resources. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. Last Updated on March 15, 2000 Wednesday
For further information, please contact: webmaster@awesomelife.com

Guest Writer

Gerry
Mr. Gerry Robert
Profile
Malaysia-Best.Com
Click Here For Your Partner In SUCCESS!