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10 Reasons Why Dentists Must Do Seminars:
If
you're not promoting and marketing using seminars,
you might as well start ripping up $100 bills
right now and set fire to a giant pile of them
because you're just throwing away potential easy
profits.
REASON NUMBER 10:
PEOPLE GET TO KNOW YOU, LIKE YOU, TRUST
YOU, & BELIEVE YOU
People
buy from people they like, believe and trust.
Think about it: who do you like to buy from?
Do
you like to do business with people you DON'T
like, believe or trust?
If
you hire a plumber, how do you feel about them
fixing your plumbing if you don't trust them?
What
if you hired an attorney, how would you feel if
he was someone you just didn't believe?
Would
you want to give your business to an insurance
agent, chiropractor, estate planner, mortgage
broker, real estate agent, or financial advisor
you don't like?
Of
course not. That's just plain silly.
People
buy from people they like, believe and trust;
you know that's a fact.
In
a seminar setting, you get to demonstrate your
expertise. You get to display your warmth. You
get to make a real connection not only with your
attendees as a group, but also one on one shaking
hands meeting and greeting your attendees as individuals.
Most
people think it's all about demonstrating professional
competency that wins over clients.
But
in reality that's a small part of why people will
choose to do business with you.
Seminars
allow you to make a connection with people such
that they like you trust you and believe you.
It's
that connection, that liking, that trust and that
belief that will make people want to do business
with you.
REASON
NUMBER 9:
SEMINARS BRIDGE "THE GENERATION GAP"
If
you're a younger person in your twenties or thirties,
you may have a "believability" issue with people
who are twice your age. They may see you as a
youngster who's too "wet behind the ears" and
inexperienced to handle their mortgage, portfolio,
investments, health, or insurance.
On
the other hand, if you're in your fifties or sixties,
you may have the opposite problem - appearing
out of touch with current times, "an old geezer"
living in the past.
Seminars
are the unique setting that allows you to bridge
that gap. No matter which side of the generation
gap you're on, seminars allow you to demonstrate
your competence, your knowledge, your professionalism,
your expertise.
In
a seminar you can be technically skilled, smart,
witty, articulate, confident, winning, charming,
authoritative, entertaining, warm, powerful, worldly,
energetic, intelligent, and authoritative - no
matter what your age.
REASON
NUMBER 8:
YOU GENERATE PROSPECTS VERY QUICKLY
This
is due to the sheer fact that you meet a lot of
people in a very short period of time.
Unlike
networking or cold calling where you meet with
people one at a time, with seminars you have the
unique opportunity to get to know people in relatively
large numbers, and all in one place and all at
one time.
Of
course, you can control the size of your seminars
to whatever size you want. If you limit your seminar
to only the first thirty people who sign up, that's
totally up to you.
When
you have another thirty people calling after you
sign up the first thirty, you can simply sign
them up for another separate seminar. Whether
you have 15 or 50 or 150 people in your seminar
you will be able to get your message, your vision,
your expertise across to many people all at once.
And
as you continue to hold regularly scheduled seminars
- for example one every month - you'll see large
amounts of people in a very short people of time.
Time
is your most precious commodity: with seminars
you leverage your time.
REASON
NUMBER 7:
SEMINARS ARE VERY COST EFFECTIVE
What
is the average dollar value of a new client to
you? $3,000? $5,000? More? And how about the lifetime
value of a client's repeat business and referrals?
Make
no mistake - putting on the right kind of seminars
that will generate new clients and not waste your
time and money will require meeting a few expenses.
But
that will be money well spent compared to the
return on your investment. Seminars - great seminars
that get you new clients and referrals from your
existing clients - can be done on a shoestring
budget.
You
can also "outsource" and automate many of the
functions involved if you're willing to invest
a little extra. While outsourcing will cost a
more, it also frees up your time to focus on what
you do best.
But,
whether you do it yourself on a shoestring budget
or outsource, either way the income you'll realize
from doing seminars will far exceed the investment.
REASON
NUMBER 6:
THE "BANDWAGON EFFECT"
When
people are in a group setting, they tend to look
to other people to determine appropriate behavior.
That's
only natural - when you're invited into a social
setting you've never been in before with people
you've never met, most of the time you'll tend
to look around you for cues to appropriate behavior.
In
practically any group setting, people look to
others around them in order to determine the correct
ways to act. In other words, in group settings
people tend to want to follow the crowd and "jump
on the bandwagon".
Sure
there are exceptions, but most of the time this
has proven to be true.
When
I was much younger, I worked in a deli inside
of a major supermarket chain. My coworkers and
I noticed that no matter what the time or day,
either it was totally slow with no customers,
or we were totally slammed with customers. We
always scratched our heads and could never figure
out why that was.
But
the reason is simple: when people grouped around
our deli counter, others would see all those people
crowded around and want to come over and see what
all the action was about.
If
you walk down the street and you see someone staring
up at the sky, your tendency is to look up to
see what they're looking at.
I'll
show you later how to have people falling over
themselves and lining up to want to make an appointment
with you in your office later - and as people
see others doing so, they'll also want to jump
on the bandwagon.
