Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is...

JustaWizard · 06-08-2009, 04:44 PM

Hi Warriors!

There's been a lot of stir here at the WF about taking your online skills and
selling them to offline businesses.

This has caused a lot of people to wonder about marketing, and
there's already been a ton of great advice in various other threads.

I want to share with warriors here what is in my experience and the
experience of my students THE #1 BEST WAY to market yourself...

...and that is through free speaking and seminars - now before you
stop reading and click away because you think you have stage fright
and/or fear of public speaking I want you to consider this:

Fear of public speaking is actually much MUCH easier to conquer than
most people realize AND you are doing yourself a terrible disservice
to rule out speaking and seminars.

Why? Because when you find out that whatever bad experience you had in
the past (likley in school) has absolutely nothing to do with the present.

-----------------

Just so you know...

I've published numerous books on this topic, have taught literally thousands
of students over the years, and I'm an established expert in the area of
public speaking and presentation skills, I've got workshops on the Learning
Annex Website, and on and on...

...just so you know I'm not just making this stuff up...

-----------

I know, I know, there are a ton of you Warriors that will post all the
reasons why your fear of public speaking and stage fright is crippling
etc. etc. etc. etc.

But the reality is:

1. If you argue for your limitations, they are yours to keep forever.

2. I have taken students with terrifying fear of public speaking and
turned them into SUPERSTARS who are totally addicted to public speaking.

3. You absolutely should not let fear stand in the way of your success.

4. When (not if, WHEN) you discover that that fear was as real as the
monsters you thought were hiding under your bed as a child, you will
have a boost in confidence that will make you unstoppable!

Plus, I myself was terrified of public speaking too, so if my students and
I can do it, you can too.

---------------------

Now I want to share with you some of my tips and tricks about how to market
yourself using speaking and seminars.

But if after reading this it's STILL not enough for you...

...and you want even more info, I've got a ton of free articles and free training
on my website at Public Speaking Training

----------------

When it comes to seminar and speaking success, I’m not ashamed to admit
that I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years. But I’ve learned a lot from
those mistakes. To be fair, the last 27 years of doing workshops, seminars
and speaking was not just one long string of mistakes, I’ve had a lot of
successes too.

As of right this moment, I’ve done 1,893 workshops, keynote speeches,
trainings, classes, seminars – you get the idea. My intention here is to give
you a very healthy dose of what I wish I knew many years ago. If I knew
then what you’re about to know now, I’m 100% convinced I would have
made much more money and not spun my wheels as much.

Whether you’re a total beginner or a seasoned pro or somewhere in
between, I’m willing to bet that you’ll get at least one or two gems out of
what I’m about to share with you here.

These days my focus is on teaching business owners and professionals
and entrepreneurs how to use speaking and seminars as lead generation
and lead conversion tools; but even if you have different ideas about what
speaking and seminars will do for you, I’m positive that you’ll learn some
techniques here that you can use right away.

Moreover, as time goes by you’ll see more and more value in what I’m about
to share with you.

------------------------

How to End Stage Fright and Fear of Public
Speaking In 30 Seconds

Jerry Seinfeld said “attending a funeral, most people would rather be the
person in the casket than the person giving the eulogy”.

I’ve done survey after survey and the #1 reason people don’t harness the
incredible power of seminars and speaking is simply because of stage fright
and fear of public speaking. You can end public speaking fear in 30 seconds,
and here’s how:

Right before my first national radio interview, I was sitting in the green
room and I started to feel a bit nervous thinking about potentially millions of
people hearing me on the radio.

So, I used one of the techniques I teach to terminate stage fright: I thought
of someone who in my opinion would never in a million years be nervous in
that situation.

I changed my attitude to be just like that person. Then I did the same with
my face, and my body posture, and my breathing. 30 seconds later, stage
fright dropped from 8 out of 10 down to 1. You can use this technique
exactly the same way.

Remember: you’re not imitating, just emulating – that’s the key to this
technique.

Bonus tip: using this technique – which I call “The Hero Process” – can also
vastly improve your speaking and presenting skills at an accelerated rate.
Translation: you get to be a much better presenter than you deserve to be,
and shortcut a process that normally requires years & years of experience.

------------------

4 Simple Steps to a Terrific Presentation
Even If You Have No Time to Prepare

This presentation structure also covers the four major ways people absorb
information. All you need to do is simply take your content and structure it
in this simple but powerful four-step sequence:

1. Purpose: why is this topic important? Why should your audience be
interested or listen to you in the first place? You can tell them, and/or
you can elicit their reasons.

2. Facts: next you go into the facts data and statistics you have on your
topic.

3. How can your audience apply this information? How can they use
it? Tell them and/or have them tell you how.

4. Questions: take questions from the group or pose your own questions
to them. You could also explore options and alternatives to what
you’ve presented to that point.

Now just sandwich those four steps with a brief summary of the main points
of your presentation that you want them to remember most. You can also
put a short intro at the very beginning, a thank-you at the very end, and
you’re done.

-------------------

Do Not Lose Control of Your Group

You’ve been there before: you’re sitting in the audience attending a seminar
or presentation that you’ve been looking forward to eagerly. Maybe you’ve
even paid a decent sum of money to hear what the presenter has to say on
a topic that’s important and interesting to you.

But some audience member keeps interrupting with long-winded questions,
completely ruining the flow of the presentation and eating up precious time.
In your head you keep wishing that person would just shut up, or that the
presenter would take control and stop the constant interruptions.

But no – the situation goes from bad to worse as others jump on the
bandwagon interrupting with inane, off-topic questions as you get more and
more angry and frustrated. In the end, the presenter has run out of time to
deliver on what you came to hear and you end up getting short-changed.

Don’t let this happen in your speaking and seminars. People have come to
hear you speak, not someone who’s trying to hijack your seminar, or tell
their life story, or act like a show-off trying to “steal the show” from you.
Set the ground rules up front.

-------------------

Tell your audiencehow things are going to be.

Tell them that you’ll take questions only during a specified question and
answer period, or after your seminar is over.

In some cases, such as conducting trainings, it might be appropriate or even
necessary to take questions and allow audience participation during your
presentation.

But if you’ve promised to deliver on a specific topic, your audience is
expecting you to follow through so don’t disappoint them by allowing anyone
to hijack your presentation.

Keep control of your presentation by setting the ground rules up front and
be prepared to enforce them if necessary – with a smile, of course!

-----------------

How to “Get the Butts in the Seats”

This is one of the most common questions I get. The answers are alarming
simple. It’s actually not rocket science, but most people think there’s some
kind of magic method to fill a room with people who want to hear what you
have to say.

Which, by the way, touches on an important point: if your topic is something
that people are eager to hear about, you should have no trouble attracting
groups. I wouldn’t gloss over that last sentence.

Answer this question honestly: are you giving people what they want, or
what you want them to want? With all that in mind, here are the realities of
getting the butts in the seats.

The easiest way to get the butts in the seats is to let someone else do it for
you: speak at other people’s seminars or meetings or conventions. Believe it
or not, all around you right now are associations and clubs and organizations
that are dying for speakers on your topic.

Afraid you’ll be making “cold calls”? – you won’t; these are the warmest calls
you’ll ever make. Be prepared when they jump through the phone line and
right into your lap.

Also, why not partner up with people who are already doing speaking
or seminars to your target market, but are not in competition with you?
Point out how you’ll provide value to their seminar or event, but won’t be
competing with them.

Those are two very strong ways to speak to rooms full of people, but without
struggling to get the butts in the seats. Another time-tested and proven
method is to go out and speak wherever you can, and then promote an
upcoming seminar you’re going to give. You can promote a free introductory
seminar or even a paid event.

Here’s another tip for you: OPD. OPD stands for other people’s databases. Your
attorney, chiropractor, tax preparer, financial planner and insurance agents all
have huge databases of clients who might want to attend your seminar.

Sure, you can buy a generic mailing list and mail out thousands of mailers
and take out advertising all over town if you want. You can also start ripping
up hundred dollar bills and tossing them out the window, too.

-------------------

Closing Thoughts on Seminar and Speaking Success –
and a Sprinkling of “Tough Love”

Don’t fall into the “be a great speaker” trap. Many people somehow think
that if they become a “master of the stage” and an expert at “platform
mechanics and presentation skills” that their success is guaranteed. If
“success” is defined as rounds of applause and standing ovations, they would
be right.

But applause and standing ovations don’t pay the bills, my friend. “The path
of the great speaker” is the path to the poorhouse. If your goal is to be a
great speaker, I hope you have a lot of money saved up, or have someone to
support you financially.

You can ignore this advice if you are already famous because well-known
athletes, politicians, and actors can often command large speaking fees and
get easy bookings.

However, I suggest you forget about the path of the great speaker and
instead take the path of “the speaker that gets results”. I’m talking about
getting measurable results such as sales produced, appointments booked,
donations made, products or services sold, petitions signed, prospects
generated – measurable, tangible results.

Which brings me to another point and illustrates a mistake I made for years:
I thought that if I was a great speaker and I delivered a highly educational
content-packed presentation, people would decide to buy from me or do
business with me. I was very, very wrong.

If you give people the sense that they’ve learned everything about your
topic in the short time you’ve spoken to them, you’re doing them a terrible
disservice. Because the reality is that even if you speak for a few hours, it’s
more than likely that you won’t be able to truly impart enough knowledge
and skill to them to be able to actually utilize what you’re telling them.

People have very short memories and attention spans; moreover very few
people are going to take action on what you’re presenting to them.
Even if you’re not trying to teach them anything and just doing “motivational
speaking”, it’s a sure bet that the next day they’ll forget much more than
they remember about your speech.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking that your great
speaking skills will overcome this very real fact of
human nature.

And don’t be so egotistical that you think you can impart enough information
in a short speech to make any significant difference.

The purpose of your talk should be to create curiosity and then desire, and
then you should make a strong and clear call to action. You might disagree
with this and this may take a while to sink in, but hopefully it’ll sink in sooner
rather than later so you can save yourself a lot of wasted time and energy.
Which bring up a very important point: speaking is advertising. That’s all it
really is. The sooner you grasp the reality of that statement the better off
you will be. Speaking is the best form of advertising that every existed and
ever will exist.

Speaking beats networking, cold calling, publicity, and all other forms of
advertising hands-down. When you get up in front of people and speak, you
are the expert. You are the authority. People get a sense of if they like you
believe you and trust you, right then and there.

Speaking is free advertising. If you collect a speaking fee, then you’re
getting paid to advertise. Smart speakers know that getting a speaking fee
is not the goal to chase; focus on generating and converting leads and you’ll
make much more money on the backend.

This is something else I really wish I’d known a long time ago. Is a light bulb
going on for you right now?

By the way:

The reason why doing actual speaking will eliminate stage fright is not
because you’ll become progressively conditioned to not being afraid; your
fear will disappear simply because you will have the direct and undeniable
experience that there is no monster hiding under the bed after all.

Doing speaking and seminars is highly, highly addicted. But with this
addiction, you won’t become brain-damaged or get fat – however, your bank
account can get quite fat if you follow some of my suggestions.

Best,
David
PS: If you want even more info, I've got a ton of free articles and free training
on my website at Public Speaking Training

FlightGuy · 06-08-2009, 05:32 PM

Hey David,

Very informative post and an interesting read.

I especially agree with,

Quote:

But the reality is:

1. If you argue for your limitations, they are yours to keep forever.

People set their limitations based on fear, and fear undermines almost any goal that a person has involving learning or progression.

The best way to overcome this is to simply DO IT. You'll be surprised at how fast that fear diminishes.

Another thing I'd like to touch on involves public speaking in front of business owners in order to solicit your services. This is a business model that is highly favored by some and not so favored by others who are generally authoritative figures in the offline consulting niche.

I will agree, though, that by not practicing public speaking, you are doing yourself a terrible disservice. Speaking in front of business owners at a chamber of commerce can contribute immensely to a consulting business.

Despite what anyone says, this is what I've learned from public speaking in front of business owners:

You MUST educate them to further trust and build a relationship. Become a friend. You MUST create curiosity and desire through this education. This desire has to create a subconscious goal, and you must be positioned as the friend and expert to help them accomplish this goal. This equals business, it equals contacts, and it helps position you further as the local go-to guy for this kind of stuff.

If you would like an example of a great public speaker, then watch Tony Robbins stuff. He knows how to position himself as the expert, and at the same time bring himself down to the audiences level as a friend. His body language and tone are spot on. Here's a great video of him talking at TED (22 minutes long):

YouTube - Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do, and...

Kindest,
John Dennis

JustaWizard · 06-08-2009, 05:52 PM

Well, having done years and years and years of trainings as well as seminars, workshops, and a ton of other presentations, when it comes to selling in a group environment, the reality is that education is not really the goal.

And I sincerely hate to have to say that, but in a short (1.5 - 3 hour) presentation, it's pretty foolish to think one can really impart very much skill that will really stick.

It's just human nature - people get pumped up and deflated later and unless you're actually conducting an all-out training, attempting to educate / impart skill is actually not a good idea.

What IS a good idea is to educate them A LITTLE - just enough to know they need you. Or you can overwhelm them with a ton of what to do, but not necessarily how to do it (THAT'S good education in the framework of speaking to generate and convert leads).

