Client Magnets Official Blog

Posts Tagged ‘teleseminar’

Would you rather be paid for your teleseminar, or give it away for free?  At first blush, your answer, of course, would be, “Get paid.”  But I must admit, I’ve presented you with a bit of a trick question.

The truth is that whether you ask for money for participation in your teleseminar, or you offer spaces at no charge, you can still harness money-making power.  A paid teleseminar will deliver up-front revenue, but free teleseminars also hold possibilities for making money:  from the subsequent selling of transcripts, recordings, packages, articles, e-books, newsletters and print books.

A common misconception is that people will jump on a free teleseminar just because it’s free; that sending out an email announcing it is enough to get participants – Not True.  If people view their time as more valuable than what you’re offering, they won’t set aside an hour to participate, even if it doesn’t cost them a penny.  For this reason, it’s important to realize that filling the phone line for a free teleseminar takes just as much effort as filling the line for a paid one.

When you use the word “free,” it’s important to put specifications on that freedom.  If a teleseminar is free to everyone, people might assume that it has little or no value.  But, if you make it free to members of a certain group (newsletter subscribers, new clients, current clients, members of your club, etc.), those people will see that they have earned the right to partake in its value.

It’s important to assign a value to every teleseminar, whether there’s a price tag or not.  Maybe participants are getting it at a discount, or maybe it’s free only to select people.  Either way, let them know what they would have paid.  This increases the call’s perceived value.

The free teleseminar has its advantages and its disadvantages. It’s up to you to allow its advantages to work for you.   Here a few pros and cons that might help you to find that balance:

Free Teleseminar Pros

• As long as the topic is exactly what they’ve been hoping for, people will be more likely to “invest” in a free call.

•  If the free call is marketed to members of a certain group, they will feel more inclined to partake in something they’ve earned.

• The law of reciprocity boosts your chances of selling post-teleseminar transcripts, recording, e-books, etc.

Free Teleseminar Cons

• If you don’t market the free teleseminar effectively, it could be dismissed as having little or no value, because it’s free.

• If you offer too many free teleseminars, you could find yourself being taken advantage of, for your free advice.

• Participants might not be serious about the topic, reducing your chances of post-teleseminar sales.  They might say, “It’s free.  I’ll take advantage of it,” and that will be the end of their commitment.

It’s also important to avoid making every teleseminar a paid-participation one.  It won’t be long before your audience is protesting (silently or audibly) that they never get anything for free.

To avoid finding yourself at either extreme of the free/paid teleseminar spectrum, it’s a good idea to offer a mixture of both free and paid.  This will prevent you from being taken advantage of, and it will keep your audience happy with occasional “free gems.”

Free isn’t a bad word.  In fact, it’s the root of freedom…which is at the heart of financial freedom.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

The Receiving Zone: Get Cash Flow with what you NOW KNOW!

Thursday, 15 July, 2010
8pm UK, 3pm Eastern, Noon Pacific.

Have you been working hard to establish your business, but the rewards don’t match all the efforts you’ve been putting in? Are you tired of trading time for money – and want to discover new business models that can help you turn your expertise into more money – and free up your time. Do you feel that you’ve ‘paid your dues’ but are yet to collect?

My friend Kevin Nations and I are in the Receiving Zone, and between us have an impressive track record of helping our clients to get into the Receiving Zone too, and now it’s YOUR TURN.

So register now for this ONE TIME call:  http://www.thereceivingzone.com
On this special call that we’ve called “The Receiving Zone: Get Cash Flow with what you NOW KNOW!”, we’re going to show you:

• How to get others to see that what you have is WORTH investing in (price objections will be a thing of the past when you master this)

• The ABC formula that may be costing you cash (HINT you might be following this formula without even realizing)

• Why some of the BUSY WORK you are currently doing will not produce results (and may even be holding back your success)

• What you need to do RIGHT NOW to get into the ‘receiving zone’ and finally get the recognition and rewards you deserve

JOIN US as we explain why all your hard won expertise and efforts WON’T pay off – unless you get into THE RECEIVING ZONE. Spaces on this call are LIMITED. So reserve your spot right now by going to http://www.thereceivingzone.com

Best Wishes
Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

If a teleseminar topic sounds like something they can’t live without, they will make the time to call in.

