Seminar selling has become one of the newest fads. If you're on a list, you'll probably be invited to some kind of seminar this year as stock brokers, financial analysts, insurance agents and others vie for your dollars. And, after a while, you find yourself agreeing to go just to get the person off the phone and then, of course, you forget about it and don't go.
If this is the experience, then why is seminar selling even considered? Are we missing something? Well, just like a lot of good ideas, seminar selling has been abused, misused and generally misconstrued, but that doesn't mean it can't work for you. The key is to understand just what it is that seminar selling can accomplish.
The first step is to change the name or, at the very least, the focus. Seminar selling does not involve selling. At least, it shouldn't. That's where a lot of people get off to a bad start. Successful educational seminars promote you and your agency. They are pure marketing tools that put you one leg up on the competition.
We talked with Emily Huling, CIC, CMC, one of the gurus of using seminars to develop clients, about the benefits agents reap from hosting educational seminars. Huling is president of Selling Strategies, Inc., in Terrell, North Carolina.
"This truly is an opportunity to provide value-added service," she explains. "You have a chance to bring together top prospects and clients in a positive, relationship-enhancing environment where they walk away with greater knowledge and an extremely favorable impression of your agency."
Value-added
A properly planned and implemented educational seminar "provides clients and prospects with networking opportunities and cutting-edge information that will help make their businesses more profitable thanks to you," Huling points out. And what could typify the value-added concept better than that?
As one observer of the insurance industry and its continual faux pas says: "It has become more important than ever for agents and brokers to provide value-added services to their clients. The insurance industry has turned commercial insurance into a commodity with this never-ending soft market after destroying any loyalty with the last hard market. Agents and brokers face an uphill battle in their efforts to be viewed as professionals by a market that has seen insurance companies behave with anything but professionalism."
So what is a properly planned and implemented educational seminar?
The first step is to decide who is going to be there. You want to invite a good mixture of prospects and clients so that when the networking happens, there will be people there who already know about your agency and will tell prospects what a professional organization you have. Depending on the topic, you also might want to invite influential members of the community or targeted market who would benefit from the educational offering. This might include a banker, CPA, attorney, president of an association, and so on--all of whom could be involved in recommending your agency to others. The prospects you invite should be those on your "A list," Huling advises, explaining that those are prospects "with whom you already are in negotiations and anticipate proposing and closing within the next 12 months." She continues that some B-listed clients also might be invited--those you anticipate closing in 12 to 24 months.
Ambassadors of profitability
The next step is to find a hot topic that is of concern to this group of people. "You want the group to leave with greater knowledge on how to manage their businesses," she says. "When this happens, it should lead to greater profitability for their businesses."
She continues that in order to achieve this objective, you need to find a top-notch speaker or speakers who know the subject better than anyone in the audience. And you don't want that person to be you, even if you are an expert on the subject. "You want to serve as the host or ambassador, bringing information to your clients and prospects. You don't want this mixed up with just peddling product and that's always a danger if one of the agency people is the speaker. If you're the expert on a particular topic, then find another topic."
A lot of speakers will speak for free, but Huling suggests that you "still offer to pay an honorarium. Quite often, they'll ask that it be given to charity. If that's the case, let everyone know. You want this to be a class event all the way through and that adds to the cachet."
She continues that you should make certain you invite speakers whom you have heard. A lot of people look good on paper--with all the credentials--but that doesn't mean they are good speakers. Insist on materials and review those materials to make certain they're on track and good quality. "Hand-out materials are very important. They must have your agency's name and the speaker's name on them."
The partnering option
If this seems like too much to handle on your own, then you might consider doing this in partnership with other professionals in your circle of influence. Accountants, lawyers or other professionals may very well be interested in helping you host the event.
There are advantages to this approach other than defraying the cost which can be anticipated to be about $25 to $30 per invitee. You help to cement your relationship with these individuals who probably are excellent sources of referrals. You are viewed by those in the audience as a professional, regardless of their opinion of the insurance industry in general.
Don't be afraid to ask
You'll probably be able to tell how effective a speaker is by watching and listening to the audience. But don't stop there. Huling says that one of the keys to continuing success is seminar evaluation forms. "You need to find out whether this seminar was successful, in addition to gathering topics for other seminars." (See the sidebar to the left for a sample evaluation form.)
You also need to follow up with letters to everyone who attended the seminar as well as those who didn't. "The day after the seminar, you should send out two different follow-up letters," she suggests. "One letter thanks those who attended and asks them for any suggestions. The other letter is to people who didn't attend. It tells them that you missed them and hope they'll be able to attend the next seminar."
And that brings us to another important point. This is a commitment. If you're going to run just one seminar, then you probably should save yourself some money and do one less than that. Huling says you need to make a commitment for at least two years and plan to have three or four seminars each year for each group.
Involve everyone
Educational seminars are a commitment that involves the entire agency. Producers need to be involved in determining who should be invited, helping to identify the top prospects and clients. Everyone should be involved in following up on invitations. One month after the invitations are mailed, you need to call people to see if they're planning to attend. Then make a second call two days before the event. "This is another opportunity for you to stay in front of your clients in a friendly, non-sales way," she points out. And, as was mentioned above, there's follow-up after the event as well.
Seminars can be a tremendous marketing tool if they are executed with care. But this is not something that should be entered into lightly. It is a commitment. However it can be a lot of fun, and it is a great way to get the entire agency staff working together toward a single goal.
If you're considering putting on a series of seminars, you can get a free list of the most popular topics from Selling Strategies by faxing your request with your name and fax number on your letterhead to Emily Huling at their toll-free fax number (888) 309-7355. *
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list topics that would be of interest to the particular group; this may include pollution concerns, telecommuting, return-to-work programs and so on.
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NB: Ask the audience to complete at conclusion of the seminar. Tell them you will collect them and pull one or two for a door prize.
* Thanks to Selling Strategies, Inc., for most of what is included in this sample form.
©COPYRIGHT: The Rough Notes Magazine, 1998