Posts Tagged ‘Seminars’
A wise man once said “Marketing = Education”. What he meant by that is that you need to use you marketing to educate your prospects. But what do you need to educate your prospects on? You need to educate your prospects on the solution your services provide, your expertise and the value of your services.
Although you can educate your audience through teleseminars, article marketing or your blog, my personal favorite is workshops and seminars. You can invite your prospects to an inexpensive 1 hour or ½ day workshop and teach them about your area of expertise. This does several things:
– It establishes your credibility, because when you are in front of the room, you are instantly perceived to be the undisputed expert. Whether you think you are or not, you are the expert in the eyes of your audience.
– It educates your audience on the solution that your product or services provide. Remember, you never sell just a service, you sell a solution to the problem your audience has. Focus on the problem and educate your audience on how your services provide the solution.
– Clients buy from people they know, like and trust. When you are up on stage, your audience obviously knows you. When you tell your story and share some vulnerability, people will like you. Since you demonstrate your expertise by teaching your audience, you are getting your audience to trust you. So having a workshop is the ideal vehicle to get people to buy from you.
– If people have objections to buying from you, that generally means that they do not have all the information yet. Your workshop should be able to give them all the information they need to make a decision one way or another. Not everyone is a good fit for you, but they will know after your workshop.
– Your workshop establishes the value of your services. Through your success stories and your content, you can show the value of what you do. You can demonstrate through examples the money clients made or saved my using your services. That is a powerful tool and cannot be underestimated.
So take the plunge and start teaching. You will not only educate your audience, you will also market yourself and your services. You will be surprised at the new clients you will attract and better yet, the increase in your bottom line.
There is an easy and fast way to get more new customers and increase your profits by participating in Trade Shows, Expos, Fairs, Festivals, Seminars, Exhibitions, Conventions, Conferences and Swap Meets. Unlike chasing down over used cold call leads, all of these events bring your target market directly to you. These people are already interested in your products and services. You just have to do your part to close the sale.
You can even reduce your competition. Just like in Baseball, you have three bases to cover. If you are willing to step up to the plate and do it right, you can hit a Home Run. Here is the line up:
1st Base – You need a high number of people attending the event.
2nd Base – You need to Brand your business for success.
3rd Base – You need indirect cross over interest.
Here are the details for each one.
1st Base – All you have to do is find out the number of people who attended this same event in the past. You should look for established, creditable events with a few thousand people attending. If attendance is too low, the whole thing may end up being a complete waste of your time, money and effort.
2nd Base – It is very important that you Brand your business for success so that people will remember your company over your competition. The good thing about branding your business is that there are some branding techniques that do not cost you one penny more than what you are already investing in your business.
3rd Base – Some Expos are for all businesses in general. The good part is everybody is allowed to participate. Nothing is censored. The problem is that many of the people who attend may not be your target market.
Other Expos have specific themes and are targeted to one particular industry. The good part is you will be in direct contact with interested people who are your target market coming up to you. The problem is that numerous other companies selling the same products and services as you will be there also competing with you.
There is a solution. Your first and primary concern should be if the event that is targeting a specific industry will allow a business like yours to participate. Once you get past that, as an Exhibitor you should think in terms of indirect cross over interest. This will reduce or possibly eliminate your competition, but at the same time you will still have the advantage of doing business with your target market.
You have to be willing to position yourself half way between the obvious and the inappropriate. The reason this will work for you is because some businesses, including many of you own competitors, would rather lose money than to be in an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Examples of the Obvious Expos include:
Travel – with Travel Agents, Airlines, Hotel, Rental Car Companies
Real Estate – with Brokers, Banks, Appraisers, Mortgage Companies
Technology – with Computers, Software, Internet Services
Car Show – with Dealers, Car Accessories, Polish, Wax, Wheels etc.
Examples of Inappropriate Expos include:
Art – with Gardening Products
Sewing and Needle Point – with Fishing Gear
Boat Show – with Infant Toys and Clothes
Health and Fitness – with a Bakery and Ice Cream Parlor
To find the half way point, you just have to know when to expand your possibilities and where to draw the line. It is reasonable to expect a significant number of people in your target market attend events when you already know in advance that certain industries at the Expos want, need and use your products and services. People may use things for their business or for their personal lives.
Here are some examples:
Computer Store owners and Web Designers do not have to limit themselves to only Technology Shows because almost all businesses and individuals use computers,software, get upgrades, need repairs and want internet services.
Travel Agents and Luggage Companies do not have to limit themselves to only Travel Shows because many people have both businesses and personal Travel needs.
There are many other business that sell products and services with general interest that most companies and individuals want, need and use. Other examples include Office Supplies and Equipment Stores, Communications, Transportation, Insurance, Legal, Tax, Accounting, Printing Shops and Secretarial Services. Of course these are just a few. There are many more. If your business is in any of these categories then most of the time your business will appropriately fit into just about any Expo or Trade Show.
Home Run – It looks like you made it around all three of the bases. The results are you get more new customers, less competition, people will remember your products and services over your competitors and you will make more money.