People are busy.  When scheduling a teleseminar, it’s crucial that you choose a topic that will make people stop, adjust their schedules, and make a date with the telephone.

And what, you ask, is the best way to accomplish this magnetism?  Emotional Appeal.

When you respond to something that people want, they will allow you to give it to them.  Don’t tell them what they need – their mothers can do that for them.

When choosing a topic for your teleseminar, remember that you need a strong, satisfying hook that will make readers say, “That’s exactly what I want right now.”  In other words, you must promise to satisfy a profound want that they have.  If a teleseminar topic sounds like one more add-on to their busy schedules, you won’t make the cut.  But, if a teleseminar topic sounds like something that they simply can’t live without (or the answer to a prayer), you will easily take the timeslot.

Every prospect has a need.  It’s your job to find out what the overwhelming emotional needs of your audience are.  Every member of that audience will want at least one of these elements:

• good health
• wealth
• extra time
• popularity
• good looks
• confidence
• respect
• comfort
• success
• enjoyment
• parenting success
• personal prestige
• contemporary style
• pride in possessions
• efficiency
• authority
• more / better sex
• satisfied curiosity
• no more embarrassment
• attractiveness
• knowledge of secrets
• intelligence

Now you might be asking, “How will I know what the emotional needs of my audience are?” The answer is simple:  Listen.

When you get questions and feedback from your audience, take notes, determine where the biggest emotional desires lie, and use that data to create a teleseminar topic that satisfies the wants of a large portion your audience.

For instance, if you’re coaching sales people, you might assume that their biggest motivations are making money.  But if you read their e-mails and listen to their voices, you will uncover the deeper emotional needs beneath that desire.  Maybe you’ll find that a large portion of your audience is competitive – that they want to outperform their coworkers or their competition.  In that case, you would put together a teleseminar that hits on the notes of success, envy, and personal prestige.  More people will sign on, because you have chosen to focus on them (and their wants).

Even if you’re only getting comments and feedback from a portion of your entire client base, the statistical data will still ring true…listen to the emotional revelations of the majority.

Your topic is the foundation, and the biggest determinant of financial success, for your teleseminar.  It must fill an emotional need, no matter how buried beneath the surface that emotional need might be.

Don’t tell people what they need; cater to what they want. Know your audience as intimately as professionally possible.

You should never have to guess on a teleseminar topic.  If you listen closely and carefully, the pain in your audience’s words will determine that topic for you.

Want to learn more about how to make money with your own events? Visit our Event Money Machine Blog. You’ll learn about an amazing Telesummit being held later this month. Tickets to this event are FREE – so join our priority notification list to be the first to know when they become available.

Your first teleseminar will set the stage and help you plan for future events.

Before you plan how many teleseminars you want to do in a month, or how long each one will be, or how many auxiliary products you’ll offer…just set up the first one, get on the phone, and get it done.

Your very first teleseminar will set the stage and offer valuable information about when, and how, you should conduct future teleseminars.  For this reason, don’t commit to frequencies or topics before you get your feet wet.

Consider these points while you’re starting out hosting teleseminars …

• Ask participants to preregister. This way, you’ll know how many people to expect, and will have their contact information for following-up and for promoting future events.

• Offer incentives for participants to give their feedback after your first call is finished. For instance, at the beginning of the teleseminar, mention that there will be a bonus gift (mention the monetary value) for anyone who sticks around, through the end of the call, and gives their feedback.  This feedback will provide the valuable information you’ll need to devise future teleseminar topics, and to determine other factors, like frequency and call lengths.  This is known as a “stick strategy” because it encourages people to stick around until the end of the teleseminar.

• Make notes. Don’t read verbatim, robotically, but stick with those notes in order to speak succinctly, with order, and to fit everything in.