I've learned this the hard way!

Best,
David

chrisnegro · 06-08-2009, 09:05 PM

Good stuff David.

I'm already doing public speaking and workshops and gave away a free wso explaining this here --> Killer Offline Strategy No One is talking about (sneaky)

But I did have 2 Questions for you (which I've already PM'ed you as well) as I thought I would share these questions with you so everyone can learn -- as workshops and public speaking is a favorite of mine) :

1) I live in 2 hours southwest of Chicago. What non-competing seminar/businesses should I be targeting (to speak in their conferences)that would flow nicely with my marketing on autopilot seminar? Any tips,trends, or industries that you see to work well (in terms of joining their seminar) based on your experience?

If I wanted to speak in the Chicago Land area (for example), HOW DO I TARGET THE SEMINAR ORGANIZER IN ADVANCE TO SPEAK AT THEIR EVENT BEFORE THEY START MARKETING THE SEMINAR? You and I know that you typically know of a seminar when they start marketing it. And when they start marketing it....they typically promote (in their brochures/flyers/tv ads ect..) who is going to speak and what they will learn. Seems to me...when its at this stage...most seminar organizers will pass on having you come on board. Thoughts?

2) I know industries that have small and medium sized business owners (e.g. sign companies) as clients. BUT HOW DO I KNOW (in advance so I can target them efficiently) if they have a HUGE EMAIL DATABASE? Most companies (where I live in a rural area) do not have a email database let alone a big one.

Thoughts?

Chris Negro

Mark Riddle · 06-08-2009, 10:28 PM

David,

To echo on some of the things you are pointing out, My mentor taught me:

"If you are giving a speech, you have already lost the crowd.

Talk with the people in the room with you, and they will value your every word."

For me this was the huge mental shift that makes talking with groups an easy task.

Another favorite tip is;

"Pride and self centeredness is the foundation for stage fright.

You care more about how people think of YOU, than you care about helping the group in need of your information".

Mark Riddle

AndrewCavanagh · 06-08-2009, 11:16 PM

Public speaking is a great way to promote your services but if you're starting out selling your services to brick and mortar businesses it may not be such a great idea to BEGIN with.

Let me elaborate.

First to speak you need an audience.

If someone else is providing an audience for you without you having to pay a cent or generate leads or mail people etc etc my advice it DO IT.

Follow the advice above and get some experience and possibly some paying clients.

Groups like Rotary, Toastmasters etc where there are a high percentage of business owners are a cool way to get some experience and the smaller the group the less likely it is you'll blow your reputation with the local business community.

But if you're just starting out and you haven't worked with a client in my opinion you shouldn't be trying to generate leads to do a seminar to speak so you can get clients from that seminar.

It's a lengthy process and you'd be better off STARTING by just setting up those leads so you can talk to them one on one.

That will give you some real experience with business owners so that if you decide to in the future you'll have something to talk about if you run a seminar.

Be aware that running seminars requires a lot of work and filling a room with business owners can cost a LOT of money.

If a business networking group or someone with a large list is filling the room for you it's a nice starting strategy.

But spending your own money on this when you haven't worked with paying clients...it's too much of a crash and burn situation.

I was a professional speaker so I do understand the benefits of it.

But for people starting out you really want to get some experience working with a few clients before you start thinking of trying to generate leads for a seminar on your own dollar.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Shaun OReilly · 06-09-2009, 02:07 AM

The #1 best way to market yourself and your services
depends upon your target market and your strengths/
skill set.

Therefore, there is no absolute #1 way that's universal
for all people and all markets.

Just because you have a hammer in your hand, doesn't
mean that everything is a nail.

That said, public speaking can be a great way to get
clients as it puts you in an almost instantaneous position
of authority.

However, there are some caveats...

1. Develop the Skill

The ability to stand up in front of a room of strangers is
a skill and therefore can be developed... over time.

When I first started out, I went to my old school to deliver
a presentation to them. It was less threatening (though I
was still scared ****less!) but I was developing it bit by bit.

I gradually got myself in front of larger and more experienced
groups to begin to craft my presentation skills.

Eventually, I got to the point where I could be asked to
give an impromptu speech and be able to do it well - this
took a while to get to that point though.

2. Learn How to Structure a Presentation to Sell

To generate clients or enquiries from a presentation, you
need to structure your talk effectively so that you sell
the audience on the desired action e.g. to request a
report, to request a consultation or to book there and
then.

You need to decide what action you want your audience
to take and then structure your presentation accordingly
to move them in that direction.

The very first time I got in front of a rom of about 35
hot prospects for my services, I blew it.

I got zero clients.

Why?

I wasn't experienced enough at that time to arrange a
talk to effectively sell the action.

At that time, I didn't know about multi-step marketing
and getting people to take baby steps instead of going
after the sale there and then.

Also incongruence. I was saying some of the right
things verbally, but non verbally I was 'saying' something
else.

3. Practise, Practise, Practise

If you want to add public speaking to your marketing bow
then seek out as many opportunities as possible to get out
there and speak in front of people.

This will accelerate the development of your presentation
skills and increase the conversion rates you get from this
marketing method too.

I recall the story of Tony Robbins who when he first started
used to do three presentations a day instead of one a week
that most of his colleagues used to do.

So, he got two years normal experience in a month.

Like I say, presentations and workshops can be a great
source of clients provided your target market are easily
reached via this method and you've got at least some
presentation skills.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

garyk1968 · 06-09-2009, 03:39 AM

Thanks for a great post and link to some more resources David!

pizzatherapy · 06-09-2009, 04:19 AM

This was a very inspirational post for me. Thank you for the great tips.

I would add the following:

I think being aware of your own body language is very important for anyone who does public speaking.

While I know the following sounds very simplistic, understand that you communicate to your audience in a non-verbal way.
Make sure you face the audience, smile, make eye contact and have good posture.
The non-verbal cues that you send to your audience is something you need to be aware of. Speak clearly and with confidence.

Thank you again for this fantastic information.
albert grande

artwebster · 06-09-2009, 05:02 AM

A good post but you missed out what is REALLY the Nº1 BEST way to market yourself.

Just get out there and do something!

There is no fixed rule about what will cause a businessman to listen to you. You can do the most insane things and create great interest and generate leads.

For example, about twenty years ago I was training the direct sales force of a burglar alarm company. As always, there was one smart-Alec on the course who 'knew' more than I did.

I challenged him to spend the second day of the course doing what I told him to do and, if it did not produce great results, I would give him one hundred pounds in cash.

The next day he did return for training and accepted my challenge.

This is what I told him to do.

He had to stand at the office door (which was on a major shopping street) with a clip-board and stop every adult who passed. He was to say "Excuse me, I am just doing a very simple survey. Tell me, where do you live?" "That's quite a nice area isn't it Mr/Mrs......... (wait for the surname) ......... Mr Smith." "Any way, it's a very simple survey - Mr Smith, you don't want to buy a burglar alarm, do you?"

He actually sold three full systems in the day (three people said yes) and he generated a list of several thousand names and addresses.

After calling all the people on the list who had said 'No' and had listed telephone numbers, he generated so many 'survey' appointments that he was able to sell those he couldn't do himself and made an absolute fortune in his first three months with the company.

I didn't have to pay him but I did have to explain why I was so confident that what I told him to do would work. It was really very simple - he had a list of addresses that were not protected by burglar alarms and his 'silly, simple' survey had got the owners thinking (and worrying?).

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisnegro

Good stuff David.

I'm already doing public speaking and workshops and gave away a free wso explaining this here --> Killer Offline Strategy No One is talking about (sneaky)

But I did have 2 Questions for you (which I've already PM'ed you as well) as I thought I would share these questions with you so everyone can learn -- as workshops and public speaking is a favorite of mine) :

1) I live in 2 hours southwest of Chicago. What non-competing seminar/businesses should I be targeting (to speak in their conferences)that would flow nicely with my marketing on autopilot seminar? Any tips,trends, or industries that you see to work well (in terms of joining their seminar) based on your experience?

If I wanted to speak in the Chicago Land area (for example), HOW DO I TARGET THE SEMINAR ORGANIZER IN ADVANCE TO SPEAK AT THEIR EVENT BEFORE THEY START MARKETING THE SEMINAR? You and I know that you typically know of a seminar when they start marketing it. And when they start marketing it....they typically promote (in their brochures/flyers/tv ads ect..) who is going to speak and what they will learn. Seems to me...when its at this stage...most seminar organizers will pass on having you come on board. Thoughts?

2) I know industries that have small and medium sized business owners (e.g. sign companies) as clients. BUT HOW DO I KNOW (in advance so I can target them efficiently) if they have a HUGE EMAIL DATABASE? Most companies (where I live in a rural area) do not have a email database let alone a big one.

Thoughts?

Chris Negro

Hi Chris, going after those who are non-competing is one thing, but you could even go straight after your competition too. Once I paired up with someone I considered a direct rival, we both promoted a gig that went very well. To find those who are good partners in a non-compete (or even do compete, as just noted), just ask yourself "who serves my target market already but is not a direct competitor?" Regarding databases, you don't know in advance who has large databases; generally, if they've been around awhile, the probably have a stable of clients/customers.

Hope that helps!

David

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artwebster

A good post but you missed out what is REALLY the Nº1 BEST way to market yourself.

Just get out there and do something!

There is no fixed rule about what will cause a businessman to listen to you. You can do the most insane things and create great interest and generate leads.

For example, about twenty years ago I was training the direct sales force of a burglar alarm company. As always, there was one smart-Alec on the course who 'knew' more than I did.

I challenged him to spend the second day of the course doing what I told him to do and, if it did not produce great results, I would give him one hundred pounds in cash.

The next day he did return for training and accepted my challenge.

This is what I told him to do.

He had to stand at the office door (which was on a major shopping street) with a clip-board and stop every adult who passed. He was to say "Excuse me, I am just doing a very simple survey. Tell me, where do you live?" "That's quite a nice area isn't it Mr/Mrs......... (wait for the surname) ......... Mr Smith." "Any way, it's a very simple survey - Mr Smith, you don't want to buy a burglar alarm, do you?"

He actually sold three full systems in the day (three people said yes) and he generated a list of several thousand names and addresses.

After calling all the people on the list who had said 'No' and had listed telephone numbers, he generated so many 'survey' appointments that he was able to sell those he couldn't do himself and made an absolute fortune in his first three months with the company.

I didn't have to pay him but I did have to explain why I was so confident that what I told him to do would work. It was really very simple - he had a list of addresses that were not protected by burglar alarms and his 'silly, simple' survey had got the owners thinking (and worrying?).

Definitely stirring the pot and doing something, anything (to quote Todd Rundgren) is better than doing nothing; I'm partial to speaking and seminars because you are instantly seen as an authority and you get to "shoot fish in a barrel" so to speak.

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

Public speaking is a great way to promote your services but if you're starting out selling your services to brick and mortar businesses it may not be such a great idea to BEGIN with.

Let me elaborate.

First to speak you need an audience.

If someone else is providing an audience for you without you having to pay a cent or generate leads or mail people etc etc my advice it DO IT.

Follow the advice above and get some experience and possibly some paying clients.

Groups like Rotary, Toastmasters etc where there are a high percentage of business owners are a cool way to get some experience and the smaller the group the less likely it is you'll blow your reputation with the local business community.

But if you're just starting out and you haven't worked with a client in my opinion you shouldn't be trying to generate leads to do a seminar to speak so you can get clients from that seminar.

It's a lengthy process and you'd be better off STARTING by just setting up those leads so you can talk to them one on one.

That will give you some real experience with business owners so that if you decide to in the future you'll have something to talk about if you run a seminar.

Be aware that running seminars requires a lot of work and filling a room with business owners can cost a LOT of money.

If a business networking group or someone with a large list is filling the room for you it's a nice starting strategy.

But spending your own money on this when you haven't worked with paying clients...it's too much of a crash and burn situation.

I was a professional speaker so I do understand the benefits of it.

But for people starting out you really want to get some experience working with a few clients before you start thinking of trying to generate leads for a seminar on your own dollar.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Yep; that's why I advocate finding the groups that already gather and getting in front of them... surely you saw my "you can also start ripping up $100 bills" in reference to doing mailings, because in my experience most of my students have gone in thinking that's the way to get the butts in the seats, and it's really a great way to lose money.

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyk1968

Thanks for a great post and link to some more resources David!

You're welcome!
David

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pizzatherapy

This was a very inspirational post for me. Thank you for the great tips.

I would add the following:

I think being aware of your own body language is very important for anyone who does public speaking.

While I know the following sounds very simplistic, understand that you communicate to your audience in a non-verbal way.
Make sure you face the audience, smile, make eye contact and have good posture.
The non-verbal cues that you send to your audience is something you need to be aware of. Speak clearly and with confidence.

Thank you again for this fantastic information.
albert grande

You're welcome Albert; regarding non-verbals, I couldn't agree more.

For those who'd like to see some IMMEDIATELY useful tips on this, check out the videos at Public Speaking, Seminar Training, Presentation Skills.

David

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Riddle

David,

To echo on some of the things you are pointing out, My mentor taught me:

"If you are giving a speech, you have already lost the crowd.

