As you may know, Roundpeg has a series of seminars we offer to small business owners, usually at a low cost or, more commonly, no charge at all. These classes run on a variety of topics, everything from web design to social media introductions to classes on creating a marketing budget. Education is one of the fundamental principles we believe in here at the ‘Peg. We believe an informed business owner is a successful business owner, and we want everyone to be able to at least understand the basics of marketing. On a personal level, Lorraine, Peter and I all love teaching. It’s just plain old fun.

But I’ve gotta level with you. Our seminars are tremendous lead generation tools for us. They can be for you, too.

A long-form seminar offers you a chance to show off your stuff and prove that you’re worth your customers’ cold, hard cash. It proves that you know what you’re talking about and gives prospects a sense of trying before they buy. From your perspective, this is a great way to hit dozens of birds with one stone, since you’re often covering information that would be discussed in your sales process. Rather than having to go through it individually, you’re broadcasting the message to a wider audience and saving time later.

What you need to avoid doing, however, is selling. There’s nothing worse than walking into what you believe will be an informative seminar and finding out it’s just a few notches above timeshare condos in terms of the hard sell. If you do your job of really caring about the people in your audience and providing great information, they’ll ask for the opportunity to know more. If they don’t, throw in a few quick lines about your business at the end, but keep it short and to the point. Your selling is in your knowledge and your passion.

So go ahead. Put yourself out there. Develop a program that adds real value to your customer while also, coincidentally, highlighting what it is that makes you special. Empower customers to do things on your own, but be there to offer advice just in case they need a helping hand on their way to success. If you do it all properly, you’ll find yourself with a room full of potential clients and vocal brand advocates.

Curious to see how we do it? We’d love to see you at one of our seminars in the near future.