Many small business owners, myself included, always gravitate towards the Shiny Objects… that’s why it’s called Shiny Object Syndrome, or aptly abbreviated SOS.
Especially with marketing, we want try the newest and latest trends to get new customers. Facebook, Instagram, Content creation, etc.
I’ve tried them all and ONLY ONE marketing tactic has worked day in and day out to grow my businesses with the least cost. PUBLIC SPEAKING
So you may be saying oh that may be all fine and good when we can get on a stage, but what happens if we can’t get on a stage? Or travel to events?
Let me lay out all of the options here so you can have a plethora of options to knock out and stop making excuses.
Seminars
There are two strategies to getting in front of your target audience.
- Finding businesses, organizations, events which cater to that audience and as to be a featured speaker at their next event
- Create your own seminar, either by yourself or with other business owners (my recommendation)
SPECIAL NOTE: These can be Live / Virtual or Hybrid (my personal favorite)
Let’s break these down.
There are so many different business organizations, including Chamber of Commerce, Networking groups, professional organizations, the list goes on. Most look for speakers at their different events. This is usually where I start.
The key is to make sure they understand that what you want to share with their members is of great value to them, and it’s not going to be just a pitch for your services.
Start with warm leads, people in your network and ask what organizations they belong to and who organizes speakers.
One of the best and most profitable speaking gigs I ever did came from a client. I had askd all of my clients if their companies had Lunch’ n Learn events and brought in speakers. Then asked who I needed to speak with. You can’t get what you don’t ask for.
One of my clients said his company walking group wanted to have me come in and speak to them. He worked for Reliant Energy which was the largest electric provider in the state of Texas. When he explained the group I envisioned about 10 – 15 people. And that would have been awesome.
When I got to their granite faced office building in downtown Houston, I was ushered into an auditorium with about 100 employees waiting to hear me speak. Needless to say I was not prepared for this number of people, and got extremely nervous.
I knew my content and I knew I could do this just as well for 100 people as I would have for 15.
I did my normal 45 minute talk on health and fitness, shared some great stories to engage and at the end made my offer. I sent around a form where they could put their name and email address to request a free ebook plus there was an option to check if they were interested in a consultation about our fitness programs.
When the forms came back in, we received 100 new additions to our database and I booked 10 consultations of which 9 purchased training programs. That one hour presentation generated $27,000 in sales.
It cost me about $5 in materials.
Now that’s a MASSIVE return on investment.
And yet I still suffered from SOS (Shiny Object Syndrom) and was trying other marketing programs which NEVER produced those types of results.
I’m not some sort of magical public speaker. I have a degree in theatre so that helps a bit, but this was a skill I learned just like anything else. And if I can learn it, anyone can.
What’s stopping you from doing this?
Webinars
Webinars are the other way of getting in front of your target audience. I utilize the same strategy as I do with Seminars.
Basically Sharing your expertise with an audience.
Yet myself and so many others, scoff at doing seminars and webinars on a regular basis. Making excuses like:
WHAT I HAVE TO SHARE ISN’T INTERESTING
I don’t look good on stage or camera
What will I say?
Will I look like a fool?
Will anyone show up?
Look, all of those may be valid… but at the end of the day, when you add one more client, you’re helping one more person and growing your business. Why would that be a bad thing?
And the more you do it the more you’ll be better at it.
One of my clients Yolanda, had her first seminar canceled because she only had 2 people register for it. And she was ready to give up and not do any more. I told her, “NO! You must do it, you prepared long and hard for it now go do some marketing and get butts in seats”.
She did her second seminar, 8 people showed up for it.
She booked 4 consultations and sold 3 of her programs.
All for a couple of hours of work…. And to think she was ready to give up after canceling her first one.
What’s that saying… “If At first you don’t succeed, try try again.”
So read on to get my tips on having a successful first seminar or webinar that converts visitors into paying client.
Tip #1
Know your audience – This is marketing 101. You must know your target audience. If you don’t, you’ll just be shooting darts in the air with no target. It is also impossible to craft a message that resonates if you don’t know who is your audience.
Tip #2
Give more than VALUE – It’s the “givers gain” philosophy made popular by Dr. Ivan Misner and BNI. If you expect something in return, it really defeats the purpose of sharing your expertise. Yes you don’t want to give everything away, but think about how much content you can give out especially when you know that people generally won’t do it on their own and are more likely to hire an expert to help them get to the goal they want.
And when you’re positioned as the expert (because you’re on the stage or on the camera) then they will come to you.
Tip #3
Bring the energy at 200%(Ludicrous mode!) – If you can’t muster up a TON of energy, then don’t do it. Especially on camera, you have to use your vocal inflection, and amp up your energy. Think double shot of espresso and GO! People want to hang around those who have a ton of energy and enthusiasm. The greatest complement you can get is, “wow it’s been an hour already, time just flew by”. And they say that as they are giving you their credit card!
Tip #4
Be Prepared and Flexible – Especially with technology. You never know what’s going to happen. I once did a full day workshop in Toronto to a room full of fitness professionals who each paid $200 to be there to learn how to improve their business. The airline lost my luggage, so not only was I wearing jeans and a t-shirt (my travel clothes) I didn’t have my projector or the printed course materials, and was running on 3 hours of sleep. Luckily I was prepared. I downloaded the materials from the cloud, had the hotel print them up. Showered and put on a great show.
It ended up being one of my better sales days too!
Tip #5
Practice Practice practice and practice some more – nothing is worse than an ill prepared speaker. Especially if it’s their first time presenting new material. Work out all of the kinks, know the order or your presentation, and every little detail.
When you are that prepared you’re not thinking about what needs to be done next, but rather how to further create a connection with your audience.
And let me tell you, it makes a huge difference.
I hope you’ve found these tips helpful. If so, please make a comment below and share with others.
Much of my content is inspired by my Dramatic Impact Story Academy. If you want to learn more about how to become an world class speaker, how to tell stories better and ultimately how to sell more from the stage or camera, then schedule an IMPACT Call with me and I’ll give you some actionable advice… www.TomJackobs.com/impact
