Before considering the invitation process itself, consideration must first be given to who should be invited and why. First and foremost, the audience must be appropriate for the workshop topic. Among the demographic selection criteria to be considered are age, income, net worth, investable assets, marital status, presence of children, ethnicity, religion, i.e. whatever criteria are appropriate for the subject being discussed. The goal is to target those with the greatest propensity to respond. Not only those with the income, but also those with the need for the product or service that will be discussed. As a general rule, your best prospects will be those whose characteristics mirror those of your best clients you currently now serve.

In addition to inviting targeted prospects, it is suggested that you invite some of your clients, and, in turn, ask them to invite other friends (like them or just like them) who they think would benefit from attending. A mixture of “cold” prospects, clients, and friends of clients, presents the optimum audience for a successful workshop.

You will want to determine demographics such as age (or age range), Marital status, Estimated household income, Investable assets, Type of dwelling unit occupied (homes, condos, apartments, all), Religion, Ethnicity, etc. to use. Consistently changing metrics means you will consistently have varying results. If you like to meet in person in your office you will want to be limited to a 10 mile radius. If you are fine with remote that means you can conduct your workshops wherever you desire. Just understand that some people prefer to meet in person and this is why they are coming to you event. Of course, some will come just for the food but these can also be a source for referrals.

As a general rule, it’s always advantageous to hold your workshop at a “neutral” site. Having the workshop in your office conference room, as nice as it might be, traditionally limits attendance, as it has a tendency to cause the invitee to feel somewhat uncomfortable, even pressured. Not surprisingly, this is even more relevant if the prospect is currently doing business with a competing firm. Another general rule impacting attendance is that the higher the income of the prospects invited, the more upscale the workshop location should be.

Locations

Higher response rates occur from highest to lowest:

1. Prospects $500-1,000,000+ High end restaurants like: Flemings, Ruth Chris, Morton’s

2. Restaurants with a private room

3. Chain restaurants with Private Room

4. Country Clubs- Golf Clubs

5. Low-end Restaurants with buffet style food (best for Medicare style events)

6. College/Library/Senior Centers/ Recreation Centers – lowest cost but higher mail costs

7. Meeting rooms at Advisor’s Office – Client Appreciation/Bring a Friend

Hotels, country clubs, restaurants (private rooms) are all acceptable locations for workshops directed toward higher income/ net-worth prospects, while libraries, classrooms, civic auditoriums etc., are appropriate for mid-level markets (although, needless-to-say, they are less effective than workshops held at the aforementioned locations. Workshops held at colleges, however, particularly those perceived as prestigious have proven to be excellent locations for all workshops. Ensure parking is sufficient and make sure as you select your workshop location consider traffic during workshop times.

Wherever you ultimately decide to hold your workshop, it’s important that you don’t ask potential attendees to drive more than 15 minutes to the workshop site. Consider markets you work in. Every market is different. If you have a more rural market then you may only have certain options. Do what you can considering your market. General rule is just putting yourself in the prospects mind. What and where would you go?

Dates

It’s amazing how many workshops have failed simply because their sponsors didn’t give much thought to the date of the planned event. Make sure you select a date that doesn’t conflict with other events in the community i.e., open school nights, local football games, etc. Also, give thought to what else might be going on regionally or nationally such as Monday night football, the world series, a popular television program, etc. Do not forget to give thought to days and weeks approaching holidays, religious or otherwise (example the week prior to Thanksgiving is not likely a good time to do this).

With a clear schedule, you will still want to have all appointments within 10 days. When first initial appointments are booked the week of on the event – your no show’s dramatically will decrease. Reduce the time between the event and your appointment and it’s likely you won’t have to re-educate your prospect. Our best advisors find that Monday’s are bad days. Tuesday are better because it allows you to schedule Wed, Thurs, and Fri. Keep following week first appointments to a minimum but as you know in retirement – people travel. Just note following week appointments tend to die off even with text,

call, and email reminders.

Select Guest Speakers

Practice Public Speaking

Practice make perfect. You are spending thousands of dollars you have no room to perform poorly. Making sure you present

effectively is most important. Resources and support can provide you with feedback on presentation skills. Record your presentation on zoom of yourself with your camera on and replay so you can listen to yourself for areas where you can improve your messaging.

Presenter best practices:

-Avoid using filler words like: Um, So, anyway, okay, etc... Practice and catch yourself.

-Avoid pacing while presenting.

-Speak clearly

-Smile

-Practice eye contact

-Demonstrate relatability – Do we have any Steelers fans in the group? Do we have any veterans of the armed services?

-Be yourself

-Project – the first rule of communication is realizing – it it even happen.

-Dress to impress. Your suit should be tailored professionally and fit you appropriately. Shoes should be polished and high

quality. Pocket handkerchiefs are recommended.

-Exhibit respected grooming standards. Breath fresh. Wear deodorant or antiperspirant.

-Posture matters. When making and following up with clients on potential appointment dates lean down to the prospects

level. Chances are they will be sitting.

-Never read the slide. Utilize the monitor of a laptop to see next slide. Never place too much text on a slide. Slides should have

key points they should not be scripts – people won’t read them anyway.

-Never put your back to the audience.

-Handle disruptions with humor and dignity. Take control of the room. You will have rude attendees and some odd ones. Call

out attendees for disruptions, side bar conversations, etc... Words that work. Excuse me, “We have a limited amount of time to

share this information. We have a break coming up in about (time) minutes.”

Click to review the an ad spend and attendee estimation table to determine the ad buy amount needed to market to your audience.

Note the following disclaimers:

-Ad results are not guaranteed, but are estimated based on previous campaign results.

-All ad spend, membership fees, and marketing payments are final and non-refundable.

-Credit card transaction fees are 3% of the ad buy and will be subtracted from the total ad buy with messaging and tele-direct fees.