When done right, seminar marketing is a great way for financial professionals to bring in more clients. When done wrong, seminar marketing can be a nightmare.
With that in mind, here are the seven deadly sins of financial seminar marketing and how to avoid them.
Deadly sin #1: Doing a seminar with a half-filled room
Many financial professionals believe it's better to do smaller events with 10 or so people in the room. They like this because it's more comfortable to present to a small group and it provides a more intimate experience for the attendees.
But I can tell you from experience, it's much better to have one seminar at full capacity, depending how many the room holds (usually 30+), than it is to have two seminars at half capacity.
The real idea of doing these events is to generate appointments with people who are interested in meeting with you. If you think about the time and effort to put this event on, you've got to measure your "Time to Appointments" booked ratio.
You can go through all the time and effort for half an audience, or you can put in the same amount of time and effort for a full group. A full group will generate more appointments when done right.
Think about it, 5 buying units at a smaller event, 15 at a larger. If you get 100 percent of the room booked in a small setting, you only need a 40 percent appointment-setting ratio in a larger group to get more appointments per time worked.
Remember, your comfort zone is all in your mind. For example, I once saw Tony Robbins speak to a group of "just" 100 people. And yet he was uncomfortable because he was used to speaking to thousands. Adjust your frame of reference so you're comfortable talking to 20-50 people at a time and increase the appointments you can get per event. Your time is valuable.
Having a lot of people at your seminar is useless if they are the wrong people. (Photo: iStock)
Deadly sin #2: Fill a room, but with all the wrong people
So you want to fill a room with more people. But the quantity is not the only thing you should consider. You've got to fill the room with the right people. Who are the right people? This starts with 1) knowing your ideal client and what their most common concerns are and 2) identifying how you are able to best help them.
Your advertising and marketing should attract your ideal clients and repel everybody else. Start your marketing by attracting them for the right reasons, and your time will be much more efficient, profitable, and fun.
Bonus: A good way to figure out what your ideal clients would respond to is by surveying your best clients about what their top concerns are.
Your seminar will not be successful unless you stand out in a sea of sameness. (Photo: iStock)
Deadly sin #3: Setting up your event like everybody else
You have to stand out in a sea of sameness. Go over the top with everything you do. A few things I suggest you do:
- Get professional banners made for your seminar.
- Have a trained staff member give you a professional introduction before you get up to speak.
- Have a greeter welcome people as they walk in.
- Get professional handouts made for attendees.
If you want to get more appointments from your seminars, then everything needs to scream that you are a successful financial professional with a successful company. Do this and you will find that you standing out in a much different way than your competition.
Numbers may fascinate you, but they probably don't fascinate your audience. (Photo: iStock)
Deadly sin #4: Making the seminar all about numbers, charts and financial projections
Remember, the people in your audience are probably not as excited about numbers, charts and financial projections as you are. In fact, the average person will find this kind of talk boring after a few minutes. Their eyes will glaze over and they won't be paying attention to you any longer.
To really engage your audience, you need to connect with them. And the best way to do that is to tell good stories. These stories can come from your personal experience or they can be stories you've learned from experience — so long as your audience can relate to them and are entertained by them.
