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Sales Meeting: How to Prevent Seminar No-Shows
Sales Meeting Agenda: 6 Ways to Prevent Seminar No-Shows
By Jennifer A. Reimer
Horsesmouth Staff Writer
May 6, 2003
There's nothing worse than planning a seminar and having only one or two people show up. Here's how advisors can help ensure that their seminars are a big draw.
Resources
Meeting Outline
Handout #1: Knock-'Em-Dead Seminar Invitations
Handout #2: Your Personal Seminar Checklist
Sales Meeting Agendas Index
Explore the complete list of Sales Meeting Agendas.
Hosting a seminar is like throwing your first party. You plan, you invite, and then you live in fear of the unthinkable—that no one will show up and you'll be left with only your bruised ego and a full punch bowl for company. Luckily, packing a seminar venue with interesting prospects can actually be easier than throwing a successful party, once you've mastered a few simple principles. In this Sales Meeting Agenda, we'll outline several strategies that any advisor—from the greenest rookie to a seasoned presenter—can use to boost attendance.
Your next meeting in seven steps:
One week before the meeting
Articulate objective. A poorly attended seminar amounts to a big waste of time and resources—not to mention a blow to an advisor's self-confidence. Luckily, attracting more prospects can often be as simple as changing the venue or tweaking the invitation.
Ask for cooperation from two or three advisors. Scour your team for FAs who are masters at filling the seats at their seminars. Ask them to share their strategies, as well as any mistakes they have made in the past and what they've learned from them.
One day before the meeting
Read topic background:
With these six strategies, any advisor can prevent seminar no-shows.
Grab attention with a compelling invitation. Writing a compelling invitation requires a bit of psychological savvy. Seminar expert and Horsesmouth contributor Larry Klein asserts that people are more likely to be motivated by fear and loss than by opportunity and gain. When advisors sit down to draft an invitation, they should ask themselves two important questions:
What motivates my target audience?
What do they have to lose if they don't attend the seminar?
The idea is to show them how not to make mistakes and how not to lose money.
Next, advisors should translate the motivator into a powerful title that draws on emotional language. For example, compare the rather bland title "Keep Your Money in the Family" with the much more interesting "Don't Let the IRS Steal Your Money!" The second title piques prospects' anxiety and employs strong, emotional language that is both memorable and specific.
Once an FA has crafted an attention-grabbing title, he'll need to come up with six emotionally compelling and specific bullet points. These bullet points are important; in fact, they're what really sells prospects on attending. Each bullet point should capture a "sub-group" of the audience, exciting the reader's curiosity and pushing him to take action. Suppose an FA is hosting a seminar for retirees, for example. Including bullets on cutting property taxes or providing for grandchildren's college education will capture specific sub-groups within the retiree niche. The more relevant the bullet points, the more sub-groups the invitation will attract—and the larger the seminar attendance.
Be front-page news. Forget a short blurb in the "Community Calendar." A meaty local newspaper article about an upcoming seminar will give an FA immediate exposure, heighten his credibility, and provide free publicity that may translate into big savings in future marketing costs. But before inviting the local business journalist to an event, advisors should make sure that their seminars have appeal for reporters. A spiffy PowerPoint presentation and carefully rehearsed speech won't be worth a hill of beans to a journalist unless it contains something newsworthy.
When brainstorming on seminar topics, advisors should consider which topics would have the most immediate appeal to people in the local community. Another helpful tip is to identify a national financial trend and then explain the local effects of that trend. This strategy often grabs the attention of news editors, who are always looking to apply national trends to their own audience. For example, a seminar called "The Nasdaq Market's Effect on 401(k) Plans—What Residents of Mayberry Should Do" is both catchy and timely. Combine the topic with the statistics, figures, or comments offered by audience members at the seminar, and a reporter has the makings of a terrific—and newsworthy—story.
If advisors want press coverage, they need to take journalists' schedules into account when planning a seminar. Because news desks often finalize the next day's editorial lineup by late morning, breakfast and lunch seminars may work best—as long as those times are also viable for the particular prospect niche. Gala events are best reserved for evenings.
A press release is still an effective way to market a seminar, but media expert Daryll Logullo argues that press releases are best published after the fact. "A summary-style press release containing what was discussed—a market forecast, the future of tech stocks, noticeable trends on the health care industry—is a much more effective communication tool than a generic release pre-announcing the event," he says. Obviously, this tactic won't fill seats at the seminar mentioned in the release, but it may help FAs get valuable coverage that will bring prospects into their next event.