Talk with the people in the room with you, and they will value your every word."

For me this was the huge mental shift that makes talking with groups an easy task.

Another favorite tip is;

"Pride and self centeredness is the foundation for stage fright.

You care more about how people think of YOU, than you care about helping the group in need of your information".

Mark Riddle

It sounds overly-simplified, but it's true: take the focus off of YOU - does 2 things: 1. Kills fear 2. serves the needs of the group. A real winning combination!

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly

The #1 best way to market yourself and your services
depends upon your target market and your strengths/
skill set.

Therefore, there is no absolute #1 way that's universal
for all people and all markets.

Just because you have a hammer in your hand, doesn't
mean that everything is a nail.

That said, public speaking can be a great way to get
clients as it puts you in an almost instantaneous position
of authority.

However, there are some caveats...

1. Develop the Skill

The ability to stand up in front of a room of strangers is
a skill and therefore can be developed... over time.

When I first started out, I went to my old school to deliver
a presentation to them. It was less threatening (though I
was still scared ****less!) but I was developing it bit by bit.

I gradually got myself in front of larger and more experienced
groups to begin to craft my presentation skills.

Eventually, I got to the point where I could be asked to
give an impromptu speech and be able to do it well - this
took a while to get to that point though.

2. Learn How to Structure a Presentation to Sell

To generate clients or enquiries from a presentation, you
need to structure your talk effectively so that you sell
the audience on the desired action e.g. to request a
report, to request a consultation or to book there and
then.

You need to decide what action you want your audience
to take and then structure your presentation accordingly
to move them in that direction.

The very first time I got in front of a rom of about 35
hot prospects for my services, I blew it.

I got zero clients.

Why?

I wasn't experienced enough at that time to arrange a
talk to effectively sell the action.

At that time, I didn't know about multi-step marketing
and getting people to take baby steps instead of going
after the sale there and then.

Also incongruence. I was saying some of the right
things verbally, but non verbally I was 'saying' something
else.

3. Practise, Practise, Practise

If you want to add public speaking to your marketing bow
then seek out as many opportunities as possible to get out
there and speak in front of people.

This will accelerate the development of your presentation
skills and increase the conversion rates you get from this
marketing method too.

I recall the story of Tony Robbins who when he first started
used to do three presentations a day instead of one a week
that most of his colleagues used to do.

So, he got two years normal experience in a month.

Like I say, presentations and workshops can be a great
source of clients provided your target market are easily
reached via this method and you've got at least some
presentation skills.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

Face to face in front of a group, especially if they're self-qualified prospects, is defensible as THE best marketing method because it can be done free or certainly on a shoestring (think: vendors you use pay for the seminar - ha!).

Sure, nothing is 100% for everyone all the time, and the hammer/nail analogy really doesn't fly because I'm not suggesting people ONLY every just do speaking/seminars and that's it.

But if we're going to use a tool analogy (don't tempt me!) if you were stuck on a desert island and only had one "tool" to market yourself to the local tribe, getting in front of them, as a group might work well if they don't have a newspaper or internet connection, eh?

Anyway, not to be flip, you make some good points, but I also see some limitations you're imposing on people that, in my experience with many years and many students on this exact topic, things can go much more quickly than you indicate; "practice practice practice" is great advice to get to Carnegie Hall, but frankly is outdated, worn out advice when it comes to being an effective speaker/seminar presenter.

In the context of a forum post, there are limitations in my ability to dispense every drop of advice based on my direct experience doing speaking/seminars as well as teaching others; The post I made is really to open people's minds to the power of speaking and seminars because it can be started today, for free.

David

JohnMcCabe · 06-09-2009, 10:41 AM

For anyone who is afraid to talk in front of a group, or thinks they can't learn how, I have a true story for you...

One of the ways our Toastmasters club generated new members was to put on a training class called "Speechcraft." Speechcraft ran for six weeks, for two hours one night a week. On the first night, we ran an exercise where we had each student stand up, give us their name, and tell us why they were in the class. The punch line was, after it was over we could tell everyone that they had just given their first talk in front of a group.

Anyway, on the first night of one class "Joe" (not his real name) stood up and told us he was in the class because his boss told him he had to take it. Joe was a bright engineer at a local factory owned by a very large company. Very smart guy, but got incredibly tongue-tied if he knew more than two people were listening to him.

The first 'real' speech we had the students do is called the 'Icebreaker.' A 2-minute talk about the student himself. Seems easy, right? Joe showed up with a stack of 3x5 notecards, and read them for his speech. He even read his name from one of the cards, and looked so uncomfortable I thought he was going to have a stroke and die - which would have made him the first speaker ever to die from making a speech.

But Joe stuck to it, doing everything we asked. After the class, he joined our Toastmasters club.

Then he started missing meetings...

Turns out, Joe's company was sending him to meetings and conferences to give talks to customers, other plants, even professional conventions as a sort of company ambassador.

I lost track of Joe when his company promoted him and moved him to another state.

The moral of the story is that even if you are so nervous about speaking to a group you need a cue card to remember your name, there is hope for you. If "Joe" can do it, you can do it.

But YOU have to do it...

Chris Lagarde · 06-09-2009, 10:53 AM

I'm not afraid of speaking before groups, and I 've even done an offline workshop. I would like to do more but here's my current issue: getting butts in the seats.

Do I price the workshop at $199 and hire outside reps to sign up attendees? I'm willing to pay $175 to the rep for the signup and even 10% (gross) of all billings for a workshop client the rep brings in...up to a year.

Or do I charge a nominal fee, $49.00, knowing I will be generating new business on the backend? At this price there is not enough left over to pay an outside rep.

Of course, the price could be free, but I would want to have a $25.00 deposit so the prospective client has some skin in the game. How to handle this?

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 10:54 AM

I want to thank everyone for contributing to this thread; and I hate to pull rank, but I want anyone looking for inspiration about doing speaking/seminars to NOT be detracted by "it takes time, you have to be a great presenter, you gotta do it for a long time" type of feedback.

I used to believe all the "library book" advice too, and just because someone has been a professional speaker doesn't make them an instant authority; I believe the fact that I've taught workshops and classes and trainings on this exact topic for years and have watched business owners who took action achieve great results is similar to whether you want to take advice from Tiger Woods, or his golf coach. I'd choose his coach. Great presenters do not necessarily make great teachers, nor have they had to groom other presenters to get results.

My main point here really is simply that 1. a lot of the info about speaking/seminars out there is really worn-out, dated, parroted advice that if I gave that to my students, they'd never get as far as they do and 2. if you are considering doing offline business, I'm simply offering a method you can use that really works, very fast, and for free.

Is it REALLY "the best" method of marketing? There are plenty of great methods of marketing; try some out, measure your ROI. There are lots of groups that would welcome you as a speaker on your topic, find them, speak to them, watch your results.

Just one of my students emailed me recently (she does reverse mortgages) she did a seminar 2 weeks ago on a Saturday, had 27 people, spend $175, and 2 weeks later has $7600 in sales.

That's the power of speaking/seminars.

Finally, I can't possibly put ALL of everything I've learned and know into a forum post or three! Impossible! But hopefully some warriors will be inspired, take action and get good results using speaking/seminars.

And again, for tons more real-world info, more than I can post here, there is plenty of free training all over the internet, of course, I'm partial to my training because I and my students have real world results - and my main free training sites are Public Speaking Training and Public Speaking, Seminar Training, Presentation Skills

For those who are reading this thread for inspiration, I hope you're inspired - I offer you real-world proven results - NOT just mine, but my many many students as well. I do know this is a method that works for me and my students - the one's that actually take action.

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

For anyone who is afraid to talk in front of a group, or thinks they can't learn how, I have a true story for you...

One of the ways our Toastmasters club generated new members was to put on a training class called "Speechcraft." Speechcraft ran for six weeks, for two hours one night a week. On the first night, we ran an exercise where we had each student stand up, give us their name, and tell us why they were in the class. The punch line was, after it was over we could tell everyone that they had just given their first talk in front of a group.

Anyway, on the first night of one class "Joe" (not his real name) stood up and told us he was in the class because his boss told him he had to take it. Joe was a bright engineer at a local factory owned by a very large company. Very smart guy, but got incredibly tongue-tied if he knew more than two people were listening to him.

The first 'real' speech we had the students do is called the 'Icebreaker.' A 2-minute talk about the student himself. Seems easy, right? Joe showed up with a stack of 3x5 notecards, and read them for his speech. He even read his name from one of the cards, and looked so uncomfortable I thought he was going to have a stroke and die - which would have made him the first speaker ever to die from making a speech.

But Joe stuck to it, doing everything we asked. After the class, he joined our Toastmasters club.

Then he started missing meetings...

Turns out, Joe's company was sending him to meetings and conferences to give talks to customers, other plants, even professional conventions as a sort of company ambassador.

I lost track of Joe when his company promoted him and moved him to another state.

The moral of the story is that even if you are so nervous about speaking to a group you need a cue card to remember your name, there is hope for you. If "Joe" can do it, you can do it.

But YOU have to do it...

Great story, thanks for sharing!

I can't begin to tell the readers of this post how many times this has happened with my students - basically going from timid to tiger, from terrified to addicted to public speaking.

I start many of my "how to conquer stage fright" classes with "welcome to your new addiction" and usually people think I'm just being dramatic... then I get the phone calls and emails saying "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually addicted to speaking".

It's true. First you're afraid, then you have the direct experience there's no monster under the bed (so to speak) and nothing can hold you back!

David

Shaun OReilly · 06-09-2009, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

Face to face in front of a group, especially if they're self-qualified prospects, is defensible as THE best marketing method because it can be done free or certainly on a shoestring (think: vendors you use pay for the seminar - ha!).

That rather depends upon the target market and the person doing
the marketing.

For example, in the offline world, I target one highly specific niche
internationally.They do have conferences each year that I could
choose to speak at - if I wanted to. I could also go to the time and
effort to get them in a room myself - if I wanted to.

However, for me and my target market there are much better ways
to reach them with my marketing message and make sales with
less effort and expense.

Fact! (for me and my market)

Personally, I prefer to use marketing methods that I enjoy and
make the most of my strengths - such as writing. I find that that
allows me to get more results, in less time and enjoy the process
too.

I could do presentations and workshops as part of my marketing
efforts but I choose not to - I don't enjoy them as much as some
other methods.

There is no "one-size-fits-all" panacea to market effectively to
offline business owners - and to suggest otherwise is folly.

Different strokes for different folks.

Choose what works for you - whether that be public speaking
or otherwise.

There are multiple roads to get to Rome - not just one way.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly

That rather depends upon the target market and the person doing
the marketing.

For example, in the offline world, I target one highly specific niche
internationally.They do have conferences each year that I could
choose to speak at - if I wanted to. I could also go to the time and
effort to get them in a room myself - if I wanted to.

However, for me and my target market there are much better ways
to reach them with my marketing message and make sales with
less effort and expense.

Fact! (for me and my market)

Personally, I prefer to use marketing methods that I enjoy and
make the most of my strengths - such as writing. I find that that
allows me to get more results, in less time and enjoy the process
too.

I could do presentations and workshops as part of my marketing
efforts but I choose not to - I don't enjoy them as much as some
other methods.

Different strokes for different folks.

Choose what works for you.

There are multiple roads to get to Rome - not just one way.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

No doubt Shaun - as someone far wiser than I once said "there are many paths to the top of the mountain, and at the top, the view is the same for all - the path taken is the travelers choice".

I think that a lot of people don't really consider doing speaking/seminars in the first place due to fear, and I've seen sooooo many people grateful for conquering that fear and prospering because of it, and just because you specifically choose not to do so doesn't mean others can't/won't benefit, so I think words of encouragement regarding speaking/seminars are more useful than otherwise.

Best,
David

Shaun OReilly · 06-09-2009, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

No doubt Shaun - as someone far wiser than I once said "there are many paths to the top of the mountain, and at the top, the view is the same for all - the path taken is the travelers choice".

I think that a lot of people don't really consider doing speaking/seminars in the first place due to fear, and I've seen sooooo many people grateful for conquering that fear and prospering because of it, and just because you specifically choose not to do so doesn't mean others can't/won't benefit, so I think words of encouragement regarding speaking/seminars are more useful than otherwise.

Best,
David

I agree that some people rule out using speaking/seminars because
of fear and that conquering that fear can be highly beneficial.

What I'm pointing out is that public speaking is not necessarily
the "#1 BEST Way to Market You & Your Services" which is
implied by your definitive title.

For some people it will be. For others it won't be.

I'd be the first to encourage people to use speaking/seminars to
promote their business - if it was the right marketing strategy
for them and their target market.

I'm just trying to make the point that the #1 best way depends
upon the person and their specific situation.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

chrisnegro · 06-09-2009, 01:01 PM

Shaun:

Perhaps its not for all...but I can't figure out ANYWHERE were you can be viewed as the guru and expert (and command automatic respect) to business owners you never met before -- all in one sitting. Not to mention......capturing all those business owners at one time and be able to share your knowledge and a chance to upsell them on the backend.

