Promote Your Business with Free Local Seminars

If you're looking for creative, outside the box ways to sell more products and services, you should consider promoting your business with free local seminars. This is a very effective way to generate lots of qualified leads for your business.

Best of all, it doesn’t matter what type of business you own. Whether you are a doctor, lawyer, accountant, personal trainer, marriage therapist, counselor, or own a wood working business, you could use this strategy to grow your business.

In the paragraphs below, I will give you detailed instructions on how to generate more sales and more leads via free local seminars.

1. Pick a Topic That Supports Your Business: This is the starting point. Make sure you pick a topic that attracts people in your target market. If you sell life insurance, you would pick a topic such as estate planning.

2. Develop a Presentation: Your next step is to develop some sort of presentation that pertains to your business. For example, if you are an accountant, you could conduct a seminar “10 Ways to Save Money on Your Taxes.” You would develop a presentation that is 60-120 minutes long. You could draft up a simple PowerPoint Presentation. The purpose of your presentation is to provide helpful information and position yourself as an expert, so people will want to business with you.

3. Plan the Event: Once you finish preparing the presentation, you need to plan the event. That means you would need to set a date and time, and pick a location to host the event. Consider using restaurants, hotel meeting rooms, or your business location.

4. Advertise the Event: Next, you must advertise the event. Come up with a low-cost marketing strategy such as flyers, postcards, social media, direct mail and other strategies. Try to set the event at least 30-days out so you have plenty of time to advertise. Come up with a marketing budget of at least $500, so you can promote the event properly.

5. Conduct the Event: Your next step is to conduct the event. Dress professional. Have the room set up properly. Make sure you post some signs inside and outside the building so people can find you. Start and end of time. Keep it to 60-120 minutes. Follow your presentation and stay on track.

6. Collect Leads: I recommend you give away free prizes, by having a raffle. Try to get everyone’s name; email and phone number (minimum). If possible, get their mailing address too. At the event, have your spouse or one of your employees staff a table with helpful literature. Answer your guests’ questions and provide value. If you have something to sell, you can have a product table with your items. You might even generate some immediate sales.

7. Follow-Up with Leads: Make sure you follow-up with your leads promptly. Call them within one to two days after the event. Try to book some appointments. And don’t forget to add the names and emails to your mailing list and email newsletter.

An Example

I truly believe hosting free local seminars is a fantastic way to sell. I’ve used this method myself in the past and it has worked very well for me.

Here is a hypothetical example.

John, an accountant, hosts a “tax planning” seminar. He spends $125 to rent a room, $750 on advertising and $125 on refreshments. Total investment is $1,000.

40 people show up to his free seminar. Of those 40 people, 30 people give him their contact information and sign up for his free tax planning consultation. And 5 people hire him as their accountant on the spot. Each new client is worth $300 in immediate income to John.

In this example, John earns $1500, minus his $1000 expenses, for a $500 profit. Even better, he has 30 additional people to provide a free consultation and sell them on his services. Plus he will make much more money from his new customers, within a few short years.

John could have made even more money if he had some products for sale at the event, such as books, tapes or audio programs.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, you can see how hosting free local seminars is a great way to promote your any type of business. What are your thoughts? Have you ever tried this in the past? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. 

About the Author

Chuck Holmes is an author, blogger and network marketing professional. He lives in sunny Florida with his wife, Rachel. Learn more about his primary business.