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Good Time To Hold Seminars
by Gerry Robert
THE TIME IS RIPE FOR SELLING AT SEMINARS.
Any seminars, workshop, speech, talk or panel is a great opportunity
to:
- Attract prospects to you in a cost-effective manner.
- Build a solid, profit-making database in a hurry.
- Make a sales presentation to hundred at a time,
instead of one-on-one.
- Get publicity that sells your products and services to people.
who can't attend and to enchance your professional image.
HOW TO FILL THE ROOM
We often have to turn people away from our events. When I conduct
these types of seminars it is usually sold-out. If you follow this
advice, yours can be too. Here's how t fill those seats.
- Hold it at a stretegic location. Parking and proximity are
important.
- Place ads in the newspapers. Usually three or four 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.
THREE PROFIT ZONES
Profit Zone A : Making Money Prior to the event
The big idea here is that seminars, talks and 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?"
Keep in mind that you can still benefit even if people do not
attend the event. Keep these ideas at the fore-front of your
thinking when you are planning your seminar or workshop:
- 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
- Always sell what people will get by attending: speak, then,
directly to the prospect.
- Advertise the event well.
- Creat an incentive or offer to get them to act now.
- Focus on the client and what he wants. What do you think -
does the client care about the seminar, even if it is free,
or does he care about getting the benefit the marketer says
he can deliver? Obvious, isn't it?
That's right, don't try to sell them features. Push benefits,
the things people really want to buy. In my illustration above,
people aren't buying car repairs, they are buying "Freedom from
Terror". That's the benefit. That's why they want!
Some people suggest providing some incentives to people who can't
make your seminar. They suggest saying something like, "Can't
attend the seminar? Still interested in eliminating terror while
getting your car fixed? Call Susan at 267-8822 to get free report
called The Car Care Guide.
Prifit Zone B : Making Money At the event
More and more people have the motion that offering a seminar or
workshop can get them business. But they're not at all sure how
this magic transformation occurs. Let me take some of the
mystery away.
To begin with, you can't get business from people until you know
tow things: what's bothering them or what objective they want to
achieve.
How do you get this crucial information? Easy. Ask for it and listen.
What astonishes me about so many professionals is that they operate
in a vacuum. I don't when I want to know something from my prospects,
so I canoffter them just wat they need, I ask for it. So should you.
Have them fill in the survey. This allow 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 business.
You can figure out why their problems concerns, interests and fears
are then fill those needs.
What we do is have everyone full 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
qiestionnaire is really our of line. Do you?
My survey asks questions about income, training needs, how much they
spend on various items, their big-gest concerns, what suppliers
they use now and several boxes they can check to have additional
materials sent to them.
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 our from a prospect (via a 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 contril of the sales process. Exactly where you don't want him
to be. Make the decision, then that you'll do what is necessary to
stay in control of the sales process.
That doesn't mean that you should skimp in 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 prefectly acceptable to take 10 to 20 munutes at the end to sell
your products 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.
Then hire someone who can. Join toastmasters or Dale Carnegie.
Hold the seminar or workshop in a nice location. It doesn't have
to be expensive but the nicer the location, ususally, the
greater the sales.
* Provide handouts
You should have some very clien-centred handouts for your event.
It might be helpful to take notes or simply to highlight how you
can help people receive the benefits of the seminar after it's over.
* Give a special offer
Package what you sell in such a way that people will buy it because
they are at the event. For example if you sell auto repairs, you
could have a 50 per cent discount on an oil change for everyone
who attends the seminar. Who would not avail themselves of this
offer? What are the chances of them coming back for more repairs ?
Pretty high!
GET OTHERS TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING
If you do things right, you can have others pick up the entire coats
associated with your seminar or workshop. Many airlines, hotels,
publications and busineses will sponsor the event for cash or
discounts in exchange for you providing them with the names of the
people who turn up, for an endorsement from the speaker, for a
chance to display their product at the event or an opportunity
to speak for a few munutes at the seminar or workshop. Just think
how much they would have to pay to get their message in front of the
exact market they are going after. You will provide that market and
should be rewarded.
Another way to have others help with the finances is to joint
venture the event with others. If you are a life insurance sales
person, get a lawyer, an accountant, an author, a trainer and a
consultant and put on a seminar called Success 99! Since you are
organising it, get them all to contrubute to the costs of advertising,
room, rental, printing etc.
Profit Zone C : Making Money After The Event
The profit zone is crucial, as each day after the seminar their
enthusiasm wanes, until, very soon, they don't remember you at all,
and why should they? Thus, if you want to translate their intial
enthusiam into sales and increase their embryonic trust in you,
act now.
Here are a few things you can do to cash inafter 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 them a fax or a postcard informing them about
additional information or products.Recontact them frequently, once
a month for the next few months.
The last step is to find out how to profit from all your work.
All your work really boils down to that database. Who else would
be willing to pay you for that information? Could some people
pay you up front for the names?
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