Build rapport with seminars

Mavens speak eloquently behind the lectern on the importance of “building rapport” with prospects and customers, but few provide the tools for others to do so. Most sales trainers speak of rapport in terms of prospect development and client retention; few talk about the rapport that leads to a suspect becoming a prospect. Yet that early rapport is what enables an agent to earn the right to someone's business. Nurture expert Jim Cecil frequently quotes Mae West as saying, “When you need a friend, it's too late to make one.” Substitute “friend” with “prospect,” “client” or “sale,” and you'll understand what I mean by “earning the right.”

One of the best advanced tools for building rapport and more is the presentation of business seminars. Please note, I did not use the ubiquitous term “seminar selling,” which can be extremely negative. The term brings to mind the pile of dinner invitations from financial planners that seem to arrive in my mailbox, along with time share offers. “Come have a free meal and listen to our 90-minute sales pitch!” That is not the way to make friends, influence people or build long-lasting rapport.

The key to success in seminar presentations by insurance agencies is the absence of selling in any direct way. Think in terms of providing valuable information to potential and existing clients to develop your brand, your image, your professionalism, your expertise and your interest in their success. The selling is accomplished at a subconscious level, creating a foundation upon that you can build a mutually beneficial relationship.

Indirect selling includes factors such as the peer interaction and synergy that occurs when your audience is a mix of both clients and prospects. Clients take a genuine interest in their association with you and offer unsolicited testimonials to the other attendees. Your sponsorship of the event and your ability to bring forth valued speakers further solidifies your professionalism to the collective mind of the audience–a professionalism that incites people to want to have a relationship with you. Sales paraphernalia should be limited to an innocuous back table display of your products, markets and services that attendees can decide to peruse.

Let's investigate what it takes to conduct informational seminars that will be of value to the businesses in your market area.

Getting ready

You'll need to make several basic decisions in advance, including the type of seminar: half-day event, luncheon with speaker or full-day event. Who within your organization has the passion to lead the effort, develop a team and coordinate the necessary actions? Do you have a program for transmitting electronic invitations? Does your Web site need upgrading to manage reservations? Is your Web site prepared to offer audio and video recordings from the seminar?

Another qualitative issue is pricing. Although free entry is provided to most or all attendees, will it be beneficial to set a value pricing for the event? One agency that conducts successful luncheon events sets a $75 price tag. However, clients can attend for free and bring their friends (your prospects) for free. Plus, the producers distribute complimentary passes to prospects on a regular basis. The advantage is the value perception created by the $75 pricing–even though no one ever pays it.

Another issue is co-sponsorship. Sharing the event with one or more other professional organizations with comparable clientele has a number of advantages:

Their clients are your prospects
Multiple resources for promoting attendance
Additional assistance in recruiting speakers
Mutual benefits of co-endorsement.

Topics and speakers

Most agencies begin their seminar series with topics relating to workers' compensation insurance, such as managing the experience mod, claims processing and back-to-work programs. Then, after hosting a couple of seminars, the agencies wonder what to do next. Here's where you need to break out of the envelope and realize that hot topics don't have to be specific to insurance. Find out what issues your clients face, then develop a seminar to provide solutions for them. However, it is important to understand that topics affecting bottom-line business will attract greater attendance than softer topics, such as wellness in the workplace. Recent hot topics have included the revamped COBRA laws, the red flag regulations about digital security, intranet solutions for internal communications, layoffs and terminations, and flex-hour and remote staffing issues. You also can find region-specific issues of interest to your marketing base. For instance, tourist areas that use foreign workers might appreciate a seminar on
work-visa applications.

Speaker selection and their bios are extremely important in building attendance. On the work comp side, look to the bureaucrats that run the system in your state and judges that decide the outcomes of cases. These are usually good draws for the event. Also look to your co-sponsors for assistance in locating powerful speakers with good draw. Don't forget that your carriers are resources for identifying potential speakers–and possibly some co-op money to help underwrite the event. Above all, avoid “sales pitch” speakers with a primary motivation of selling their service or product. No one likes to sit through an infomercial.

As a side note, most agencies find that attendance usually includes a good number of human resource managers. Check with regional associations about qualifying your events for continuing education credit. Just like in the insurance industry, CE credits always help the attendance. Even though HR professionals are not necessarily the decision makers in buying insurance, they are influential in the decision process and helpful to have on your side.

A central location within your marketing area is a critical component in selecting the location. However, depending on your client base, don't sell the “ego factor” short. For instance, if you provide professional insurance to lawyers, doctors and accountants, that constituency prefers high profile, ego-flattering locations. Other considerations in the location decision include whether or not you are providing food, the preferred style of seating and the availability of audio/video recording services.

Advance work

Build an action plan that identifies all necessary work, the date for completion, and the responsible party. Such plans should include obtaining and finalizing:

o Speaker handouts (print and electronic)

o Sponsor logos

o Program/agenda layout and printing

o Confirmation of CE credits

o Speaker bios for promotion and program

o Reservation procedures

o Attendee list

o Ad and PR placements/releases

o Name tags

o Exhibit display

o Post-event survey forms

o Speaker requirements for facility.

Getting a crowd

One invitation is not sufficient in today's hectic world of communications. Send out electronic invitations weekly, beginning a month in advance. Depending on your area and budget, snail mail invites can be a major factor drawing attendance, along with telephone and in-person invitations. Advertising can be effective, but the cost might be prohibitive. It's critically important to send a reminder/confirmation message to all registrants the day before the event.

Post-event

After the event, hold a post-mortem to discuss the relative success, lessons that may have been learned and a review of surveys from attendees. Send thank-you notes to all attendees, prepare and release press information about the event, and arrange for the recordings to be edited and mastered to mp3 audio and wmv video for your Web site, along with PowerPoint and handout files.

Finally, review the attendee list with all of your sales personnel. By whatever method that works within your agency, break the list down into specific lists for follow-up by individual producers. One great follow-up tool that is relatively inexpensive can be made available if the event was recorded. When the audio files are mastered for your Web site, order a number of audio CDs as well. These can be used as door-opening giveaways when prospecting and are perfect for follow-up: “We're really happy you were able to attend our recent seminar. Would you like an audio CD of a particular speaker? If so, when would it be convenient to drop it off?” Depending on the number of speakers and the length of the event, you may have a CD for each of the presentations.

Most agencies that are successfully presenting seminar programs conduct three or four per year. They are excellent ways to build rapport in advance, increase prospects in your pipeline and enable producers to increase their closing ratios by having earned the right to a prospect's time, attention and eventual business. Try it and experience the benefits of becoming a true solution provider within your marketplace.

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