Three years ago I wrote an article explaining how a brokerage agency could start a local speakers bureau to promote the seminars and workshops its brokers put on. This article is for individual brokers who want to promote their seminars and workshops in specific market segments.

First, it's so easy to do it can't be a real bother. Second, next to the power of authorship, the power granted to people who do public speaking well is truly remarkable, so it's well worth the effort to be invited to come speak to a group you want to get in front of. Public speaking creates the same audience appeal as authorship does: credibility from the demonstration of the author's expertise.

A speakers bureau is no more than an organized, systematic way to offer contemporary topics and effective speakers to groups looking for such presenters. It can be run as a business that derives its profits from representing speakers and contracting engagements for them, or as your own systematic effort to promote yourself and perhaps a few of your associates as speakers with something to say and a flare for saying it.

I suggest offering your specific target markets the workshops or presentations you have developed for their particular situations. If you are offering a generic money management, estate planning or similar canned workshop, I suggest retooling it to emphasize your expertise and credibility relative to your target. Example: If you work with long term care insurance markets and want to appeal to them, don't promote a workshop on "long term care issues." Rather, offer two workshops: one on financial decisionmaking for adult children of aging parents and the other on calamity avoidance for aging parents with adult heirs. The workshops' contents are essentially the same, although their perspectives are different. In the first example, the workshop sponsors will probably be adult children and some of them may bring their parents. In the second example, the sponsors will be aging parents, some of whom may bring their adult children. Either way you will find the results rewarding.

The conventional wisdom says to offer to speak on financial topics. After all, you are expert in at least one financial topic you are sure the world wants to know about, right? Financial planning, estate planning, how to make money in the stock market, secrets to buying life insurance, how to protect your business, etcetera, all qualify as topics you want to talk about. So, if the world really wants to know about these things, why is it so difficult (and expensive) to get people to your seminars or to be invited to speak to groups you know need to hear your message? Because people nowadays hear about workshops all the time, and what they hear is often pretty much the same. There is too much that is too similar to choose from, so many would-be workshop goers stay home. Pity.

The conventional wisdom is, of course, conventional, which doesn't necessarily draw crowds. If your message can't be heard above the din, the crowd will pass you by. If your message isn't appealing or different in some interesting way, the crowd won't stay to hear you, either.

People (meaning buyers) perk up when they hear about innovation, superiority and uniqueness. It's what I call the Three BEs of marketing; to be first, best and different in appealing ways.

Being first means appearing to be innovative in the eyes of your audience. To innovate simply means to present a concept or idea as, or as if, new. As long as your audience senses that what you offer is new (to them), you will grab their attention. In your mini-speakers bureau announcements, do this with compelling titles and outcome-oriented synopses. Example: Not Every End Is a Goal: There is more to the bottom line than the line at the bottom - A 90-minute exploration of the non-financial issues of inheritance planning and the impact of decisions and indecision on family and other heirs.

Being best means demonstrating that you are better than the rest. Sure, you will present your academic and professional credentials; explain the high standards by which you judge each aspect of your own work; use testimonials to show that others were quite pleased with your superior performance; offer to show and explain samples of your work, such as a John and Jane Doe generic hypothetical probate if you do estate planning and that is what you will talk about. But don't neglect to show off your unique situational expertise; that special knowledge and experience you have for solving issues with people in certain situations. Another example: Financial Decisionmaking for Parents of Children Who Cannot Cope - Guidance for the special issues faced by the parents of children who are permanently disabled and will require constant care, and those whose parents recognize that they will never be able to manage large amounts of money.

To be different in an appealing way, tap your originality as well as your "other side." One group of brokers successfully changed their promotion pieces by using cartoon animals to support the headline titles of their workshops. To offer an update on annuities they used the grabber headline "CD Rates Stink" with the image of a skunk holding its nose to reinforce the idea. If you want to show the ravages of constantly low interest rates (as seen in their impact on insurance dividends in no-longer-vanishing p
remium payment plans), you could depict a giraffe drinking at a shallow water hole, legs spread wide to leave the animal awkward in this precarious position, with lions creeping up from behind. There are all sorts of images you can use to support your workshop titles.

Your "other side?" Are you the type of presenter who is serious all the time? Maybe you should use cartoons to make points instead of always using charts and graphs. If you tend to be verbal and not graphic, try creating a few slides without words or numbers to support what you are saying. One estate planning presentation I saw years ago showed slides without any words at all, telling the story of how the state would dispose of your assets if you died intestate. The series of images was so powerful that some people in the audience could not believe the state could do what was depicted, and others were moved to anger or tears. Now, if you want to motivate your prospects to act in their own best interests, doesn't it make sense to show them the consequences of not making decisions?

You are probably interesting beyond the realm of your vocational expertise. If so, then take pains to demonstrate that you are. When offering your speaking services, here's one way to help with this: offer to speak on subjects you know about other than your profession. Many brokers are waking up to the fact that people who buy often like the people they buy from, if simply because they are interesting - different in an appealing way.