• In order to effectively replace the face-to-face communication that you might be accustomed to, imagine your audience’s hands raised with objections, or their faces smiling with approval, or the questions that might be boiling beneath the phone line’s muting.

• You may want to invite a friend or colleague to host the call, and interview you. This can add that conversational factor, and relieve some of those first-teleseminar nerves.

• Divide your speaking time into segments, interjecting question-and-answer sessions between them.  This will help to steer your monologues in the direction that your audience desires.

• Start short. Someday, you might be conducting 90 minute teleseminars, but when you’re just starting out, try a 20 minute teleseminar, or a longer teleseminar that’s divided into 20 minute segments, with question-and-answer segments in between.

• Start with a free teleseminar to get your feet wet. Of course, you’ll still want to deliver the value that your participants are looking for, but the non-existent price tag might help to relieve some pressure from you, allowing you to deliver information more seamlessly.

• Anticipate glitches. Have a back-up person to conduct the teleseminar, in case you’re sick or detained.  Check the phone line before the teleseminar, to make sure that it’s up and working.  Ensure that any experts or colleagues that you’ve invited to participate are clear on the time and the dialing-in procedure.

• If something does go wrong, do your utmost to deliver the facts. In general, people are understanding, and are looking for one thing:  the information they were promised.

Hosting your first teleseminar is a big, exciting step.   Once you have tasted the results of a successful teleseminar you’ll  never want to stop.  You’ll gain the confidence to continue on to the second, and the third, and the fourth…and profit all the way!

Want to learn more about how to make money with your own events? Visit our Event Money Machine Blog. You’ll learn about an amazing Telesummit being held later this month. Tickets to this event are FREE – so join our priority notification list to be the first to know when they become available.

The principle behind being a client magnet is that people want what you’ve got to offer, they realize that you’re an expert, and they want to get onto your mailing list.

But, how do you make that happen?

Simply put, you need to be seen as an expert in your field.

People will then go out and look for you. They will actively search you out and ask to be added to your list.

But first, you need to know how to establish yourself as an expert.

•    Choose your area of expertise carefully.
Maybe your passion is working with divorced women, but you decide to become a marketing coach for businesses, because that’s where the money is. Your passion isn’t with businesses, but they aren’t as financially challenged as divorced women.

You have to decide what you really want to be known as an expert at. Is it business marketing, or helping divorced women? You should follow your passion. Choose your area because of your passion; don’t choose your passion because there’s a niche for it. Your passion will reflect in your attitude. That is what will resonate with clients and make you attractive to them.

•    Choose a topic where you can add value.
There’s no point picking a group of people, or deciding on a niche, if you have no proven track record in that area.  You need credibility; proof that you’ve done what you are professing to be an expert at. How can you teach it if you haven’t experienced it?

You will have the most impact if you genuinely have some value to offer. People will see this when they read your tips or your articles. When they see that you can add some value to a topic, they will want more of what you have to offer. That’s how you attract a following.

•    Write articles.
Articles work very well, both as a way to showcase your knowledge in your area of expertise, and as a means of promoting your business. I have articles posted all over the web. When you create articles, offer them to other businesses that tie into the same clientele as yours. This will increase your exposure. The more people are familiar with your name, the more you will be viewed as the expert.

•    Teleseminars
Just by promoting a teleseminar, you indicate that you are an expert with valuable information that people need. There is also something about having a timeframe and deadline that increases the perceived value of teleseminars in people’s minds. The need to sign up for something you’re doing creates a sense of urgency in people, and they don’t want to miss it. Teleseminars are great for both establishing your expertise and building your list.

•    Social Media
MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are great ways to build a following. As your following increases, so does your image as the expert. And simultaneously, you will also put things in place that will drive more people to your website, and build your list.

By following these tips, you will establish yourself as an expert and make your business so attractive that clients will seek you out. The impact on your list and on your business will be continual growth and success.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Meet Bernadette’s online business mentor Yanik Silver.

Instant Profit Boosters – one of the things Yanik is known for is squeezing out additional revenue and profits from absolutely zero additional marketing budget, visitors or customers.

