Personal Fitness Professional - January 2008 - (Page 10) NO FREE LUNCH I charge for events. I have learned this lesson the hard way. When you offer free seminars, you get freeloaders. They will come and ask what you are serving for refreshments and if you will pay for their parking. A small charge of about $10-$15 will “weed out the weak” so that you aren’t spending your time fishing in the wrong pond. This fee also creates some perceived value to the event, and when people pay for something, they are more likely to show up. Have them register (be sure to gather all current contact information) and pay in advance to reserve their space, and be sure to let them know that space is limited. It will also help offset any associated costs, including room costs, advertising or refreshments. You can also decide to donate all or a portion of the attendance fee to a local charity. PACK THE ROOM Once you have your space and date, you will need to promote the event. Allow at least six weeks to effectively do this. Create a flyer with your topic, picture and event information and a larger-sized table top-stand poster as well. Network with complementary businesses to distribute, display flyers and posters, and also see if they can post the information on their website and send it out through an email blast. Give your top referral sources and clients a few extra tickets that they can “give“ to their friends or best clients. This makes it easy for them to refer the person, and they benefit by appearing to have given them a gift. If you are donating the entrance fee to a local charity, check to see if your local paper will promote your seminar in their current events section for free. Go after some local PR by sending a press release on your topic and upcoming seminar to the local papers, television and radio stations. SET UP FOR SUCCESS Arrive at the event venue at least 60 minutes prior to the registration time. Nothing looks worse than not being prepared when your guests arrive. Be sure you have adequate help at the beginning and end of the seminar. If you don’t have your guests’ contact information, then you can have a raffle so that you have a reason to collect it. Have music or an informative video playing while guests are coming in. I have everyone do some kind of quiz or assessment that goes along with the talk topic. This is a very important piece of the puzzle, as this is how you start creating dissatisfaction and need right away. People won’t “buy” if they don’t have a need for what you are selling. So if I am doing a talk on “How to Drop Your Body Fat,” I have them step on my Tanita Segmental Bio Impedance scale before the talk starts. I also generally serve refreshments from a local sponsor, if my venue permits it. GET TALKING When you get ready to start the actual talk, cut off the refreshments and the body fat testing, and flash the lights. You will need to have someone else introduce you, but be sure to write your bio or suffer the consequences as to what they decide to tell the audience about you. It is obnoxious to brag about yourself, but it’s totally fine to let someone else do it! Your talk needs to be based on creating needs and selling benefits, so be careful about the JAN-FEB2008 · WWW.FIT-PRO.COM 10 http://WWW.FIT-PRO.COM
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