Match the message to your market. Advisors who have tried seminars before with little success may be delivering the right message to the wrong market. A successful seminar addresses a compelling need shared by members of the target niche. Again, identifying such a need means having some familiarity and understanding of the target market. When an FA knows what really motivates his prospects, he can craft a seminar that specifically addresses one or more of these hot topics.
Here's an example: Do small-business owners care most about increasing their profits (which would be an easy assumption to make)? Or is their greatest concern finding more free time to spend with their kids? Your marketing can't really be effective unless you know your niche's hot buttons. To learn what motivates their market, advisors need to speak with several members of their audience, one-to-one.
Avoid generic or inappropriate venues. Sometimes filling up that seminar room is as simple as putting a little more thought into the choice of location. Larry Klein rejects typical choices like office conference rooms, hotels, country clubs, and schools or community centers. In most cases, he argues, those places are not neutral, comfortable ground for your prospects. Attending a seminar in your office can make guests feel pressured, while hotels may make you appear like a traveling salesperson who is out of touch with the community's needs. Country clubs can seem "too fancy" for some. Picture your perfect prospect—a retired plumber who lives in a middle-income neighborhood and has a net worth of $3 million. This guy's favorite shirt has a rip in the pocket. Would he be comfortable coming to the country club? And schools… well, who among us has wonderful memories of sitting in school?
The best place for a seminar, Klein says, is a popular local restaurant. It's convenient, it's well known—and it's neutral turf. And advisors needn't worry about serving a full meal just because they're in a restaurant; coffee and pastries in a pre-booked private room will suffice. Klein also cautions FAs to avoid super-fancy restaurants, which may set up the expectation that dinner will be the main attraction, and may also intimidate some clients.
FAs who like to be creative shouldn't underestimate the power of intriguing, non-generic locations. Creative seminar venues can grab the attention of the right prospects and nudge them that last little bit toward actually attending. One Horsesmouth editor attended a financial seminar targeted toward media professionals at New York City's chic Chelsea Hotel—a well-known watering hole for intellectuals and celebrities. The seminar was successful because the advisor picked a spot where her target market would enjoy spending time. Encourage advisors to think carefully about where their target market might like to hang out. Have them consider sites with local historical or cultural significance, such as arts centers, museums, or historic homes.
Time it right. Schedule a seminar at a time that's inconvenient for your niche, and you can kiss that full house goodbye. When advisors take their prospects' schedules and predilections into account and schedule seminars accordingly, they'll see their attendance increase dramatically.
First, think critically about the target market. For example, seniors are typically early risers and tend to schedule golf, tennis, shopping, and appointments on weekday mornings. Evening events aren't good choices for this group, as many seniors have trouble driving at night. Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons are the best times to hold seminars for this demographic. Single women, especially in large cities, may also feel uncomfortable attending an evening event alone. Spend some time thinking about and observing the target market's activity pattern, and you'll be able to select the best possible time.
Some other general rules of thumb: People often feel overburdened on Mondays and Fridays, so Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are preferable for seminars. Also, avoid competing with popular sporting events or local high school and college activities. If your advisors serve a smaller community, suggest that they get ahold of the local high school's calendar of sporting and cultural events so they can be sure to schedule around big games and school plays.
Confirm, confirm, confirm. FAs' teams should always telephone prospective guests on the day before the seminar to confirm attendance. Logullo suggests sending a confirmation letter with directions. He also notes that, if advisors do opt to serve food, they may boost attendance by having prospects confirm their choice of entree. "When people actually tell you 'beef' or 'chicken,' they are making a commitment to attend that is more difficult to break." If advisors want to outsource this task, they can look into retaining a local RSVP service (check the Yellow Pages or search online for RSVP or answering services).
Make copies of Sales Meeting Handout #1 and Sales Meeting Handout #2 for later distribution. Make enough copies for all potential attendees. Be sure that advisors not present at the meeting receive the handouts later. Review both handouts to prepare for the meeting discussion.
Print Meeting Outline to follow. Review it before the meeting, and adjust as necessary.
Convene meeting, and follow Meeting Outline.
Follow up. We recommend following up on this sales meeting within a day or two. Research shows that meetings and training sessions are more effective when managers actively encourage advisors to put new ideas into practice. Within a day or two of the meeting, follow up by asking any FAs who are planning seminars if they've been able to use any of the ideas from this sales meeting, and be prepared to suggest a few steps they can take to get started.
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