Yanik will show you how to look at your website and business to identify immediate profit increases.

Don’t miss this call!

My Next MARKETING* MASTERMIND Call

Tuesday, 22nd June, 2010

8:00pm UK Time (3pm EASTERN, 12 noon PACIFIC)

TOPIC:  *Instant Profit Boosters*

This call is FREE for my hundreds of Marketing Mastermind and Stepping UP! members. They also get the CD and transcript of this call at no extra charge, plus a tonne of other member benefits – such as access to our online members forum.

Not a member?  Click here to join the Marketing Mastermind Group today so you can take advantage of this call and all the other member goodies each and every month.

I look forward to “meeting” you on our call.

Best Wishes,
Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

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Once your teleseminar is over, the income stops, right?  Wrong.

Whether you’ve chosen to conduct a free or paid teleseminar, it’s only the beginning of your earning potential.  One of the things you can do to keep the money rolling in is to have your teleseminar transformed into a product to sell.

Maybe your participants want to see what they’ve just heard, in writing.  Or, maybe the teleseminar wasn’t conducted at a time that was convenient for them, but they’d still like to learn about your topic.  Or, maybe they’re anxious to share what they’ve heard with their friends, in concrete form.

If you choose not to offer a transcript of your teleseminar, there’s no telling how much profit you could be losing.  Here are some guidance points for creating a transcript, and drumming up additional cash flow:

• Create a sales page for your transcript. Your teleseminar’s registration page’s text can serve as a basis for this.  You’ll simply need to add some graphics and fulfillments.  A standard webpage will never sell a transcript.  You’ll need real sales language…the kind you used to fill your teleseminar.

• Record your teleseminar. You can request that this be done through your phone service provider, who can send you an MP3 recording afterward, or you can purchase a recording device (like an Olympus WS-100) to record it on your own.  Then hire a transcriber to put it into writing.

• Hire someone to edit the transcribed text, so that it more closely resembles an article, with headings and sections, so that readers can easily access the information and sections that they’re most interested in.  Typically, transcriptionists will type text that runs on and on, from one subject to the next.  Segmenting the information, and removing conversational elements, will make the document more reader-friendly.

• Hire a graphic designer to design a document cover for the transcript. This image can also be used in the sales letter.

• Decide if you’d like to offer digital transcripts on PDFs, or if you’d like to ship out hard copies.  Whatever your preference, hire someone to handle distribution (like 1ShoppingCart for instant, digital copies, or a company that specializes in creating on-demand hard copies, as orders come in).

• If you’re planning to distribute paper copies of the transcript, don’t sink a boatload of money into stocking shelves with copies waiting to be sold. It’s more cost-effective to have copies created on-demand.  Even though it may cost a bit more per copy, you won’t run the risk of losing your money in unsold, warehoused copies.

• The price of your transcript should range from the same as the cost of the teleseminar, down to a 25 percent discount.  Don’t price the transcript higher than that of the original event, but at the same time, don’t devalue the information just because it’s not live.

• The selling of your transcript doesn’t have to end when you hang up the teleseminar phone.  To the contrary, future customers might be interested in owning transcripts from teleseminars that took place before they were onboard.  Run promotions occasionally, highlighting a transcript.  Or, insert a blurb in newsletter, directing readers to a particular transcript’s sales page (choose a transcript that’s relevant to a current event or some other topic outlined in your newsletter).

Your teleseminar is like a flower seed.  You plant it, care for it, and enjoy its benefits once it matures.  But once that flower withers, your enjoyment of its advantages doesn’t have to end.

Harvest the seeds from that flower.  Plant those seeds by mentioning the availability of transcripts as you close your teleseminar, create transcript sales pages, insert newsletter blurbs, and promote your transcripts as the profitable products that they are.  Continue with this practice, and soon, you’ll have an entire garden filled with a rainbow of limitless income.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Value is a subjective term, a relative feeling.  If someone perceives the value of a product or a service to be high, he or she will naturally be willing to sacrifice more (time, money, etc.) to take advantage of its value.