In one "two hour speach" you can "share" you knowledge ...tease them a little of the power of your marketing method and provide the perfect opportunity to provide marketing services on the backend. THIS IS GREAT AS YOU DON'T HAVE TO COLD CALL OR NOTHING....AND WASTE COUNTLESS HOURS SHARING YOUR SERVICES TO BUSINESS OWNERS. You mean you can do all of this in under 2 hours if you conduct a speech or workshop ----YES. This is working smart not hard if you ask me

For me....its THEE #1 Marketing Method I am using. I'm getting to the point where I'm perfecting my "How to put your marketing on Autopilot" Presentation and plan to start going national with this is in 8 months. I charge $55 for my presentation (which includes lunch in which I get the restaurant to sponsor the lunch for free).

In return for the sponsored lunch, I put their restaurant logo on my direct mail post cards (which I have to market anyway) reminding business owners that the workshop is 3 and 2 weeks away (for example). Then...as the business owners leave the workshop....the restaurant can give out a coupon (with their menu on it) This is a win-win for both parties....kind of like barter marketing.

Think about it....it will cost them around $6 (in actual cost per lunch served) and lets say you have 30 business owners who attend the workshop. That is a total cost of $180 out of pocket for the restaurant. But in return....you promote your workshop (and include the business's logo on the post card) twice through direct mailers ($500 marketing value) AND they get to give a coupon for their business when business owners leave the workshop ($150 marketing value).

Monetary results:

30 business ownes @ $55 = $1650
Room Fee = - $100
2 Direct Mailing of Post Cards = -$500
Right here alone you are making $350 per hour and I'm including the time it takes to set up the workshop an hour before you go live. The power comes when you can have MANY seminars to speak at --every other week.....THIS IS THE TRUE POWER OF SEMINAR SPEAKING.

Backend revenues for me have been coming with a 10% response rate (3 Business owners) = $1500 + $300 monthly reoccuring.

Net for workshop: $2550 + $300 monthly reoccuring. Not bad for 3 hours worth of work (less of course the time to set up the business owners autoresponder service which typically takes up no more then 30 minutes) . At a glance...for 4.5 hours of actual work....your looking at a rate of making $550 per hour + the $300 monthly reoccuring.

Not a bad gig if you ask me.

Chris Negro

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly

I agree that some people rule out using speaking/seminars because
of fear and that conquering that fear can be highly beneficial.

What I'm pointing out is that public speaking is not necessarily
the "#1 BEST Way to Market You & Your Services" which is
implied by your definitive title.

For some people it will be. For others it won't be.

I'd be the first to encourage people to use speaking/seminars to
promote their business - if it was the right marketing strategy
for them and their target market.

I'm just trying to make the point that the #1 best way depends
upon the person and their specific situation.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

Yeah, well again - noting the fact that it's fear, fear, and fear that are the top 3 reasons people don't use seminars/speaking as a lead generation / lead conversion tool, I had to grab people's attention somehow - and I doubt the title "here's a marketing method that some people will like and others won't depending the person and their specific situation" would grab attention in the same way. :-)

Your point is taken; people should do what they're comfortable with - wait! Or SHOULD THEY?? - since most people are NOT comfortable with speaking and will not even think to consider that as a strategy, advising people to stay in their comfort zone could mean they'd pass up something that would be really, really great for them!

The point of the thread, which I already know a reasonable, experienced, and intelligent person such as yourself surmised long ago, is NOT to create a debate over the relative merits of various marketing methodologies; it's to shake people out of their natural and typically overwhelming resistance to s-s-s-sp-speaking in front of a group! :-)

To repeat, this thread purposely did not start with a title "let's debate various marketing methods" because I think most people can in 5 or 10 minutes weigh out the pros and cons of the kind of marketing methods that most people think of when they start to think about marketing themselves (including but not limited to email marketing, press releases, direct mail, print advertising, cold calling in person or via phone, asking for referrals, taking out billboards, and skywriting ;-) )

So without going back to a hair-splitting debate over what's best for this or that person, speaking/seminars is #1 in my book - I could drop someone off in another city with no money, no contacts, no computer, no internet connection - nothing but themselves - and they can line up speaking gigs and start promoting themselves for free right away.

But that's not the point: I don't recommend that people take a bus to a far away city with no money in their pocket; I simply am offering what has been in my experience and the experience of many of my students to be a method that allows you to not only experience terrific results, but also be able to reduce other marketing expenses too, due to the leverage one gets being face to face in front of a group.

LMC posted a thread the other day that he and his partners spent a few hundred dollars and that instantly produced - that day - tens of thousands of dollars in sales. Now THAT'S leverage, it's low cost, it's high yield, very fast results...

...and results certainly are what a lot of people want!

Best,
David

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisnegro

Perhaps its not for all...but I can't figure out ANYWHERE were you can be viewed as the guru and expert (and automatic respect) to business owners you never met before. Not to mention......capturing all those business owners at one time.

One two hour speach you can "share" you knowledge ...tease them a little of the power of your marketing method and provide the perfect opportunity provide marketing services on the backend. THIS IS GREAT AS YOU DON'T HAVE TO COLD CALL OR NOTHING....AND WASTE COUNTLESS HOURS SHARING YOUR SERVICES TO BUSINES OWNERS. You can mean...I can do this...all in 2 hours ----YES.

For me....its THEE #1 Marketing Method I used. I'm getting to the point where I'm perfecting my "How to put your marketing on Autopilot" Presentation. I charge $55 for my presentation (which includes lunch in which I get the restaurant to sponsor the lunch). In return for the sponsored lunch, I put their restaurant logo on my direct mail post cards reminding business owners that the workshop is in 2 weeks (for example). Then...as the business owners leave the workshop....they can give out a coupon for their business in a nice professional packet.

Think about it....it will cost them around $6 (in actual cost per lunch served) and lets say you have 30 business owners you attend the workshop. That is a total cost of $180 out of pocket for the restaurant. But in return....you promote your workshop (and include the business's logo on the post card) twice through direct mailers AND they get to give a coupon for their business when business owners leave the workshop.

Not a bad gig if you ask me.

Chris Negro

Thanks Chris - I agree with you - and as I just posted moments ago, this thread was not started to debate who thinks what about this or that marketing method... ostensibly some people have different opinions and experiences as noted in other posts on this thread.... and they want their opinions heard too.

But bottom line, I COMPLETELY AGREE with you: I don't know of a faster, easier, cheaper, more effective, more fun way to market!

Best,
David

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Lagarde

I'm not afraid of speaking before groups, and I 've even done an offline workshop. I would like to do more but here's my current issue: getting butts in the seats.

Do I price the workshop at $199 and hire outside reps to sign up attendees? I'm willing to pay $175 to the rep for the signup and even 10% (gross) of all billings for a workshop client the rep brings in...up to a year.

Or do I charge a nominal fee, $49.00, knowing I will be generating new business on the backend? At this price there is not enough left over to pay an outside rep.

Of course, the price could be free, but I would want to have a $25.00 deposit so the prospective client has some skin in the game. How to handle this?

Free will get you higher registrations and higher drop outs; skin in the game gets you a more serious attendee and a lower dropout rate. I still do free (and so do my students) and paid - the paid people are, believe it or not, MUCH more polite and a LOT less demanding! Weird but true. Proves itself over and over.

You can use reps - that's a tried and true strategy - have them go out and do "teaser" free intros/speaking in front of any group that even halfway makes sense and "sell tickets" to the "main event" - and your reps get a commission for each person that shows up and pays.

Test the $199 and the $49 price points several times to gauge the pull.

Unfortunately, there's no magic bullet or "perfect system" for speaking and seminars - that said, it's not rocket science either - the point is that you'll have to test price and other factors, that's just the way it is.

Measurement eliminates argument!

Hope that helps...

Best,
David

chrisnegro · 06-09-2009, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

Thanks Chris - I agree with you - and as I just posted moments ago, this thread was not started to debate who thinks what about this or that marketing method... ostensibly some people have different opinions and experiences as noted in other posts on this thread.... and they want their opinions heard too.

But bottom line, I COMPLETELY AGREE with you: I don't know of a faster, easier, cheaper, more effective, more fun way to market!

Best,
David

When I started doing these presentations....I WAS AMAZED of their interest level and involvement. When I show them an example of an autoresponder system in action....I show them my personal website when I was in the real estate industry before I went on my own ===> www.foreclosuregods.com . After I show them this......their eyes go in the back of their head and instanteanously they are hooked.

When you say about public speaking can be an addiction === your absolutly right...its starting to happen to me as we speak. I just need to get these presentations and workshops set up more quickly as I don't want alot of down time between speeches. In the near future, I will be hiring someone full time to do just this.

Chris Negro

Shaun OReilly · 06-09-2009, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

Yeah, well again - noting the fact that it's fear, fear, and fear that are the top 3 reasons people don't use seminars/speaking as a lead generation / lead conversion tool, I had to grab people's attention somehow - and I doubt the title "here's a marketing method that some people will like and others won't depending the person and their specific situation" would grab attention in the same way. :-)

So you chose a misleading title instead?

Speaking is not THE #1 way - fact.

It can be the #1 way - depending upon the person and situation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

Your point is taken; people should do what they're comfortable with - wait! Or SHOULD THEY?? - since most people are NOT comfortable with speaking and will not even think to consider that as a strategy, advising people to stay in their comfort zone could mean they'd pass up something that would be really, really great for them!

I've not said that people should stay with what they're comfortable
with but rather choose marketing methods which allow them to
make the most of their strengths.

There is a difference.

Using your strengths does not mean staying within your comfort
zone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

The point of the thread, which I already know a reasonable, experienced, and intelligent person such as yourself surmised long ago, is NOT to create a debate over the relative merits of various marketing methodologies; it's to shake people out of their natural and typically overwhelming resistance to s-s-s-sp-speaking in front of a group! :-)

Oh really? And here I was thinking that the purpose of the thread
was to present one method as being the panacea that just happened
to relate to the links directly in your initial posts and your signature.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

To repeat, this thread purposely did not start with a title "let's debate various marketing methods" because I think most people can in 5 or 10 minutes weigh out the pros and cons of the kind of marketing methods that most people think of when they start to think about marketing themselves (including but not limited to email marketing, press releases, direct mail, print advertising, cold calling in person or via phone, asking for referrals, taking out billboards, and skywriting ;-) )

So without going back to a hair-splitting debate over what's best for this or that person, speaking/seminars is #1 in my book - I could drop someone off in another city with no money, no contacts, no computer, no internet connection - nothing but themselves - and they can line up speaking gigs and start promoting themselves for free right away.

I just chose to challenge you on your fallacious assertion that
speaking/seminars at "The # BEST way"

I don't like misleading absolutist advice to go by unchallenged.

I'm mature and experienced enough to know that one size doesn't
fit all and that what may work perfectly well for me and my clients
may not necessarily work for someone else.

Equally, what may not work for me (or something that I may not like)
could be absolutely ideal for someone else.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly

So you chose a misleading title instead?

Speaking is not THE #1 way - fact.

It can be the #1 way - depending upon the person and situation.

I've not said that people should stay with what they're comfortable
with but rather choose marketing methods which allow them to
make the most of their strengths.

There is a difference.

Using your strengths does not mean staying within your comfort
zone.

Oh really? And here I was thinking that the purpose of the thread
was to present one method as being the panacea that just happened
to relate to the links directly in your initial posts and your signature.

I just chose to challenge you on your fallacious assertion that
speaking/seminars at "The # BEST way"

I don't like misleading absolutist advice to go by unchallenged.

I'm mature and experienced enough to know that one size doesn't
fit all and that what may work perfectly well for me and my clients
may not necessarily work for someone else.

Equally, what may not work for me or something that I may not like
could be absolutely ideal for someone else.

Dedicated to your success,

Shaun

Hmm, no links in YOUR sig, eh? ;-)

Carl Galletti said (and I'm paraphrasing him here, so don't jump down my throat if this isn't 100% EXACTLY how he said it okay?) "salesmanship is the art and science of overcoming people's natural resistance sales pitches and to doing what will ultimately would be of benefit to them and be worth much more to them than the money they traded".

A rough-around-the-edges way of saying that my pointing out to people - and getting their attention in the first place is key otherwise they'll never, ever hear the message - that they can benefit from speaking/seminars is much more useful than splitting hairs over my title.

Ostensibly, YOU don't need this or any info in this thread! You've already pointed out you don't like speaking, don't want to do it, whatever. Doesn't matter.

So your contribution is to split hairs and point out that I should never have put #1 best in my title... YAWN.

Time to move on, Shaun, nothing to see here....

David

Shaun OReilly · 06-09-2009, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

Ostensibly, YOU don't need this or any info in this thread! You've already pointed out you don't like speaking, don't want to do it, whatever. Doesn't matter.

I have not said that I don't like speaking/seminars.

In fact, early in my business I used seminars to get clients and
at one point was even part of a training company.

I've been on both sides of the fence.

I do have an interest in this thread because one of my markets is
the 'getting offline clients arena' and I like to look at the advice
being given, evaluate it and listen to the discussion.

If I see some misleading advice being given I have a duty to point
it out. You call it splitting hairs if you choose.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly

I have not said that I don't like speaking/seminars.

In fact, early in my business I used seminars to get clients and
at one point was even part of a training company.

I've been on both sides of the fence.

