Effective Seminar and Conference Marketing

“How to get  60% of Your Bottom Line in Contract/Customized In-Company Training” is Pat Hall’s topic as a speaker at the next session of Ralph Elliott’s Continuing Education Marketing Conference. The dates are Monday and Tuesday, August 29-30, in Chicago on the Magnificent Mile at the Marriott Courtyard Downtown Hotel. There is also an optional pre-conference workshop on Sunday, August 28.

Getting to the right decision maker in an organization is one way to increase your in-house profitability. Here are 10 ways to get to the right person so you can initiate or close a sale.

1. Find out who are your Alums/Members – How many are C-Level people at Fortune 1,000 companies? If you are a college, your Development Office will have a list.
2. Network with the attendees at your public events – find out who is the right person to contact and establish the specifics on when you will follow-up.
3. Your evaluation form should ask for an in-house contact person - Remember there is often more than one decision maker in an organization, so find out who some of the others are.
4. Send speaking proposals to industry meetings - offer to conduct ‘lunch and learn’ sessions as well as breakout presentations. Impress the C-Level attendees.
5. Offer to let a prospect sit in on your public classes – either for free, or offer to refund the fee if they book an in-house.
6. Always ask for higher authority – often the person sending out the RFP is not the decision maker. Mention that your subject matter expert wants to speak to the decision maker as a justification for getting past the gatekeeper.
7. Track organizations that are expanding or locating in your market  - identify the top leaders and set up a face-to-face visit.
8. Don’t just collect the business cards – get the name of at least one other person on the back of the same card. Also, bend your business card at the edge so it stands out when the prospect reviews your card.
9. Pay a referral fee to your instructors – when they do a program for an organization… give your speakers an incentive to identify other topics for
   in-house training.
10. Don’t be afraid of rejection – if you are not getting at least 3 or 4 ‘nos’ a day, you are not asking for enough so push forward.

Once you reach the decision maker, be effective by listening 90% of the time and by talking 10% of the time.

Get lots of additional ideas at Pat’s session in August at the Clemson University Continuing Education Marketing Conference being held on August 28-30, in Chicago on the Magnificent Mile at the Marriott Courtyard Downtown Hotel. Register on-line or call Clemson’s Kay James at 864.656.2200!