So along that vein, if you want to build the price tag of your teleseminar (and I’m sure you do), you must increase its perceived value.  Consumers naturally think in a “what’s in it for me?” manner.  When you create a belief that what they’re getting from your teleseminar will greatly outweigh their investments of time and money, you have managed to increase the perceived value of your event.

Here are some ways to accomplish that high-value factor:

• Promise to disclose secrets. True secrets would be those things that aren’t common knowledge.  Or, even better, they are those things which you have discovered; things which you invented or uncovered that can make your teleseminar participants’ lives better.

• Promise to divulge your mistakes. Some failures, especially small ones, are inevitable, and can be instrumental in learning for success.  But if you can share the mistakes that you’ve made, to save your audience the time and grief that can come when they make those same mistakes, you will increase the perceived value of your teleseminar.

• Save your audience some time. When the information that you have compiled for disclosure on your teleseminar will save your participants hours, days, or weeks of research, you move them toward their goals more quickly, which is for most, invaluable.  For instance, if you can offer succinct, successful methods for doing something on a 30 minute call, for which people would normally spend 2 or more hours researching, you have created value.

• Quantify the cost. Ask yourself how much it would cost participants to unearth the information, on their own, that you’re planning to convey.  Consider resources they would have to buy, the traveling they might have to do, the phone calls they may have to make, and the time away from revenue-building that they would have to spend.

• Limit participation. If you limit the number of spaces on your teleseminar to 10, for instance, you will increase value.  Registrants will know that they won’t have to compete with 100 other people during question-and-answer time, and they’ll attach a noted value to that opportunity to have a voice.  You may have only expected to get 10 people on your call anyway, but by making a statement of limits, you increase perceived value.  This not only ensures that you get 10 people who are very interested in your topic, but will allow you to convert a stumbling block into a selling point.

• Offer extras. Gifts like transcripts, reports, templates, memberships, e-mail support, participation in a follow-up question-and-answer session, critiques of participants’ work, etc. will add perceived value and increase your revenue, as long as the gift you’re giving doesn’t out-cost your price tag differential.

Remember, if you create a high perception of value before your teleseminar, you must deliver on your promises.  Some of your best teleseminar customers will be repeat ones, so you’ll want to make sure that you do everything that you say you will, or your offerings will be viewed as fraudulent.

Success with higher price tags is all about perceived value.  Offer your audience what they’re looking for in a teleseminar, and incorporate the tactics outlined above.  Doing so will raise their perceptions of value…in a direct, upward relationship to your bottom line.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

What comes to mind when you see that the majority of your sales page visitors have left without purchasing?  You may choose from two schools of thought: you may consider them to be lost to the click-away, or you may consider them to be interested prospects that simply need to be followed up with.

Everytime a prospect visits your website – whether they purchase from your or not -  is an opportunity to increase your revenue and grow your business.   The key is in following up with each and every visitor.  But how can you do that?

You must first capture the information necessary for following up, and then you need to implement a plan that makes meaningful, targeted contact.

Your squeeze page, or opt-in page, is an invaluable tool for gathering contact information from your website visitors.  You can’t follow up with people unless you have the information necessary for doing so.    The best way to collect names, addresses, and other data is to make it a prerequisite to entering your site.  On your opt-in page, you ask for their details.  This information will then be used by you for following up with buyers and non-buyers in one or more of the following ways:

• E-mail Follows Ups. Your first contact with website visitors should be immediately after they register their details – a sort of “welcome to the club” message.  Autoresponder programs are more readily available, and less costly, than ever – and are the easiest way to accomplish e-mail follow ups.  You can try to orchestrate follow-up emails on your own, but it won’t be long before you find yourself buried under the weight of this task.

E-mail follow-ups shouldn’t stop after initial contact.  In fact, you should use your email list to stay in contact, to gather questions, to respond to feedback, and to stay relevant in the minds of interested parties.