I do have an interest in this thread because one of my markets is
the 'getting offline clients arena' and I like to look at the advice
being given, evaluate it and listen to the discussion.

If I see some misleading advice being given I have a duty to point
it out. You call it splitting hairs if you choose.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

Using the word "misleading" the way you did is misleading especially since my advice is not misleading anyone; and, there's nothing wrong with me saying it's "#1 best" and that's a horse that's been beaten to death - I say it is, you say it isn't, everyone gets their opinion, and an opinion plus $4 might buy a latte and that's about it; I bet people following this thread are tired of you belaboring your point, so would you kindly leave that alone? If you want to play forum police, I think that's the job of the mods, not you.

This thread was/is SUPPOSED to be my small attempt to open people's eyes to a possibility they might not consider, and you don't need to stand up to defend all the other warriors and make sure they know that (here comes a sarcastic tone) that I'm a big fat liar when I said "#1 best". I'm going to presume that people reading this thread will decide for themselves if I'm misleading them or not and don't need you or anyone else to "stand up for them". Once again, I yawn at the need to spend one more second on this. You've made your point, Shaun, let it go.

While I can't reproduce all 4 of my books here, or my hundreds of articles on the topic, or recount each and every one of my strategies and the methods my students use to succeed using speaking/seminars, at least I'm trying to give people a little good solid real-world info they can use to succeed; I can not say you've helped with that or contributed anything meaningful to helping people generate and convert leads using speaking/seminars....

If I mislead anyone, my hope is that I *mislead* them right into generating and converting a ton of leads and turning on a flood of new income and cash using a method they might never have considered previously.

Best,
David

Shaun OReilly · 06-09-2009, 03:01 PM

I apologize that this thread has been diverted in part
by my own posts.

The very first reply I posted was made with the intention
of making some valid points and adding to the discussion.

In your subsequent replies David I found your tone sarcastic
and condescending and I rose to the bait.

I take responsibility for my responses.

I'll bow out now - having made my point - yes too often.

The important thing for me is that it's made and considered
and rejected by others if necessary.

This is a discussion forum and not necessarily an agreement
forum.

Listening to different points of view is part of how we learn
and question our own assumptions and discover blind spots.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

chrisnegro · 06-09-2009, 03:22 PM

Its all good guys. Its normal human behavior to have professionals (who are good at what they do and passionate about what they know and abilities) to disagree on details of things.

So David....what is the top 3 most profound advice to wow your clients where it eventually opens up their checkbook after your presentation. Obviously, you have to deliver good content....but the goal like you said is to get them to open their check book at the end of the presentation....have you seen anything that works quite well. Trends/Patterns?

Using buzz words like.....don't worry if you think the autoresponder is too technical to understand. "We provide a hands free solution where we "can do all the work for you" is really powerful.

Chris Negro

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisnegro

Its all good guys. Its normal human behavior to have professionals (who are good at what they do and passionate about what they know and abilities) to disagree on details of things.

So David....what is the top 3 most profound advice to wow your clients where it eventually opens up their checkbook after your presentation. Obviously, you have to deliver good content....but the goal like you said is to get them to open their check book at the end of the presentation....have you seen anything that works quite well. Trends/Patterns?

Using buzz words like.....don't worry if you think the autoresponder is too technical to understand. "We provide a hands free solution where we "can do all the work for you" is really powerful.

Chris Negro

Thanks Chris, I'm sure Shaun and I would go for a beer later if we were on the same continent. No worries, as they say.

To answer your question, in my experience (and yes, the students too) it's really not the wow that does it. Wow is what the speaking clubs and organizations would have you erroneously believe is *the thing*.

Without recreating what I've written in my existing articles, and I'll probably get some disagreement on this, but this is the truth - what gets people to buy is emotion.

More specifically, if there were "steps to follow" here's the order:

1. Curiosity: ideally they need to be saying to themselves, "how'd he DO that??"

1.5 Proof: prove to them you know what you're talking about, have done what you're telling them they can do. I call this 1.5 because in my mind it's part of the curiosity part...

2. Desire: after showing / proving to them what you're proposing you can do / have done, you want them freaking drooling with desire.

Along the way, bring up and destroy all the objections you already know they'll have - do that in advance so later, when you're getting close to the "pitch", they'll never have the chance to say "yeah, but..."

3. Fear: this may ruffle some feathers, but it truly is fear that gets people to take action.

Prevention simply does not sell. My students are mostly (mostly) comprised of insurance agents, financial planners, asset protection and estate planning professionals, real estate agents and mortgage pros - that ilk - they and I see it over and over, if you scare the heck out of them, they'll get serious.

And, by the way, re-read the Carl Galletti quote/paraphrase from above - one of my estate-planning clients scares the heck out of people and pushes all their fear buttons about what will happen to their money and possessions after they pass away - this is completely ethical and within integrity because what's better? A. They don't take action and put an estate plan together and as a result of their procrastination, their family is torn apart from an estate feud and probate process and lawyers eat up much of the estate, or B. He (the pro) scares them into taking action preventing all that mess and loss?

4. Call to action: tell them exactly what they should do - if you don't have the book Influence by Robert Cialdini, get it and read it right now. Use scarcity at a minimum to motivate them to do it NOW.

5. Follow up: those who don't buy should be contacted. Maybe make 'em a special offer, ask them questions - I don't want to make this sound too inflexible, your follow up could be another pitch, a survey, etc.

Yes, there are other factors - i.e., as another warrior noted, body language counts so use the techniques I teach on my videos at SeminarAcademy.com.

Hope that helps!

David

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 04:00 PM

PS: Yes, the "we do the work for you" is strong, Chris. The more you've "already done it for them" the better. People do like turn-key solutions.

JohnMcCabe · 06-09-2009, 04:21 PM

After watching two bulls pawing the grass, and agreeing to walk away without goring each other, how about a lighter moment?

Regarding the "wow" that wins speech contests, I remember what one old pro told me about the difference in speaking to entertain and speaking to sell...

"It's hard to give a standing ovation with your wallet in your hand..."

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly

I apologize that this thread has been diverted in part
by my own posts.

The very first reply I posted was made with the intention
of making some valid points and adding to the discussion.

In your subsequent replies David I found your tone sarcastic
and condescending and I rose to the bait.

I take responsibility for my responses.

I'll bow out now - having made my point - yes too often.

The important thing for me is that it's made and considered
and rejected by others if necessary.

This is a discussion forum and not necessarily an agreement
forum.

Listening to different points of view is part of how we learn
and question our own assumptions and discover blind spots.

Dedicated to your success,

*Shaun O'Reilly

Well said, Shaun, I understand completely. No hard feelings...

Best,
David

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Regarding the "wow" that wins speech contests, I remember what one old pro told me about the difference in speaking to entertain and speaking to sell...

"It's hard to give a standing ovation with your wallet in your hand..."

I like it!

Many of the speaking clubs and organizations look down their nose at selling from the stage and are overly concerned with speaking fees and wowing the crowd.

Complete waste of time IMO.

If I had known 15 years ago what I know now, I'd be much wealthier today.

I was doing what they all said I should do, but frankly their advice is only good if you plan to do keynote speeches, or go down the very, very hard path of speaking for fees.

If there's one thing people should get, it's that speaking/seminars is advertising. Cheap (or even free), super-effective, fun-to-the-point-of-addictive advertising.

Best,
David

chrisnegro · 06-09-2009, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

taking action preventing all that mess and loss?

4. Call to action: tell them exactly what they should do - if you don't have the book Influence by Robert Cialdini, get it and read it right now. Use scarcity at a minimum to motivate them to do it NOW.

This is something I'm still debating and may not fit my personal situation. Business owners paid $50 to hear me speak on How to put their Marketing on Autopilot. When I showed the slide at the end of my presentation (where I have 3 packages in which they can choose from with price points) I KNEW I shouldn't have showed the price points in this particular slide. Outside of reading the subtle body language they gave (after I shared the slide) I thought to myself....wait... they PAID for this event and now I'm asking them to PAY MORE.

A better approach (in my opinion for my situation) is show the slide (with no price points for each package) and then kindly share with them the following:

"If you want a hands free solution where we can completely take this off of your hands, we do have some service plans here on this slide. However, if you want to know more about these packages that we offer.....I have some information here that you can conveniently take home and look at. But in the meantime, I want to spend time the rest of this time to answer any questions you may have as the formal part of the presentation is now over."

This does a couple things:

1) It honors and respect the business owners who already paid to hear your speech. It puts a bad pill in alot of people who have paid and trying to SELL MORE to them.

2) If they are interested in your autoresponder services.....TRUST ME...they will ask for that information anyway.

3) By not force feeding the pricing for your service plans (in the last slide) you create CURIOSITY...like what is it going to cost to get this done. One thing I've observed in my years of selling is the key to sell...IS NOT TO SELL. You lead and guide and let them feel in control

4) You can clearly GAGE INTEREST LEVEL...because they want to know more about what its going to take to get this off the ground.

5) THEY ARE CONTROLING THE BUYING PROCESS FROM THE BEGINNING. Numerous marketing studies have shown that people buy into their buying decisions the more they perceive they "freely chose and controlled the entire process". When a business owner asks you the question: "How much is this going to cost or What does your service plans run or Can I get a copy of those service plans that you are offering" they are initiating the buying process from the beginning. The more they initiate the buying process from the beginning...the greater the likelyhood they will purchase one of your service plans.

Results show they "identify with their choice" and are more confident in their choice because it was never perceived to be "forced fed". By force feeding the pricing points (given they already paid for the event) will prevent the "experience" you want your customers to have in my opinion. Furthermore, everyone loves an adventure. You can create a little bit of adventure when you dangle of a little carrot of curiosity and the end of your presentation.....like...I wonder what this will cost.

Thoughts/Opinions?

Chris Negro

JustaWizard · 06-09-2009, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisnegro

This is something I'm still debating and may not fit my personal situation. Business owners paid $50 to hear me speak on How to put their Marketing on Autopilot. When I showed the slide at the end of my presentation (where I have 3 packages in which they can choose from with price points) I KNEW I shouldn't have showed the price points in this particular slide. Outside of reading the subtle body language they gave (after I shared the slide) I thought to myself....wait... they PAID for this event and now I'm asking them to PAY MORE.

A better approach (in my opinion for my situation) is show the slide (with no price points for each package) and then kindly share with them the following:

"If you want a hands free solution where we can completely take this off of your hands, we do have some service plans here on this slide. However, if you want to know more about these packages that we offer.....I have some information here that you can conveniently take home and look at. But in the meantime, I want to spend time the rest of this time to answer any questions you may have as the formal part of the presentation is now over."

This does a couple things:

1) It honors and respect the business owners who already paid to hear your speech. It puts a bad pill in alot of people who have paid and trying to SELL MORE to them.

2) If they are interested in your autoresponder services.....TRUST ME...they will ask for that information anyway.

3) By not force feeding the pricing for your service plans (in the last slide) you create CURIOSITY...like what is it going to cost to get this done. One thing I've observed in my years of selling is the key to sell...IS NOT TO SELL. You lead and guide and let them feel in control

4) You can clearly GAGE INTEREST LEVEL...because they want to know more about what its going to take to get this off the ground.

5) THEY ARE CONTROLING THE BUYING PROCESS FROM THE BEGINNING. Numerous marketing studies have shown that people buy into their buying decisions the more they perceive they "freely chose and controlled the entire process".

Results show they "indetify with their choice" and are more confident in their choice because it was never perceived to be "forced fed". By force feeding the pricing points (given they already paid for the event) will prevent the "experience" you want your customers to have in my opinion. Furthermore, everyone loves an adventure. You can create a little bit of adventure when you dangle of a little carrot of curiosity and the end of your presentation.....like...I wonder what this will cost.

Thoughts/Opinions?

Chris Negro

I have a couple, yes.

First, if you promise to train/educate someone for a fee, you have to deliver on that promise.

That's my opinion.

In my opinion, if you say you're going to teach me XYZ for $50, you'd better teach me XYZ.

I've seen people upsell from a paid seminar without delivering on their promise and without batting an eyelash - I'd have trouble sleeping at night if I did that.

If you deliver on what you promised, then do an upsell, that's okay in my book. In fact, you probably *should* offer additional services for those who want it done for them, add on services, etc. Don't leave people out in the cold... give 'em resources (your upsells).

I like to think you actually don't sell; your presentation is to lead people to the inevitable conclusion - and they decide in THEIR OWN MINDS - that they want what you have.

That means by the time you get to your offer at the end, they don't have to be sold, they've already made up their mind they have to have you/your stuff/your service.

chrisnegro · 06-09-2009, 05:29 PM

This is the theory which is based on marketing research. Again...this may not be a one sized fit all model....but it maybe wise when considering your pricing in your speeches for a backend sell.

When a business owner asks you the question: "How much is this going to cost or What does your service plans run or Can I get a copy of those service plans that you are offering" they are initiating the buying process from the beginning.

The more they initiate the buying process from the beginning...the greater the likelyhood they will purchase one of your service plans. Its definately covert selling (not to mention the benefits in my above post)....and a model I'm going to start using on my paid events....with a big backend service plan offer.