Example: I was once invited to address the Northern New Jersey chapter of the American Dental Association. When I offered estate planning as my topic, the program chairman almost uninvited me. As a desperate comeback I suggested a brief slide show demonstrating the major differences between Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures. I had many slides from my days in the Orient as a Chinese translator, and it was agreed that I would present on "Comparing Oriental Cultures: Variations on a theme." My introduction by the president of the association was perfect (because I wrote a suggested introduction and emphasized the relevant and most interesting points to make about me). I showed 38 slides and explained the cultural differences of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Okinawan cultures, all in 30 minutes. My Japanese kimono was a hit, as were my swords, rice field platform shoes and straw hat. At my personal request, the country club manager where the meeting was held announced to the audience "officially" that I had special dispensation for not wearing a tie in the dining room, which got a laugh in an otherwise rather stuffy atmosphere.

21 dentists attended; two fell asleep after lunch while I spoke, but three others asked me specific questions about who I was and what I did, and two of them became my clients soon after the meeting. The irony is that just four months earlier a senior colleague of mine - a very successful estate planner - addressed this same audience on estate planning and netted no nibbles, no interviews and no new clients.

Do you still believe that making speeches unrelated to your profession does not make sales? You are absolutely right. Relationships, and what they are made of, make sales. Sometimes taking a break from selling and just working on developing relationships is the best way to get around to selling. You can relax a bit and show another side of yourself. The result: people may have some fun, attribute that to you, and like you for it enough to want to relate to you in conversations they start. Though it may seem revolutionary, empowering prospects to ask you questions is one profitable aspect of good marketing.

Being resolutely transaction oriented is a turn-off for many people. Focusing only on transactions is to selling as pursuing only one-night stands is to dating. Besides, sometimes other topics are just more fun than financial topics, and in tough financial times, people often need and want some fun more than they need or want money advice. For all these and other reasons, public speaking works well to start client-professional relationships. Your mini-speakers bureau may be just the ticket to launch your productive public speaking career.

Here's how. At least twice annually mail a letter with a second page about your workshops to leaders and program chairs in groups that include your target markets. Example: Parents of Children Who Cannot Cope can be found in PTA and other school organizations, associated with special schools for the handicapped, and in a variety of other groups where their special interests are supported.

When you mail your announcements, include officers in your local Chambers of Commerce and service clubs such as Kiwanis and Rotary; your centers of influence; attorneys; accountants; civic leaders and any others who might also be asked to recommend speakers. Let them know what you are offering; topics, speaking times, brief descriptions of your talks. Give key people an extra fact package to pass on to someone they might know in your target audiences.

Be consistent with this effort. Mail your kits in late January and mid-to-late August for best effect. Keep more on hand for anyone else you discover could influence your being invited to address their group.

Your cover letter. Explain simply what your specific interests are and that you are available to conduct workshops or speak on certain topics to interested audiences. Make it clear how someone can contact you to explore the possibilities of your speaking.

Topics page. A list of your workshop titles with a brief explanation of each one you offer. Your ability to promote yourself in this manner hinges largely on your success delivering your topics in a competent and interesting manner.

A sample cover letter may say as much as you want, but I strongly suggest keeping it simple enough to be read quickly and provoke reading the second page. Here's a sample:

Dear Program Chair:

If your organization or one you know of wants interesting speakers with unique and compelling perspectives on contemporary topics that your members want to know about, then we probably have a basis for exploring how my workshops could fit your needs.

For the past decade, unpredictable changes in interest rates, inflation and taxes have frustrated us all. While politicians argue about family values and the best way to represent the American people, individuals in certain situations continue to suffer from not knowing what's happening or wondering if they will come out okay when the dust finally settles. Frankly, the dust won't ever settle. People with special needs require timely information regularly. That's why I provide contemporary workshops in my areas of expertise.

Take a look at the topics on following page and decide for yourself if your organization might benefit from one of my workshops. If so, let's talk. I am almost always available with reasonable notice, and sometimes on short notice if your previously scheduled program can't go on.

Sincerely,

There are two kinds of children who cannot cope: the disabled who will always need assistance living, and those whose parents know they will never be mature enough to manage significant money.

Leaving your business to all the children when one or more will not work in it can cause tension, rivalry, family breakups and even business failure. Whether or not your retirement depends on the business continuing after you leave, the financial and non-financial implications of leaving a business to children are compelling.

Aging is a serious issue that too often ends catastrophically for the children. The care giving adult child often becomes accountable for parents but lacks the authority or assets to provide mom and dad with the care and comfort they should have. The issues of competency, legal authority and asset management are presented in a series of scenarios and relevant options.

John H. Melchinger coaches in-practice financial services planning professionals in
marketing to high income and high net worth affluents. His clients develop their
professional practices through effective market identification, selection, penetration and
development, with compelling packaging and promotion for name plus idea recognition
in their chosen target markets. John's career experiences in financial services and
products-since 1977-make him exceptionally qualified to have developed innovative,
non-traditional marketing and skills development programs in estate planning, financial
planning, business planning and consultative selling. His how-to books, articles,
bulletins, workshops and presentations have become classics in the industry, and his
clientele of financial services professionals are among the most profitable and productive in their fields. John also donates one day per month to non-profit organizations infinancial services that request his support for workshops, seminars and fund-raisers.

John is available via the Internet at jhmco@ix.netcom.com, by telephone at (813)880-9899, by fax at (813) 249-7282, and by mail at the John H. Melchinger Company, PO Box 21286, Tampa, FL 33622-1286.

S.M.A.R.T.ª Marketing
So very few salespeople market-
and why they should

© 1997 by JHMCo. All rights reserved.