• Snail Mail Follow-Ups. Standard mail is still relevant.  In fact, it can be a valuable tool for “switching things up.”  When a prospect finds you via the internet, and then receives a postcard with valuable information in their mailbox, you instantly establish yourself as a well-rounded and versatile business person.

Services are available, much like those of autoresponder companies, that can do this for you.  Traditional mail can be a great tool for driving traffic back to your sales page.

• The Teleseminar. In your chosen follow-up method, make the offer of free participation in a teleseminar.  This will give prospects the opportunity to hear your voice, ask questions, and to voice concerns.  The dynamic that occurs when you speak to a number of people at once is one that can electrify the transfer of information.  Additionally, you can use your teleseminar to make special offers to your listeners  – a limited-time offer, for instance, or an offer that’s only available to teleconference attendees.

Don’t fall into repetitive sales tactics.  Mix it up – send a welcome e-mail, then a special offer postcard, then an invitation to an exclusive teleseminar – keep them guessing.  No matter your follow-up plan, ensure that you gather all of the information necessary to facilitate it when your website visitors register their details.  You can’t send postcards without physical addresses, and you can’t send e-mails without e-mail addresses.

Use your site visitor statistics to your advantage.  Don’t view those who walk away as failures in conversion, but rather, as opportunities to follow up and build your turn-over numbers, and your business.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. She publishes a free, weekly newsletter. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

What will your first (or your next) teleseminar’s topic be?  Before you answer, please consider that your teleseminar’s specific subject matter is the single most important element in determining your profit margin.  Your choice of topic will make the difference between a smashing success and a notable flop.

But how to choose the perfect topic?  Here are some points to remember when tackling this all-important task:

• Match your topic to the wants and desires of your audience. Read their e-mails carefully.  Listen to their questions.  Consider their feedback.  When you listen to your audience, they will define your teleseminar topics for you.  Answer their wants, and they’ll sign up.

• Don’t tell your audience what they need. Generally, people are not going to pay to learn something that you tell them they need to know.  They will only spend their money if your teleseminar promises to teach them about what they want to know.

• Don’t be intimidated by experts in your topic of choice. If people are asking you questions, they see you as an authority on your subject matter.  It doesn’t matter if you’re not the most knowledgeable, or the most accomplished, in your field.  All that matters is that you’re more knowledgeable than the people signing up for your teleseminar, and that you can deliver results.

• Don’t be fearful of lesser-known topics. It has been said that the best way to learn is to teach.  This is also true of teleseminars.  When you conduct a teleseminar, you become more confident, and more knowledgeable, in your chosen topic.  You will learn while you prepare for the call.  You will learn from participants.  You will conduct research in response to questions.

• Don’t beat a dead topic. Don’t be generic in your topic choice.  Challenge conventional wisdom, common sense, or commonly believed truths.  Put a spin on a topic to enliven interest.

• Know your audience’s emotional needs. Your topic choice must promise to satiate a common pain that is felt among your audience members.  Maybe questions that they pose to you indicate that the overwhelming majority wants to be healthier, be richer, or more confident.  Whatever their voices are telling you, respond to that.  Responding to an emotional need is virtually synonymous with instant revenue.

• Captivate your audience. People are busier than ever.  If your audience is comprised of busy parents, and you’re selling spots on a teleseminar about healthy eating, a topic like “Dangerous Foods” might attract more attention than a topic like “Healthful Foods.”  Your topic has to be deserving of a schedule change.

• Make it irresistible. Your topic should warrant schedule changes, word-spreading, and a buzz of excited anticipation.  As mentioned before, satisfy a want, and sprinkle in some creativity, and this hurdle should be easy to clear.

The biggest difficulty you will encounter when scheduling a teleseminar is getting people to sign up.  Topic choice is the key to breaking through that barrier; in fact, it is the single biggest contributor to a teleseminar’s financial success.

Sort out the logistics of the actual call later.  For now, pick a topic that your audience will be hard-pressed to ignore, and even harder-pressed to resist.  Captivate them from the starting gate, and you’ll finish as a winner.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com