P.S. I have found the more intelligent,successful, and the self made type of business owner DOES NOT WANT to be constantly sold things and want more CONTROL.

Chris Negro

Sebulba · 06-09-2009, 06:11 PM

Thanks for a great post. Chris Negro told me this was up this morning and I am impressed with the amount of insight displayed by so many here.

i have sold with this method in the past, I even worked for a national seminar company almost 20 years ago. there business model was that I would go out and give 20 minute content rich teasers and sell the $150 seminar off of that, at the time that was a hefty price. We would put 200 to 300 people in the room with this method then the bigshots would come in and to a full day seminar. I got paid about 1/3 of the gross, $30,000 for the day for the presenters and $10,000 for my legwork.

Now I am working the offline market as mentioned in this thread. I have a workshop scheduled for a week from tomorrow. 3 people signed up today, I have a lot of work to do in the next few days, I want 10 people there and I will be happy.

Keep all of this good info coming.

Seb

AndrewCavanagh · 06-09-2009, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artwebster

A good post but you missed out what is REALLY the Nº1 BEST way to market yourself.

Just get out there and do something!

There is no fixed rule about what will cause a businessman to listen to you. You can do the most insane things and create great interest and generate leads.

Very, very true.

The best marketing is often the marketing that gets done.

Many people sit around trying to find a way to market themselves better as a way to avoid taking real action.

The irony of it is that sitting around thinking about it is quite painful...you don't make any money doing it and your fear of what might happen when you do take action gets worse and worse.

But if you just go out and do something NOW then you get some momentum going and you also realize most of the things you were worried about or afraid of were kind of stupid.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

JustaWizard · 06-10-2009, 10:28 AM

This may be helpful too - it's another one of my "mantras" that I find helpful when it comes to taking action:

Don't decide for the customer.

You could replace customer with "contact" or "prospect" or someone you're planning to call about a speaking engagement.

More specifically, here's an example - and this is not directly related to speaking/seminars, but bear with me: I used to do tons and tons of cold calling as part of marketing a software program. Sometimes I'd have called a prospect 3 or 4 times, gotten voicemail or otherwise not gotten a good result, and when looking at calling them again, started to figure they were dodging me or otherwise just not interested.

Then I'd buck up and make one more call, and often I'd get a response like "wow, I'm glad you called, I was trying to find your phone number on a scrap of paper I misplaced..."

So when it comes to the fact that you will have to deal with others (including the groups you speak to) don't make up their mind for them, don't decide for them what they're thinking or how they'll respond.

Just take action without speculating about the reactions you'll get.

I think PERHAPS many of us have overactive imaginations and create all kinds of "what-if" scenarios in our minds.

Turn off the internal movies and dialogue and just move forward!

Hope that helps....

David

JustaWizard · 06-10-2009, 10:50 AM

Another quickie I hope you'll find helpful when you're speaking to groups:

Don't judge how you're doing by the faces in your groupjj - here's an example.

Not long ago I was doing a workshop, and in the front row this one guy kept rolling his eyes and shaking his head and rubbing his forehead.

By his body language, I thought this guy was really just hating every single word that came out of my mouth.

It seemed that my presentation was torturing him and he was dying on the vine.

After I was done he came up and gave me compliments about the workshop, and then added:

"I just wish I didn't have this horrible hangover!"

So don't judge yourself based on what you see in the crowd.

Some people like to close their eyes and listen intently to the words you're saying - don't assume those with eyes closed are bored or disinterested.

Which brings up another point: and this is REALLY IMPORTANT:

Do not try to "win over" anyone in the room who is just not paying attention, having conversations in the back of the room, etc.

I made that mistake for years: I took it personally, and maybe I wasn't as secure as I am now so I wanted every single person in the room to pay attention and "like me".

Now I know better. I'm not there to "get everyone" in the room; not everyone is going to want to do business with me (or you) and that's okay, I'm happy to "get" the people that I get and it doesn't have to be everyone. Plus let's face it, some customers and prospects need to be "fired" anyway (different topic, but you get the point, eh?)

Hope that helps!
David

chrisnegro · 06-10-2009, 05:30 PM

Good stuff David...keep them coming.

Success to you ,

Chris Negro

TimCastleman · 06-10-2009, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Quote:
Originally Posted by artwebster

A good post but you missed out what is REALLY the Nº1 BEST way to market yourself.

Just get out there and do something!

There is no fixed rule about what will cause a businessman to listen to you. You can do the most insane things and create great interest and generate leads.

Very, very true.

The best marketing is often the marketing that gets done.

Many people sit around trying to find a way to market themselves better as a way to avoid taking real action.

The irony of it is that sitting around thinking about it is quite painful...you don't make any money doing it and your fear of what might happen when you do take action gets worse and worse.

But if you just go out and do something NOW then you get some momentum going and you also realize most of the things you were worried about or afraid of were kind of stupid.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Action beats meditation every time. So many times in life I was successful at something because I just stepped up when no one else would.

That is how I got to announce a game at the Dallas Stars arena - I took action while others pondered.

Here is a great tip for you to use to get your butts in gear. It is from my forthcoming book - 3 questions to a better life.

Take a sheet of paper and ask yourself this question:

What 5 things could I do now to get started in Offline Marketing?

Then do all of those 5 things at once. Then add one or two things a month to that list.

Before you know it you'll be busier than a dog in heat. (little Texas humor there for ya).

Tim

TK6863 · 06-11-2009, 07:50 AM

If you can show them how to get more prospects.

And increase their conversion rate.

And increase their average sale.

With a rudimentary knowledge do it.
most are truly clueles because their technicians.

Hook up with a player and thet'll be your safety net the first few times ... and play off their credibilty to book the seminars or workshops.

