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You are an expert at what you do. You know far more than the average consumer knows about your business and industry. You know how consumers can save money, how they can avoid dishonest contractors and how they can make sure they're not getting burned or scammed. Now, let me ask you a question: What do you suppose the people who attend your seminar are going to think about you? They're going to see you as the good guy/gal exactly because you're showing them how to save money, how to spot dishonest contractors and how to avoid being scammed. You can't be one of the dishonest scammers, because you're exposing dishonest tactics and revealing how to avoid scams. People will flock to your seminar to hear the invaluable information you'll be imparting.
You will have what I call "The Halo Effect" in your community-everyone will see you as someone to be liked, believed and trusted. Remember, people want to do business with people they like, believe and trust. Those people are going to want to do business with you, not someone else. When they need a contractor, you'll be the first one they think of and the first one they'll call. Plus, they'll want to refer their family, neighbors and friends to you, too.
Prepare a Script
Now that you have your irresistible seminar title, take ten minutes and sketch out a one-page bullet-point list of your seven secrets or ten tips-make the information juicy and hard-hitting. You can do this today while you eat your lunch. Make each secret or tip only one or two sentences long and number them. Voilà! Now you have your entire seminar presentation plus your handouts done all in one fell swoop.
Put your irresistible seminar title at the top, underneath that goes your list of seven secrets or ten tips, and guess what goes at the bottom of the page? That's right-all your contact information! Your business name, address, phone and fax number, e-mail, website-put your cell phone number on it, too. (You can download a free template from my website at www.seminaracademy.com to use as a model).
People are going to keep your seven secrets or ten tips handy because of the valuable information it contains, and it just happens to have all of your contact info right there. Make copies of this page to hand out to the attendees at your seminar. Use that page as your presentation, too.
When you speak at your seminar, just start with secret or tip No. 1, and talk about that for five or ten minutes. If you've got ten tips and you talk for about five minutes on each one, you're going to easily fill up an hour. Then, save the last half hour to take questions from the group. Let them know in the beginning that you'll first cover the ten tips, then take questions after that. That makes your total seminar time one hour and thirty minutes, which is a great length for a seminar. If you have a lot of material, you could go two or even three hours. But anywhere between one and three hours is long enough. At the end of the seminar, point out your cell phone number on their handout, and tell everyone that if they have any questions after the seminar, they should call you.
You may be concerned that you'll be swamped with calls, but don't worry about that; you'll see that people will be very respectful of your time if they do call you. It's your willingness to be available to them that will stand out in their minds. That goodwill will translate into new business and money in your bank account.
Pick Your Location
Finally, you need a place to hold your terrific seminar. And you need to promote it.
Go to your local main library, and ask to reserve a room to hold a community education meeting. Most main libraries have rooms exactly for this purpose. You will be allowed to use this room for free as long as you abide by their rules, which usually include that your meeting is going to benefit the community (and it will), and that you're not selling anything (which you're not). Your meeting is purely educational in nature, and you're definitely offering a huge benefit to the community. The library will be glad to post notices all over the place promoting your seminar. Just put together a simple one-page flyer that has your seminar's time, date, place and irresistible title, and they'll make copies and post it for you. You should make some copies to post on local community bulletin boards in local supermarkets, laundromats, etc.-those are places you drive by every day, so just make a quick stop and post your flyer. It'll take you less than a minute to stop and post your flyer.
Now you have created and promoted your seminar in very little time and at almost zero expense to you. The last step is to show up and deliver your terrific, educational seminar and then reap the many rewards.
Seminars are the best, fastest, easiest, most effective and least expensive way to generate and convert highly qualified leads, and it's fun! You'll get the edge on your competition and become known as THE contractor in your area. You have a complete blueprint for your seminar success. What are you waiting for? Start building your successful seminar right now!
David Portney is the president of the American Seminar Academy based in Redondo Beach, CA. Contact Portney by phone at 310.697.3527 or visit his website at www.seminaracademy.com.
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