Using seminars to sell your services

Seminar selling is not new and many industries use seminars or workshops to market their products or services. Some companies use the medium as their main source of new business leads yet others remain reluctant to adopt this specialised form of selling.

A reluctance to use such a public platform for selling your services can be for a number of quite valid reasons – it may be an understandable nervousness about speaking in public; it could be a concern about the effort required to organise the event; or, it could possibly be the perceived costs and benefits of holding a seminar.

If you are worried about public speaking, here's our top 6 tips

1. Know your material

2. Use personal stories in your presentation

3. Practice. Practice. Practice!

4. Rehearse out loud with all the equipment you plan on using.

5. Know your audience. Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to strangers.

6. Arrive early and familiarise yourself with your surroundings

A successful seminar offers an opportunity to present your services to an invited audience of interested prospects. They will be there because they want to find out more about the topic you are presenting and they will be there without many of the usual barriers you come up against with some of the more traditional forms of selling.

A successful seminar enables you to impart far more information than any brochure or website could do and you’ll be in a position to answer questions or address concerns immediately. Your clients can experience you, and your service, in action and make valuable judgements about your personality and the culture of your business.

Furthermore, the content of your seminar has the potential to boost interest in your business and the messages you want to get across – the successful seminar presenter will have a real ability to inspire people to buy from them.

It is worth remembering that some people are reluctant to ask questions and would rather remain anonymous. They may be more comfortable when they are part of a crowd and will respond much more positively to you. They may dislike one to one sales situations which could make them feel under pressure to buy. Let your delegates listen to you whilst sitting with friends, family or colleagues – or with complete strangers but people who share their needs and aspirations – and it will comfort them and as a result you may find that you have much warmer prospects. Your seminar will offer them the chance to listen and to observe the reactions of other people in the audience allowing them to form their opinions with no pressure.

Seminar Selling can be extremely cost effective if you compare it with the cost of traditional prospecting. To secure an audience of 20, 30 or more interested prospects in one room at the same time, offers a highly attractive business opportunity indeed.

So, if you're looking for something different - why not try the seminar?

The Marketing Manager has many years experience of helping companies market their services via seminars - why not get in touch if you'd like to know more?