06-08-2009, 04:44 PM	#1
JustaWizard SEO Expert & Author War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 486 Thanks: 201 Thanked 57 Times in 31 Posts Social Networking	Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Hi Warriors! There's been a lot of stir here at the WF about taking your online skills and selling them to offline businesses. This has caused a lot of people to wonder about marketing, and there's already been a ton of great advice in various other threads. I want to share with warriors here what is in my experience and the experience of my students THE #1 BEST WAY to market yourself... ...and that is through free speaking and seminars - now before you stop reading and click away because you think you have stage fright and/or fear of public speaking I want you to consider this: Fear of public speaking is actually much MUCH easier to conquer than most people realize AND you are doing yourself a terrible disservice to rule out speaking and seminars. Why? Because when you find out that whatever bad experience you had in the past (likley in school) has absolutely nothing to do with the present. ----------------- Just so you know... I've published numerous books on this topic, have taught literally thousands of students over the years, and I'm an established expert in the area of public speaking and presentation skills, I've got workshops on the Learning Annex Website, and on and on... ...just so you know I'm not just making this stuff up... ----------- I know, I know, there are a ton of you Warriors that will post all the reasons why your fear of public speaking and stage fright is crippling etc. etc. etc. etc. But the reality is: 1. If you argue for your limitations, they are yours to keep forever. 2. I have taken students with terrifying fear of public speaking and turned them into SUPERSTARS who are totally addicted to public speaking. 3. You absolutely should not let fear stand in the way of your success. 4. When (not if, WHEN) you discover that that fear was as real as the monsters you thought were hiding under your bed as a child, you will have a boost in confidence that will make you unstoppable! Plus, I myself was terrified of public speaking too, so if my students and I can do it, you can too. --------------------- Now I want to share with you some of my tips and tricks about how to market yourself using speaking and seminars. But if after reading this it's STILL not enough for you... ...and you want even more info, I've got a ton of free articles and free training on my website at Public Speaking Training ---------------- When it comes to seminar and speaking success, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years. But I’ve learned a lot from those mistakes. To be fair, the last 27 years of doing workshops, seminars and speaking was not just one long string of mistakes, I’ve had a lot of successes too. As of right this moment, I’ve done 1,893 workshops, keynote speeches, trainings, classes, seminars – you get the idea. My intention here is to give you a very healthy dose of what I wish I knew many years ago. If I knew then what you’re about to know now, I’m 100% convinced I would have made much more money and not spun my wheels as much. Whether you’re a total beginner or a seasoned pro or somewhere in between, I’m willing to bet that you’ll get at least one or two gems out of what I’m about to share with you here. These days my focus is on teaching business owners and professionals and entrepreneurs how to use speaking and seminars as lead generation and lead conversion tools; but even if you have different ideas about what speaking and seminars will do for you, I’m positive that you’ll learn some techniques here that you can use right away. Moreover, as time goes by you’ll see more and more value in what I’m about to share with you. ------------------------ How to End Stage Fright and Fear of Public Speaking In 30 Seconds Jerry Seinfeld said “attending a funeral, most people would rather be the person in the casket than the person giving the eulogy”. I’ve done survey after survey and the #1 reason people don’t harness the incredible power of seminars and speaking is simply because of stage fright and fear of public speaking. You can end public speaking fear in 30 seconds, and here’s how: Right before my first national radio interview, I was sitting in the green room and I started to feel a bit nervous thinking about potentially millions of people hearing me on the radio. So, I used one of the techniques I teach to terminate stage fright: I thought of someone who in my opinion would never in a million years be nervous in that situation. I changed my attitude to be just like that person. Then I did the same with my face, and my body posture, and my breathing. 30 seconds later, stage fright dropped from 8 out of 10 down to 1. You can use this technique exactly the same way. Remember: you’re not imitating, just emulating – that’s the key to this technique. Bonus tip: using this technique – which I call “The Hero Process” – can also vastly improve your speaking and presenting skills at an accelerated rate. Translation: you get to be a much better presenter than you deserve to be, and shortcut a process that normally requires years & years of experience. ------------------ 4 Simple Steps to a Terrific Presentation Even If You Have No Time to Prepare This presentation structure also covers the four major ways people absorb information. All you need to do is simply take your content and structure it in this simple but powerful four-step sequence: 1. Purpose: why is this topic important? Why should your audience be interested or listen to you in the first place? You can tell them, and/or you can elicit their reasons. 2. Facts: next you go into the facts data and statistics you have on your topic. 3. How can your audience apply this information? How can they use it? Tell them and/or have them tell you how. 4. Questions: take questions from the group or pose your own questions to them. You could also explore options and alternatives to what you’ve presented to that point. Now just sandwich those four steps with a brief summary of the main points of your presentation that you want them to remember most. You can also put a short intro at the very beginning, a thank-you at the very end, and you’re done. ------------------- Do Not Lose Control of Your Group You’ve been there before: you’re sitting in the audience attending a seminar or presentation that you’ve been looking forward to eagerly. Maybe you’ve even paid a decent sum of money to hear what the presenter has to say on a topic that’s important and interesting to you. But some audience member keeps interrupting with long-winded questions, completely ruining the flow of the presentation and eating up precious time. In your head you keep wishing that person would just shut up, or that the presenter would take control and stop the constant interruptions. But no – the situation goes from bad to worse as others jump on the bandwagon interrupting with inane, off-topic questions as you get more and more angry and frustrated. In the end, the presenter has run out of time to deliver on what you came to hear and you end up getting short-changed. Don’t let this happen in your speaking and seminars. People have come to hear you speak, not someone who’s trying to hijack your seminar, or tell their life story, or act like a show-off trying to “steal the show” from you. Set the ground rules up front. ------------------- Tell your audiencehow things are going to be. Tell them that you’ll take questions only during a specified question and answer period, or after your seminar is over. In some cases, such as conducting trainings, it might be appropriate or even necessary to take questions and allow audience participation during your presentation. But if you’ve promised to deliver on a specific topic, your audience is expecting you to follow through so don’t disappoint them by allowing anyone to hijack your presentation. Keep control of your presentation by setting the ground rules up front and be prepared to enforce them if necessary – with a smile, of course! ----------------- How to “Get the Butts in the Seats” This is one of the most common questions I get. The answers are alarming simple. It’s actually not rocket science, but most people think there’s some kind of magic method to fill a room with people who want to hear what you have to say. Which, by the way, touches on an important point: if your topic is something that people are eager to hear about, you should have no trouble attracting groups. I wouldn’t gloss over that last sentence. Answer this question honestly: are you giving people what they want, or what you want them to want? With all that in mind, here are the realities of getting the butts in the seats. The easiest way to get the butts in the seats is to let someone else do it for you: speak at other people’s seminars or meetings or conventions. Believe it or not, all around you right now are associations and clubs and organizations that are dying for speakers on your topic. Afraid you’ll be making “cold calls”? – you won’t; these are the warmest calls you’ll ever make. Be prepared when they jump through the phone line and right into your lap. Also, why not partner up with people who are already doing speaking or seminars to your target market, but are not in competition with you? Point out how you’ll provide value to their seminar or event, but won’t be competing with them. Those are two very strong ways to speak to rooms full of people, but without struggling to get the butts in the seats. Another time-tested and proven method is to go out and speak wherever you can, and then promote an upcoming seminar you’re going to give. You can promote a free introductory seminar or even a paid event. Here’s another tip for you: OPD. OPD stands for other people’s databases. Your attorney, chiropractor, tax preparer, financial planner and insurance agents all have huge databases of clients who might want to attend your seminar. Sure, you can buy a generic mailing list and mail out thousands of mailers and take out advertising all over town if you want. You can also start ripping up hundred dollar bills and tossing them out the window, too. ------------------- Closing Thoughts on Seminar and Speaking Success – and a Sprinkling of “Tough Love” Don’t fall into the “be a great speaker” trap. Many people somehow think that if they become a “master of the stage” and an expert at “platform mechanics and presentation skills” that their success is guaranteed. If “success” is defined as rounds of applause and standing ovations, they would be right. But applause and standing ovations don’t pay the bills, my friend. “The path of the great speaker” is the path to the poorhouse. If your goal is to be a great speaker, I hope you have a lot of money saved up, or have someone to support you financially. You can ignore this advice if you are already famous because well-known athletes, politicians, and actors can often command large speaking fees and get easy bookings. However, I suggest you forget about the path of the great speaker and instead take the path of “the speaker that gets results”. I’m talking about getting measurable results such as sales produced, appointments booked, donations made, products or services sold, petitions signed, prospects generated – measurable, tangible results. Which brings me to another point and illustrates a mistake I made for years: I thought that if I was a great speaker and I delivered a highly educational content-packed presentation, people would decide to buy from me or do business with me. I was very, very wrong. If you give people the sense that they’ve learned everything about your topic in the short time you’ve spoken to them, you’re doing them a terrible disservice. Because the reality is that even if you speak for a few hours, it’s more than likely that you won’t be able to truly impart enough knowledge and skill to them to be able to actually utilize what you’re telling them. People have very short memories and attention spans; moreover very few people are going to take action on what you’re presenting to them. Even if you’re not trying to teach them anything and just doing “motivational speaking”, it’s a sure bet that the next day they’ll forget much more than they remember about your speech. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that your great speaking skills will overcome this very real fact of human nature. And don’t be so egotistical that you think you can impart enough information in a short speech to make any significant difference. The purpose of your talk should be to create curiosity and then desire, and then you should make a strong and clear call to action. You might disagree with this and this may take a while to sink in, but hopefully it’ll sink in sooner rather than later so you can save yourself a lot of wasted time and energy. Which bring up a very important point: speaking is advertising. That’s all it really is. The sooner you grasp the reality of that statement the better off you will be. Speaking is the best form of advertising that every existed and ever will exist. Speaking beats networking, cold calling, publicity, and all other forms of advertising hands-down. When you get up in front of people and speak, you are the expert. You are the authority. People get a sense of if they like you believe you and trust you, right then and there. Speaking is free advertising. If you collect a speaking fee, then you’re getting paid to advertise. Smart speakers know that getting a speaking fee is not the goal to chase; focus on generating and converting leads and you’ll make much more money on the backend. This is something else I really wish I’d known a long time ago. Is a light bulb going on for you right now? By the way: The reason why doing actual speaking will eliminate stage fright is not because you’ll become progressively conditioned to not being afraid; your fear will disappear simply because you will have the direct and undeniable experience that there is no monster hiding under the bed after all. Doing speaking and seminars is highly, highly addicted. But with this addiction, you won’t become brain-damaged or get fat – however, your bank account can get quite fat if you follow some of my suggestions. Best, David PS: If you want even more info, I've got a ton of free articles and free training on my website at Public Speaking Training
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06-08-2009, 05:52 PM	#3
JustaWizard SEO Expert & Author War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 486 Thanks: 201 Thanked 57 Times in 31 Posts Social Networking	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Well, having done years and years and years of trainings as well as seminars, workshops, and a ton of other presentations, when it comes to selling in a group environment, the reality is that education is not really the goal. And I sincerely hate to have to say that, but in a short (1.5 - 3 hour) presentation, it's pretty foolish to think one can really impart very much skill that will really stick. It's just human nature - people get pumped up and deflated later and unless you're actually conducting an all-out training, attempting to educate / impart skill is actually not a good idea. What IS a good idea is to educate them A LITTLE - just enough to know they need you. Or you can overwhelm them with a ton of what to do, but not necessarily how to do it (THAT'S good education in the framework of speaking to generate and convert leads). I've learned this the hard way! Best, David
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06-08-2009, 09:05 PM	#4
chrisnegro Success Is Intentional War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 1,417 Thanks: 403 Thanked 181 Times in 77 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Good stuff David. I'm already doing public speaking and workshops and gave away a free wso explaining this here --> Killer Offline Strategy No One is talking about (sneaky) But I did have 2 Questions for you (which I've already PM'ed you as well) as I thought I would share these questions with you so everyone can learn -- as workshops and public speaking is a favorite of mine) : 1) I live in 2 hours southwest of Chicago. What non-competing seminar/businesses should I be targeting (to speak in their conferences)that would flow nicely with my marketing on autopilot seminar? Any tips,trends, or industries that you see to work well (in terms of joining their seminar) based on your experience? If I wanted to speak in the Chicago Land area (for example), HOW DO I TARGET THE SEMINAR ORGANIZER IN ADVANCE TO SPEAK AT THEIR EVENT BEFORE THEY START MARKETING THE SEMINAR? You and I know that you typically know of a seminar when they start marketing it. And when they start marketing it....they typically promote (in their brochures/flyers/tv ads ect..) who is going to speak and what they will learn. Seems to me...when its at this stage...most seminar organizers will pass on having you come on board. Thoughts? 2) I know industries that have small and medium sized business owners (e.g. sign companies) as clients. BUT HOW DO I KNOW (in advance so I can target them efficiently) if they have a HUGE EMAIL DATABASE? Most companies (where I live in a rural area) do not have a email database let alone a big one. Thoughts? Chris Negro
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06-08-2009, 10:28 PM	#5
Mark Riddle Breakthrough Expert War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Finally in Branson, MO !!, USA. Posts: 1,171 Thanks: 228 Thanked 187 Times in 121 Posts	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... David, To echo on some of the things you are pointing out, My mentor taught me: "If you are giving a speech, you have already lost the crowd. Talk with the people in the room with you, and they will value your every word." For me this was the huge mental shift that makes talking with groups an easy task. Another favorite tip is; "Pride and self centeredness is the foundation for stage fright. You care more about how people think of YOU, than you care about helping the group in need of your information". Mark Riddle
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06-08-2009, 11:16 PM	#6
AndrewCavanagh Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Cairns, Australia. Posts: 3,267 Thanks: 3 Thanked 784 Times in 425 Posts	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Public speaking is a great way to promote your services but if you're starting out selling your services to brick and mortar businesses it may not be such a great idea to BEGIN with. Let me elaborate. First to speak you need an audience. If someone else is providing an audience for you without you having to pay a cent or generate leads or mail people etc etc my advice it DO IT. Follow the advice above and get some experience and possibly some paying clients. Groups like Rotary, Toastmasters etc where there are a high percentage of business owners are a cool way to get some experience and the smaller the group the less likely it is you'll blow your reputation with the local business community. But if you're just starting out and you haven't worked with a client in my opinion you shouldn't be trying to generate leads to do a seminar to speak so you can get clients from that seminar. It's a lengthy process and you'd be better off STARTING by just setting up those leads so you can talk to them one on one. That will give you some real experience with business owners so that if you decide to in the future you'll have something to talk about if you run a seminar. Be aware that running seminars requires a lot of work and filling a room with business owners can cost a LOT of money. If a business networking group or someone with a large list is filling the room for you it's a nice starting strategy. But spending your own money on this when you haven't worked with paying clients...it's too much of a crash and burn situation. I was a professional speaker so I do understand the benefits of it. But for people starting out you really want to get some experience working with a few clients before you start thinking of trying to generate leads for a seminar on your own dollar. Kindest regards, Andrew Cavanagh
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06-09-2009, 02:07 AM	#7
Shaun OReilly Internet Fundamentalist War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 2,236 Thanks: 379 Thanked 1,312 Times in 664 Posts Contact Info	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... The #1 best way to market yourself and your services depends upon your target market and your strengths/ skill set. Therefore, there is no absolute #1 way that's universal for all people and all markets. Just because you have a hammer in your hand, doesn't mean that everything is a nail. That said, public speaking can be a great way to get clients as it puts you in an almost instantaneous position of authority. However, there are some caveats... 1. Develop the Skill The ability to stand up in front of a room of strangers is a skill and therefore can be developed... over time. When I first started out, I went to my old school to deliver a presentation to them. It was less threatening (though I was still scared **less!) but I was developing it bit by bit. I gradually got myself in front of larger and more experienced groups to begin to craft my presentation skills. Eventually, I got to the point where I could be asked to give an impromptu speech and be able to do it well - this took a while to get to that point though. 2. Learn How to Structure a Presentation to Sell To generate clients or enquiries from a presentation, you need to structure your talk effectively so that you sell the audience on the desired action e.g. to request a report, to request a consultation or to book there and then. You need to decide what action you want your audience to take and then structure your presentation accordingly to move them in that direction. The very first time I got in front of a rom of about 35 hot prospects for my services, I blew it. I got zero clients. Why? I wasn't experienced enough at that time to arrange a talk to effectively sell the action. At that time, I didn't know about multi-step marketing and getting people to take baby steps instead of going after the sale there and then. Also incongruence. I was saying some of the right things verbally, but non verbally I was 'saying' something else. 3. Practise, Practise, Practise** If you want to add public speaking to your marketing bow then seek out as many opportunities as possible to get out there and speak in front of people. This will accelerate the development of your presentation skills and increase the conversion rates you get from this marketing method too. I recall the story of Tony Robbins who when he first started used to do three presentations a day instead of one a week that most of his colleagues used to do. So, he got two years normal experience in a month. Like I say, presentations and workshops can be a great source of clients provided your target market are easily reached via this method and you've got at least some presentation skills. Dedicated to your success, *Shaun O'Reilly

06-09-2009, 03:39 AM	#8
garyk1968 HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 319 Thanks: 36 Thanked 23 Times in 20 Posts	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Thanks for a great post and link to some more resources David!

06-09-2009, 04:19 AM	#9
pizzatherapy Albert Grande War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Posts: 251 Thanks: 98 Thanked 60 Times in 44 Posts Social Networking	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... This was a very inspirational post for me. Thank you for the great tips. I would add the following: I think being aware of your own body language is very important for anyone who does public speaking. While I know the following sounds very simplistic, understand that you communicate to your audience in a non-verbal way. Make sure you face the audience, smile, make eye contact and have good posture. The non-verbal cues that you send to your audience is something you need to be aware of. Speak clearly and with confidence. Thank you again for this fantastic information. albert grande
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06-09-2009, 05:02 AM	#10
artwebster Brutal honesty's me Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Coín, Spain Posts: 1,032 Blog Entries: 4 Thanks: 33 Thanked 251 Times in 138 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... A good post but you missed out what is REALLY the Nº1 BEST way to market yourself. Just get out there and do something! There is no fixed rule about what will cause a businessman to listen to you. You can do the most insane things and create great interest and generate leads. For example, about twenty years ago I was training the direct sales force of a burglar alarm company. As always, there was one smart-Alec on the course who 'knew' more than I did. I challenged him to spend the second day of the course doing what I told him to do and, if it did not produce great results, I would give him one hundred pounds in cash. The next day he did return for training and accepted my challenge. This is what I told him to do. He had to stand at the office door (which was on a major shopping street) with a clip-board and stop every adult who passed. He was to say "Excuse me, I am just doing a very simple survey. Tell me, where do you live?" "That's quite a nice area isn't it Mr/Mrs......... (wait for the surname) ......... Mr Smith." "Any way, it's a very simple survey - Mr Smith, you don't want to buy a burglar alarm, do you?" He actually sold three full systems in the day (three people said yes) and he generated a list of several thousand names and addresses. After calling all the people on the list who had said 'No' and had listed telephone numbers, he generated so many 'survey' appointments that he was able to sell those he couldn't do himself and made an absolute fortune in his first three months with the company. I didn't have to pay him but I did have to explain why I was so confident that what I told him to do would work. It was really very simple - he had a list of addresses that were not protected by burglar alarms and his 'silly, simple' survey had got the owners thinking (and worrying?).
	You might not like what I say - but I believe it. Build it, make money, then build some more Some old school smarts would help - and here's to Rob Toth for his help. Bloody good stuff, even the freebies!

06-09-2009, 10:41 AM	#18
JohnMcCabe Happy Hooker War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: North of the Peace River, Southwest Florida, USA. Posts: 7,626 Thanks: 2,687 Thanked 4,399 Times in 2,394 Posts Social Networking	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... For anyone who is afraid to talk in front of a group, or thinks they can't learn how, I have a true story for you... One of the ways our Toastmasters club generated new members was to put on a training class called "Speechcraft." Speechcraft ran for six weeks, for two hours one night a week. On the first night, we ran an exercise where we had each student stand up, give us their name, and tell us why they were in the class. The punch line was, after it was over we could tell everyone that they had just given their first talk in front of a group. Anyway, on the first night of one class "Joe" (not his real name) stood up and told us he was in the class because his boss told him he had to take it. Joe was a bright engineer at a local factory owned by a very large company. Very smart guy, but got incredibly tongue-tied if he knew more than two people were listening to him. The first 'real' speech we had the students do is called the 'Icebreaker.' A 2-minute talk about the student himself. Seems easy, right? Joe showed up with a stack of 3x5 notecards, and read them for his speech. He even read his name from one of the cards, and looked so uncomfortable I thought he was going to have a stroke and die - which would have made him the first speaker ever to die from making a speech. But Joe stuck to it, doing everything we asked. After the class, he joined our Toastmasters club. Then he started missing meetings... Turns out, Joe's company was sending him to meetings and conferences to give talks to customers, other plants, even professional conventions as a sort of company ambassador. I lost track of Joe when his company promoted him and moved him to another state. The moral of the story is that even if you are so nervous about speaking to a group you need a cue card to remember your name, there is hope for you. If "Joe" can do it, you can do it. But YOU have to do it...
	Salad is not food. Salad is what food eats... -- The REAL PETA, People for Eating Tasty Animals "I did not fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat tofu!"

