Last fall I sponsored a speaker training event.
There were about 80 business owners in the room as the audience, and there were 10 speakers on the stage throughout the day.
The speakers each presented a talk and then were coached by the event host to improve their talk. The audience would then vote for the speakers to win various awards.
Great premise for an event, so I decided it would be good to sponsor.
And it was not terribly expensive to book a table there, and I knew I would meet lots of local people.
I hadn’t sponsored an event before so I didn’t have a lot of marketing materials or banners or anything like that.
I prepared my table items and the day was great. There were 8 other sponsors and the lobby was busy most of the day.
I had good candy on my table 🙂 and I collected business cards for a giveaway. I also had an order sheet with a $199 consult on it.
I came home having made a lot of new connections, but no new clients. Not even any really good follow up or prospects.
Fast forward to last week. I sponsored another event that the same host put on.
This time I had a banner made that said very specifically what it is I do. Online Marketing Manager, Infusionsoft Support, Small Business Strategist.
There were only about 45 people at this event, but I came home with 2 potential clients, and 5 consultations for follow up.
What was the difference?
I can almost attribute the whole shift to my marketing materials.
The banner was extremely effective. People knew exactly what I did before they approached my table and they asked me very specific questions because they had a sense of where the starting point was.
I still brought good candy (the After Eights were a particular hit in the mid-afternoon!). 🙂 My order sheet there was for a $47 product.
The idea is that when people understand what it is you do, or have some sense of how you might be able to help THEM in THEIR business, the clients will come.
When you talk about yourself, they have to wait to hear what it is you can do for them.
In my case at the first event, people would come up to my table, take some candy, briefly look at my expensive order form and then ask me ‘so what do you do?’
I would then have to start by telling them I was a virtual assistant who helped business coaches with their online marketing.
It was a hurdle of conversation that was difficult to get through. Most of the people attending were not business coaches. They were there to learn about becoming a better speaker. Big fail for me on the marketing message side.
Build your marketing message with the client in mind. Talk about them. Think about their needs and how you can help them.
All of your marketing materials should contain this crystal clear message.
When you make it difficult for the client to figure out what benefit you can be to them, you lose valuable time in signing them as a client.
While I made terrific new connections at the first event, the follow up is so much more difficult because we didn’t really get to the ‘how I can help you’ part in any of our conversations.
There was too much conversation that we had to wade through before we got to any of that.
That was my mistake. But I learned from it!
For the second event, the message spoke from my banner before anyone ever reached the table.
They approached my table prepared if they needed online marketing support or Infusionsoft work. They knew they could ask me specific questions about THEIR businesses, which they did.
I didn’t have to tell them I was a VA, or the multitude of things I did. The message was clear. We started from the middle – and that included them.
Wish me luck with my follow ups from this event. I am excited to have 2 potential clients and from the requested consultations I can see probably 2 more that would be a good fit with me, so who knows!
See how a simple shift in understanding what your potential clients need can make a big difference in how your present yourself to them?
Help them make a quick decision by crafting marketing materials that they can understand and that tell them that you can help them.
I guarantee you it’s as simple as that!
I’d love to hear your opinions on this article – post your comments on my blog!