Getting Clients by Giving Talks: Strategies to Effective Selling from Stage

The time is ripe for selling at seminars EVERYWHERE.

Often I will speak to several thousand people on a 2-week tour. A certain percentage will buy at my event, and others will buy later. It would be foolish for me to try to sell those people one-on-one. If you can sell to 1000's in a week, why would you attempt the ancient, out-dated method of one-to-one selling?

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

• attract prospects to you in a cost-efficient manner
• build a solid, profit-making database in a hurry
• make a sales presentation to hundreds at a time, instead of one on one.
• get the 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 proximity are important.
• Place ads on Facebook, Instagram, etc. Usually, 1 or 2 weeks before the event for a Free Seminar, longer for paid seminars.
• Send out email invitations.
• You can send out brochures.
• Print tickets with a price on it then give them away complimentary.

The 3 PROFIT Zones

Speaking of profits. Did you know? Selling is like Kissing!

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?"

• 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.
• Create an incentive or offer to get them to act NOW.
• Focus on the client and what they want. What do you think - does the client care about the seminar, even if it's free, or do they care about getting the benefit the marketer says they 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
• 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 as Important as 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 as valuable as 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?

Don't skimp on content and 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 in the end to sell your product or service.

How To Make The Seminar Worthwhile

STEP 1: 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.

STEP 2: Provide handouts.

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

STEP 3: Give them great content.

As said above, your audience should be able to benefit from your topics at the end.

Step 4: Give a special offer

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

STEP 5: 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 emails the next day. Give them another chance to buy. Give them another offer, but contact them immediately. Next, follow-up with a phone call and attempt to get an appointment. You could consider sending them another email 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.