Happy Holidays

admin on December 17th, 2009 in Fill Your Events | No Comments »

It Pays to be Provocative!

What moves people to take action in their lives?

Whether buying a car, moving to a new house, entering a relationship or buying your services over someone else’s… there’s only one thing behind all human decisions, and all human action…

EMOTION.

Author and old-school copy writer Bob Leavitt wrote, “People don’t ask for facts in making up their minds. They’d rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.”

I agree! The only way to get anyone to care about anything you are saying or anything you are selling is to make them feel something.

So when you’re looking to stir up interest in what you are offering to the world – whether it’s your latest workshop, your next seminar, or your 5 minute speech at the local networking event – think PROVOCATIVE!

Provocative means to excite to some action or feeling. To call forth. To stimulate. To stir up.

Ask yourself, “How provocative is my current marketing message? Does it generate interest and curiosity? Does it stir emotion and stimulate discussion? Does it make people want to know more about me and what I do?”

Callan and I think it’s essential to craft what we call a Core Message that underlies your marketing message (and everything else in your business).

A Core Message is what you stand for in the marketplace. It is the belief you are trying to affirm in the world through your business… and it informs most of your business decisions.

The Core Message underlying our entire company is: “You’re either helping or hurting; there is no neutral.”

This message on its own is very provocative – especially in this day and age when people (especially in the personal development realm) talk about not making anyone wrong, being fair, diplomatic and politically correct.

Callan and I actually prefer you get off the fence, have an opinion, take a stand!

Another example of a provocative core message comes from another company Callan runs that caters specifically to Women leaders.
The core message for that company is, “Feminine Pleasure is Feminine Power”.

Pleasure as power? Now there’s a provocative idea. (And one I like!)

If you haven’t created a CORE MESSAGE YET, click here for a fantastic FREE AUDIO that walks you through exactly how to do it.

Whether you’re looking at your Core Message, your Marketing Message, or your Message from Stage – remember to be provocative and stir that emotion!

A message that evokes emotion in people is one that has a gravitational pull and will draw in the exact people you are committed to serving.

Callan on August 17th, 2009 in Fill Your Events | 1 Comment »

Stars Know How To Attract People To Them. Do you?

In our culture, the word “star” holds a lot of power.

But what do YOU think of when you hear the word, “star”? Does your mind wander to the velvety black night sky… or to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt?

No matter what popped into your mind – it seems everybody wants to be a star these days! The latest trend in television, from American Idol to Britain’s Got Talent, is all about finding a nobody and turning them into a somebody.

There’s a real, “Do you have what it takes to be a star?” attitude that gets promoted by pop culture, whether you’re signing up to survive on an island, or battling your way to the top of the dating heap!

But what is a real star? And why do so many of us crave to be one? (And what the heck does it have to do with attracting people to your business?)

A star, by nature, is luminous, radiant and attractive.

Take our sun for example. It’s the star of all stars! Human beings have worshipped this big yellow star for eons. All things on earth depend on it, look to it for warmth, nurturing light and security.

Talk about Power.

But why? Why does this blazing ball of light hold so much fascination? And why are some human beings able to embody this STAR quality while others remain dim and cool?

The truest stars (like the sun) are LUMINARY in nature. Meaning, they generously provide light, beauty, power, and service to the world. They’re not interested in what they’re going to get… but rather they give of their essence without thought.

I can think of a few of my favorite Human Luminaries… Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Indira Gandhi, and Dr. Michael Beckwith.

Did they get stuff? Sure… but they seem to focus on the giving, not the getting. They’re all human ‘lighthouses’ who emanate hope, safety, solutions, and possibilities… without asking for much in return.

Just for a moment, try shifting your entire attention away from what you can GET from your career and your audience, and focus on what you can GIVE to them in terms of service and support.

The more you focus on the latter – the brighter you’ll shine. The brighter you’ll shine – the more people will see you.

The bottom line? Shine Your Value First and Foremost… and I promise the rewards will be endless.

Callan on August 13th, 2009 in Fill Your Events | No Comments »

How to Help Others Help You Fill Your Workshops! (Part 1)

Imagine for a moment…

You host a top notch workshop that solves a specific problem for a specific group of people.  You educate, excite, inspire and motivate.  And what happens next???  Your grateful workshop graduates become ‘raving fans’ who go back home and tell tons of people how great your workshop was, and convince everyone in their social circle to sign up for your next course!