REASON
NUMBER 5:
THE "RECIPROCITY EFFECT"
Something
very special happens when you get a group of people
together. Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. is a professor
of Psychology at Arizona State University and
the author of several excellent books including
"Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion".
Dr.
Cialdini has conducted numerous experiments in
the area of human behavior and especially with
respect to why and what influences people decide
to buy, especially when in a group setting.
One
of the major factors of what influences people
to take action is what he calls "the reciprocity
factor". You can read more details in his books
and studies, but Dr. Cialdini's research and experiments
show over and over that people have a strong,
almost unstoppable urge to repay others when those
others do something for them.
In
fact, that unstoppable urge to repay others is
often HUGELY disproportionate to the original
help or gift.
You
will be giving people value in your seminars and
asking for nothing in return for that value. Not
directly, at least.
As
you provide people with this value you will demonstrate
your expertise and professionalism, but more importantly
people will feel indebted to you for all the value
you've given them.
Please
understand that you'll be able to do this with
your integrity 100% intact and you will come across
as a great person providing tremendous value to
people.
You
want to deliver so much value to people and demonstrate
so much expertise that they feel they simply MUST
do business with you, and to do otherwise would
be foolish or even dangerous.
REASON
NUMBER 4:
A SOCIAL EVENT SEMINAR PUTS PEOPLE AT EASE
People
are generally allergic to high pressure sales
tactics. They don't want to be shut away in a
room with locked doors and given a sales pitch.
If
you try to hold a seminar in your office, people
who don't already know you are simply not going
to go. Even your clients who already like you
believe you and trust you will be suspicious that
they'll have to sit through a sales pitch of some
sort.
Most
people are polite and don't want to be put into
a position where they'll have to turn you down,
so they just won't go to that seminar in the first
place.
That's
why I'm going to teach EXACTLY where to hold your
seminar so that whether you invite your existing
clients or people who don't know you yet; your
attendees will feel comfortable about showing
up to your seminar. In fact, I'll teach you where
(and HOW) to hold your seminars so that people
mark their calendars and just can't wait to attend.
REASON
NUMBER 3:
SEMINARS ARE FUN!
In
many of the seminars I give teaching presentation
skills to licensed professionals like mortgage
brokers, real estate and insurance agents, estate
planners and financial advisors, I often start
by saying "welcome to your new addiction".
Despite
some people's hesitance about "stage fright" or
"performance anxiety" or any other generalized
nervousness about speaking to groups, the reality
is that conducting seminars is not only fun, it's
positively addicting!
In
fact, I've gotten a number of emails and phone
calls from people after using the information
I teach saying, basically, "David - you were right!
I thought I'd be terrified to be in front of people,
but now I can hardly wait to do my next seminar!"
Being
in front of the group is exhilarating, it's energizing,
and it's downright fun! Even if you think you're
a wallflower, you'll see after your first seminar
that you're not so shy after all. Connecting with
people on a real human level makes you feel something
that words just can't describe. And that's the
point of doing seminars.
You'll
see as we go along here that it's not about standing
up and droning on and on about facts and numbers
and products and plans and what you can do for
people, it's about creating an open space for
people to get to know you.
It's
just plain fun!-welcome to your new addiction.
REASON
NUMBER 2:
YOU GENERATE HIGHLY QUALIFIED PROSPECTS
Because
you're in control of when and where you advertise
and promote your seminars, you're also in control
of exactly what kind of person attends them.
First,
you're in control of who attends your seminars
based on exactly how, when and where you promote
market and advertise them.
Second,
as people call in to RSVP you'll have a second
chance to "filter" in only the highly qualified
prospects you want in your seminar. There are
a number of methods to promote your seminars to
target highly qualified prospects.
Those
methods include targeted newspaper and magazine
advertising, speaking at related associations,
conventions and trade shows, targeted direct mail
to specific zip codes, age levels, geographic
locations, E-mail and internet based methods,
and others I'll get into later.
Many
people who've tried to use seminars to increase
business give up because they find that their
events were filled with people who simply were
NOT good prospects.
Later
on I'll let you know the right - and wrong - methods
to promote your seminars so you don't waste your
time and money; using the proven tools tips and
techniques I teach you won't make the many mistakes
that so many others have; you'll be successful
right away.
REASON
NUMBER 1:
SEMINARS BEAT COLD CALLS & NETWORKING!
Admit
it: you HATE making cold calls.
And
anyway they're not that effective.
How
long does someone really listen to you on the
phone before they're looking for a reason to get
off?
How
long do they really listen to you before they
tune you out? Five seconds? And while certainly
there's nothing wrong with networking, you come
across as selling, and people "switch off".
They
take your business card, but it will go into their
"round file" at the first opportunity.
At
a seminar, people are there because they want
to be there. And they will listen to you for the
whole 30 to 60 minutes (or longer) that you speak
- especially when you use the skills I teach,
you'll make a presentation that will keep people
on the edge of their seats.
When
you are networking or make a cold call, can you
really expect someone to pay close attention to
you for 30 minutes or more? Of course not!
Superstar
secrets to public speaking & seminar success:
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