06-09-2009, 10:53 AM	#19
Chris Lagarde HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 277 Thanks: 105 Thanked 65 Times in 42 Posts	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... I'm not afraid of speaking before groups, and I 've even done an offline workshop. I would like to do more but here's my current issue: getting butts in the seats. Do I price the workshop at $199 and hire outside reps to sign up attendees? I'm willing to pay $175 to the rep for the signup and even 10% (gross) of all billings for a workshop client the rep brings in...up to a year. Or do I charge a nominal fee, $49.00, knowing I will be generating new business on the backend? At this price there is not enough left over to pay an outside rep. Of course, the price could be free, but I would want to have a $25.00 deposit so the prospective client has some skin in the game. How to handle this?

06-09-2009, 10:54 AM	#20
JustaWizard SEO Expert & Author War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 486 Thanks: 201 Thanked 57 Times in 31 Posts Social Networking	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... I want to thank everyone for contributing to this thread; and I hate to pull rank, but I want anyone looking for inspiration about doing speaking/seminars to NOT be detracted by "it takes time, you have to be a great presenter, you gotta do it for a long time" type of feedback. I used to believe all the "library book" advice too, and just because someone has been a professional speaker doesn't make them an instant authority; I believe the fact that I've taught workshops and classes and trainings on this exact topic for years and have watched business owners who took action achieve great results is similar to whether you want to take advice from Tiger Woods, or his golf coach. I'd choose his coach. Great presenters do not necessarily make great teachers, nor have they had to groom other presenters to get results. My main point here really is simply that 1. a lot of the info about speaking/seminars out there is really worn-out, dated, parroted advice that if I gave that to my students, they'd never get as far as they do and 2. if you are considering doing offline business, I'm simply offering a method you can use that really works, very fast, and for free. Is it REALLY "the best" method of marketing? There are plenty of great methods of marketing; try some out, measure your ROI. There are lots of groups that would welcome you as a speaker on your topic, find them, speak to them, watch your results. Just one of my students emailed me recently (she does reverse mortgages) she did a seminar 2 weeks ago on a Saturday, had 27 people, spend $175, and 2 weeks later has $7600 in sales. That's the power of speaking/seminars. Finally, I can't possibly put ALL of everything I've learned and know into a forum post or three! Impossible! But hopefully some warriors will be inspired, take action and get good results using speaking/seminars. And again, for tons more real-world info, more than I can post here, there is plenty of free training all over the internet, of course, I'm partial to my training because I and my students have real world results - and my main free training sites are Public Speaking Training and Public Speaking, Seminar Training, Presentation Skills For those who are reading this thread for inspiration, I hope you're inspired - I offer you real-world proven results - NOT just mine, but my many many students as well. I do know this is a method that works for me and my students - the one's that actually take action.
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06-09-2009, 01:01 PM	#25
chrisnegro Success Is Intentional War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 1,417 Thanks: 403 Thanked 181 Times in 77 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Shaun: Perhaps its not for all...but I can't figure out ANYWHERE were you can be viewed as the guru and expert (and command automatic respect) to business owners you never met before -- all in one sitting. Not to mention......capturing all those business owners at one time and be able to share your knowledge and a chance to upsell them on the backend. In one "two hour speach" you can "share" you knowledge ...tease them a little of the power of your marketing method and provide the perfect opportunity to provide marketing services on the backend. THIS IS GREAT AS YOU DON'T HAVE TO COLD CALL OR NOTHING....AND WASTE COUNTLESS HOURS SHARING YOUR SERVICES TO BUSINESS OWNERS. You mean you can do all of this in under 2 hours if you conduct a speech or workshop ----YES. This is working smart not hard if you ask me For me....its THEE #1 Marketing Method I am using. I'm getting to the point where I'm perfecting my "How to put your marketing on Autopilot" Presentation and plan to start going national with this is in 8 months. I charge $55 for my presentation (which includes lunch in which I get the restaurant to sponsor the lunch for free). In return for the sponsored lunch, I put their restaurant logo on my direct mail post cards (which I have to market anyway) reminding business owners that the workshop is 3 and 2 weeks away (for example). Then...as the business owners leave the workshop....the restaurant can give out a coupon (with their menu on it) This is a win-win for both parties....kind of like barter marketing. Think about it....it will cost them around $6 (in actual cost per lunch served) and lets say you have 30 business owners who attend the workshop. That is a total cost of $180 out of pocket for the restaurant. But in return....you promote your workshop (and include the business's logo on the post card) twice through direct mailers ($500 marketing value) AND they get to give a coupon for their business when business owners leave the workshop ($150 marketing value). Monetary results: 30 business ownes @ $55 = $1650 Room Fee = - $100 2 Direct Mailing of Post Cards = -$500 Right here alone you are making $350 per hour and I'm including the time it takes to set up the workshop an hour before you go live. The power comes when you can have MANY seminars to speak at --every other week.....THIS IS THE TRUE POWER OF SEMINAR SPEAKING. Backend revenues for me have been coming with a 10% response rate (3 Business owners) = $1500 + $300 monthly reoccuring. Net for workshop: $2550 + $300 monthly reoccuring. Not bad for 3 hours worth of work (less of course the time to set up the business owners autoresponder service which typically takes up no more then 30 minutes) . At a glance...for 4.5 hours of actual work....your looking at a rate of making $550 per hour + the $300 monthly reoccuring. Not a bad gig if you ask me. Chris Negro
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06-09-2009, 03:01 PM	#34
Shaun OReilly Internet Fundamentalist War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 2,236 Thanks: 379 Thanked 1,312 Times in 664 Posts Contact Info	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... I apologize that this thread has been diverted in part by my own posts. The very first reply I posted was made with the intention of making some valid points and adding to the discussion. In your subsequent replies David I found your tone sarcastic and condescending and I rose to the bait. I take responsibility for my responses. I'll bow out now - having made my point - yes too often. The important thing for me is that it's made and considered and rejected by others if necessary. This is a discussion forum and not necessarily an agreement forum. Listening to different points of view is part of how we learn and question our own assumptions and discover blind spots. Dedicated to your success, *Shaun O'Reilly

06-09-2009, 03:22 PM	#35
chrisnegro Success Is Intentional War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 1,417 Thanks: 403 Thanked 181 Times in 77 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Its all good guys. Its normal human behavior to have professionals (who are good at what they do and passionate about what they know and abilities) to disagree on details of things. So David....what is the top 3 most profound advice to wow your clients where it eventually opens up their checkbook after your presentation. Obviously, you have to deliver good content....but the goal like you said is to get them to open their check book at the end of the presentation....have you seen anything that works quite well. Trends/Patterns? Using buzz words like.....don't worry if you think the autoresponder is too technical to understand. "We provide a hands free solution where we "can do all the work for you" is really powerful. Chris Negro
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06-09-2009, 04:00 PM	#37
JustaWizard SEO Expert & Author War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 486 Thanks: 201 Thanked 57 Times in 31 Posts Social Networking	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... PS: Yes, the "we do the work for you" is strong, Chris. The more you've "already done it for them" the better. People do like turn-key solutions.
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06-09-2009, 04:21 PM	#38
JohnMcCabe Happy Hooker War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: North of the Peace River, Southwest Florida, USA. Posts: 7,626 Thanks: 2,687 Thanked 4,399 Times in 2,394 Posts Social Networking	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... After watching two bulls pawing the grass, and agreeing to walk away without goring each other, how about a lighter moment? Regarding the "wow" that wins speech contests, I remember what one old pro told me about the difference in speaking to entertain and speaking to sell... "It's hard to give a standing ovation with your wallet in your hand..."
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06-09-2009, 05:29 PM	#43
chrisnegro Success Is Intentional War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 1,417 Thanks: 403 Thanked 181 Times in 77 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... This is the theory which is based on marketing research. Again...this may not be a one sized fit all model....but it maybe wise when considering your pricing in your speeches for a backend sell. When a business owner asks you the question: "How much is this going to cost or What does your service plans run or Can I get a copy of those service plans that you are offering" they are initiating the buying process from the beginning. The more they initiate the buying process from the beginning...the greater the likelyhood they will purchase one of your service plans. Its definately covert selling (not to mention the benefits in my above post)....and a model I'm going to start using on my paid events....with a big backend service plan offer. P.S. I have found the more intelligent,successful, and the self made type of business owner DOES NOT WANT to be constantly sold things and want more CONTROL. Chris Negro
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06-09-2009, 06:11 PM	#44
Sebulba Wyoming Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 192 Thanks: 60 Thanked 13 Times in 9 Posts	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Thanks for a great post. Chris Negro told me this was up this morning and I am impressed with the amount of insight displayed by so many here. i have sold with this method in the past, I even worked for a national seminar company almost 20 years ago. there business model was that I would go out and give 20 minute content rich teasers and sell the $150 seminar off of that, at the time that was a hefty price. We would put 200 to 300 people in the room with this method then the bigshots would come in and to a full day seminar. I got paid about 1/3 of the gross, $30,000 for the day for the presenters and $10,000 for my legwork. Now I am working the offline market as mentioned in this thread. I have a workshop scheduled for a week from tomorrow. 3 people signed up today, I have a lot of work to do in the next few days, I want 10 people there and I will be happy. Keep all of this good info coming. Seb
	Learning about offline and online marketing

06-10-2009, 10:28 AM	#46
JustaWizard SEO Expert & Author War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 486 Thanks: 201 Thanked 57 Times in 31 Posts Social Networking	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... This may be helpful too - it's another one of my "mantras" that I find helpful when it comes to taking action: Don't decide for the customer. You could replace customer with "contact" or "prospect" or someone you're planning to call about a speaking engagement. More specifically, here's an example - and this is not directly related to speaking/seminars, but bear with me: I used to do tons and tons of cold calling as part of marketing a software program. Sometimes I'd have called a prospect 3 or 4 times, gotten voicemail or otherwise not gotten a good result, and when looking at calling them again, started to figure they were dodging me or otherwise just not interested. Then I'd buck up and make one more call, and often I'd get a response like "wow, I'm glad you called, I was trying to find your phone number on a scrap of paper I misplaced..." So when it comes to the fact that you will have to deal with others (including the groups you speak to) don't make up their mind for them, don't decide for them what they're thinking or how they'll respond. Just take action without speculating about the reactions you'll get. I think PERHAPS many of us have overactive imaginations and create all kinds of "what-if" scenarios in our minds. Turn off the internal movies and dialogue and just move forward! Hope that helps.... David
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06-10-2009, 10:50 AM	#47
JustaWizard SEO Expert & Author War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 486 Thanks: 201 Thanked 57 Times in 31 Posts Social Networking	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Another quickie I hope you'll find helpful when you're speaking to groups: Don't judge how you're doing by the faces in your groupjj - here's an example. Not long ago I was doing a workshop, and in the front row this one guy kept rolling his eyes and shaking his head and rubbing his forehead. By his body language, I thought this guy was really just hating every single word that came out of my mouth. It seemed that my presentation was torturing him and he was dying on the vine. After I was done he came up and gave me compliments about the workshop, and then added: "I just wish I didn't have this horrible hangover!" So don't judge yourself based on what you see in the crowd. Some people like to close their eyes and listen intently to the words you're saying - don't assume those with eyes closed are bored or disinterested. Which brings up another point: and this is REALLY IMPORTANT: Do not try to "win over" anyone in the room who is just not paying attention, having conversations in the back of the room, etc. I made that mistake for years: I took it personally, and maybe I wasn't as secure as I am now so I wanted every single person in the room to pay attention and "like me". Now I know better. I'm not there to "get everyone" in the room; not everyone is going to want to do business with me (or you) and that's okay, I'm happy to "get" the people that I get and it doesn't have to be everyone. Plus let's face it, some customers and prospects need to be "fired" anyway (different topic, but you get the point, eh?) Hope that helps! David
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06-10-2009, 05:30 PM	#48
chrisnegro Success Is Intentional War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 1,417 Thanks: 403 Thanked 181 Times in 77 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... Good stuff David...keep them coming. Success to you , Chris Negro
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06-11-2009, 07:50 AM	#50
TK6863 Active Warrior Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: , , USA. Posts: 38 Thanks: 43 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Re: Offline Business - The #1 BEST Way to Market Yourself & Your Services Is... If you can show them how to get more prospects. And increase their conversion rate. And increase their average sale. With a rudimentary knowledge do it. most are truly clueles because their technicians. Hook up with a player and thet'll be your safety net the first few times ... and play off their credibilty to book the seminars or workshops.