Or do they?

That would be nice. But the truth is, your happy grads might promote for you in the short term, but their vim and vigor will soon wear off as they re-enter their busy lives.

The other truth is that they’ll initially get a few of their friends and family to listen as they sing your praises – but listening and getting folks to sign up to attend your next workshop are two totally different things.

What if there were a way to LEVERAGE your raving fans, while upping their sales abilities, the results they get, and increasing the likelihood that they’ll promote for you over time? There is…

…and it’s called an AFFILIATE PROGRAM.

An Affiliate program is an intentional program, designed by you, to support and reward the happy graduates of your programs (a.k.a. your ‘raving fans’) to keep promoting for you over the long haul.  An Affiliate Program is so great because it is the only marketing program where you can control your costs and guarantee your profits. Why? Because you don’t pay anyone anything until a sale is made.  That means ZERO RISK to you!

Any effective Affiliate promotion has 3 main objectives:

Continuously recruit and entice individuals and companies to become your Affiliates.

TIP:  Officially ask your clients to be an Affiliate for you (get it in writing), and ask them when they are at the peak of their experience with you (i.e. at the end of your workshop or seminar)

Provide initial and ongoing training to help them improve their promotional abilities.

TIP:  Most people don’t have effective sales abilities. Support your affiliates to sell for you by giving them some simple tools.  Offer some phrases and language they might use when talking about your programs.  Give them some pre-done flyers or simple tickets to pass out with information on it.  Pre-write an email they can send out to their circle.

Provide ongoing motivation to keep promoting for you through a well designed reward system.

TIP:  Set up a well designed, well tracked reward system to keep your affiliates excited.  We’ll be talking about what kinds of rewards work and what kinds don’t in a future blog. (Hint: It is not always the best idea to motivate with money and discounts).

Even though Affiliate Programs seem simple at first glance, most workshop leaders don’t really understand the subtleties of making an Affiliate program work over time.

Keep checking back here as we’ll be revealing what works and what doesn’t.  In the mean time, sit down and start designing your official Affiliate Program, and start reaping the rewards of your raving fans.

Callan on August 12th, 2009 in Fill Your Events | No Comments »

The #1 Tactic to Fill Your Next Workshop!

The absolute easiest, fastest and cheapest way to fill your next workshop is to get up and speak at somebody else’s workshop! It’s kind of counter intuitive… fill your workshop by speaking at another one?

To counter confusion, let’s call this tactic, “Book SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS.”

Here are a few places you can go to speak:

• Corporate settings-plenty of organizations have monthly or annual sales meetings, or professional development meetings.
• Multi-speaker seminars and conferences
• Business networking groups-Chamber of Commerce, Women in Business
• Company retreats-some companies take their staff out on a vacation like a cruise, to celebrate company success, stir up company morale, give news about the company business happenings, to reward performance, etc.

There are 2 HUGE REASONS why speaking engagements are the BEST way to fill your room:

1. You save time, energy and money: Since someone else has already gathered the people, set up the event, done the marketing, and taken care of the logistics, all you have to do is show up and be BRILLIANT!
2. You increase the likelihood you are speaking to a ‘qualified audience’: Here’s what I mean by ‘qualified audience’. If you’re selling a workshop or seminar, then a “qualified audience” is any group of people who’ve shown they are willing to go to workshops and seminars. An even more qualified audience is one that has also proven they like to BUY things at these gatherings (e.g. they’re willing pay for a ticket to get into the workshop or seminar). If you can get a Speaking Engagement where the audience has paid to get in the door – those are ideal!

Keep in mind, some people will never go to seminars. No matter what. While others LOVE to go workshop and seminars just to be around other people. Of course – you want to focus on the second group of people. And guess where you’ll find them? At other seminars and workshops, of course! So get on those stages as fast as you can.

And now for some really great news…contrary to what you might think, Opportunities to speak are everywhere!

Many, many, many organizations and groups are begging for speakers right now. All you need to do is to get in contact with the people who are responsible for assembling groups of your specific audience – a.k.a ‘target’ or ‘niche’ market. For example, if you are selling a Women’s Business Coaching Program – get a speaking engagement at the local Women In Business Chapter.

