One great way to generate selling opportunities is to create a teaching seminar. Here are some guidelines on putting one together.
In this space, we talk a lot about the conventional selling approach; i.e. data driven prospecting, networking, and other “push” methods of getting to our prospects and selling them. There’s a good reason for that – those methods WORK. They worked 20 years ago, they work today, and I’m pretty comfortable with betting that they’ll work 20 years from now. But there are other ways of creating a selling opportunity, and that’s what we’ll talk about today.
One great way of creating a selling opportunity is to host a seminar for your customers and prospects. A seminar is a program that teaches your attendees something that they can take and use. The idea of the seminar is that, by teaching them something, you add value to their business as well as prove your expertise. Since expertise is one of the ways that people use to determine who they buy from, you become a potential vendor.
The road to hosting successful seminars is filled with pitfalls, though (believe me). I’m a big fan of hosting seminars as part of a successful sales approach, and hopefully in this article, we can avoid some of the pitfalls and give you pointers toward success.
Pitfall #1: Selling instead of teaching. When you announce a seminar, your potential attendees’ biggest fear is that they are in for a 60-minute sales pitch, rather than an educational opportunity. The timeshare industry is notorious for this, but they’re far from the only one. If you want to host successful seminars, you’ll make sure that your program is an educational opportunity for your attendees rather than a sales pitch. In my programs, I typically keep any sales messages (i.e. selling my own stuff) to no more than the last 1-2 minutes. If you do your job and teach them something of value, you’re better off than if you’d spent 30 minutes babbling at your audience about how you’re the best vendor.
Pitfall #2: Bad promotion. To maximize attendance, you should have more than one potential way of getting the message out. You’re best off to include current customers as well as prospects, and have channels for communicating with each. Salespeople can invite people personally, for instance. You can, and should, also promote via e-mail invitations. Web sites like Chamber of Commerce sites, as well as LinkedIn, serve as great ways to get your message out.
Success Point #1: Have a great topic! To drive attendance and enthusiasm at your program, you need a topic that is interesting and valuable to your attendees. For instance, instead of “How to operate the new ZXY-2000 printer,” you might have a workshop on printing with vivid colors and rich paperstock while still minimizing ink and toner expenses. “How-to’s” on your product rarely work; “how-to’s” that most of your customers can use, regardless of product, can be winners. If you’re in doubt about what constitutes a great topic, ask your customers! And remember, they won’t all be winners; I’ve held a few clinkers. Sometimes the topic that sounds great draws little interest, and vice versa. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t succeed at first.
Success Point #2: Have a good environment. Your seminar should be at a location that has a nicely decorated, professional appearing room for the seminar; you should have plenty of parking; drinks and other appropriate refreshments should be available, and most of all – COMFORTABLE CHAIRS are important! If you don’t have such a setting, many hotels, Chambers of Commerce, and other institutions do. Don’t be afraid to move off-site. If it’s a lunch-and-learn, the food should be excellent.
Success Point #3: To charge or not to charge? Early on in my business, when I hosted my own workshops and seminars, I gave much consideration to charging an attendance fee. For my own business, the right decision was in fact to charge, and I do so now. When I charge a fee, I get a much higher show-up ratio, and the people showing up are usually more qualified. That said, this is your decision, and has much to do with the quality and value of the information delivered. Whatever you charge should be a fraction of the value realized, though.
Success Point #4: Interactivity is better. The more you can involve your audience, the better; people stay more attentive if they know to expect someone else at some point. You should also build in some time – 15 to 30 minutes is plenty – for attendees to network together.
There’s a lot more to be said about having a seminar for lead generation and selling purposes (as a matter of fact, this could be a topic for one of my own seminars), but these guidelines will get you started. The key question to ask yourself is this: What can I teach my customers that is topically related to what I sell them, and that will generate value and interest for them? Answer that one, and you have a topic. Then give it a shot. Don’t feel bad if it takes you a few tries to get it right. It’s another tool in the successful salesperson’s toolbox.