Here is an easy 5 STEP PROCESS to find ideal Speaking Engagements:

1. Make a long list of groups that are in your Specific Audience.
2. Find out who is responsible for assembling each group
3. Find out what opportunities there are to speak to each group, and how often.
4. Get in touch with the person in charge of booking speakers
5. Contact them and entice them to bring you in to speak to their group.

Ideal speaking engagements (see Step 1, above) can be found online (do Google searches), and in magazines directed at your Specific Audience. You can also find associations that focus on your topic, you can check out free or paid publications, and you can even look in newspapers. Now the only thing left to do – is get on those stages!

Good Luck!

Callan on August 11th, 2009 in Fill Your Events | 2 Comments »

Welcome to the Magnetize Your Audience Blog!

Are you INTERESTED in helping lots of people and making lots of money leading life-changing, lucrative workshops & seminars?

Then for starters, give yourself a big high-five for finding us. You’ve just hit the jackpot.

Over the coming weeks and months, right on this very blog, Justin and I will share the latest and greatest, tried and true, HOTTEST TIPS to help you grow your workshop and seminar business… quickly and easily!

We’ll share what helped us make 6 figures in our first few months in business – and what’s helping us make the leap to 7. But first – a scary statistic…

“93% of workshop and seminar companies go out of business in their first year.”

Ugh. And those that make it through the first year, struggle or go out of business in the second or third. I think these statistics are sad. I mean, the planet is literally dying for luminary leaders right now – and yet so many good-hearted, talented leaders keep failing unnecessarily. And here’s why…

The #1 reason workshop and seminar leaders fail is painfully simple. They don’t know how to FILL THEIR EVENTS with the people who need them. They have a great message. They have tons of experience and expertise. They have a deep desire to serve and prosper. Yet – they can’t seem to attract enough people to their workshops. Or… if they do get a few folks to show up to hear them share their message, they don’t understand how to convert those clients to cash.

We’ve been sharing what we know about this topic at our live events for several years now – but we decided it was time to get on the BLOG WAVES and start sharing the wealth here.

WEALTH TIP #1: “It’s a great time to be in the workshop and seminar business.”

Yup, it’s true! Even despite the shaky economy. Now, there’s no denying times are tough and people are feeling a lot of fear and anxiety right now. And who can blame them? We’ve got stock market crashes, industry shut-downs, lay-offs, lost jobs, nuclear threats, corrupt governments, currency dips, and credit card scams!

But can all this bad news actually be good news for you and your workshop business? Yes it can.

There’s a saying that goes like this, “There is safety in numbers.”

Human beings are social animals by nature. This means we like to gather in groups – even at the best of times. But when things really go off the rails (like right now), we’re even more hard-wired to RUN QUICKLY to the safety of a group.

(HINT: The world ‘group’ and the words ‘workshop and seminar are interchangeable.)

Take a look around and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Social connectors like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are gaining mass popularity as people reach out to connect with one another during these high stress times.

Cell phone, text, email, and chat use is off the charts as people desperately reach out to ‘touch’ somebody. Everywhere you go people of all ages and stages are seeking community and craving connection.

So then…why not solve the seeking and facilitate the craving through leading live events? You can use the aforementioned virtual ‘ways to gather’ your people (and we’ll be helping you figure it out on this blog) – but remember that virtual mediums can’t hold a candle to the real, live, human contact people really crave and workshops and seminars provide.

• Here’s what we recommend (if you are not doing it already):
• Create a workshop or seminar that solves a real-world problem for a specific group of people.
• Use social media and other mediums to attract your ideal clients. (We’ll be showing HOW to do that right here).

Have a blast helping people and contributing to the good news on the planet – while marvelling at how easily your bank balance climbs
Sound good? Then let’s make a deal. You get busy planning your next workshop or seminar – and Justin and I will make sure you know exactly how to fill every single seat in the house… forever!

Tune in tomorrow and we’ll start by sharing the first tactic in our amazing, “Top 5 Tactics to Fill Your Workshops and Seminars” series with you. It’s a hot one.

Until then…BE BRILLIANT!
Callan Rush

Callan on August 10th, 2009 in Fill Your Events | No Comments »