Ever since the beginning of time, ambitious people of the world have
attributed some "indescribable secret" to the success of those people
with wealth. These people have spent, and will continue to spend, millions of
dollars to cultivate these "secrets" within themselves.
Particularly since the early seventies,
there has been a growing demand by the public to attend classes, workshops, and
self-improvement seminars that will enable them to align their thinking as well
as their actions, with those of people who have already achieved success.
The popularity of such best-selling how-to
books as WINNING IS BELIEVING...THINK AND GROW RICH...HOW TO DEVELOP A WINNING PERSONALITY...OVERCOMING
SHYNESS... IMAGINEERING... NEW LIFE OPTIONS... WINNING BY NEGOTIATION...
SUCCESSFUL VISUAL-VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS... CONVERSATIONALLY SPEAKING... and
countless others lends reinforcement to the "need" for
self-improvement seminars.
You can promote and stage these seminars
either as a generalists or as a specialist in a specific area of expertise--and
attain wealth for yourself almost beyond your current imagination! The market
potential has only barely been scratched, affording a real ground-floor
opportunity for those with the gumption to take action.
Dale Carnegie--the author of the book, How
To Win Friends and Influence People--was certainly one of the first, if not
"the first" self-improvement seminar market/teacher. Back in the
Great Depression of the thirties, he recognized this need in people to improve
themselves--he worked out a deal with the local management of his hometown
YMCA-- got the word around that he was holding classes on self-improvement--and
the rest is one of the truly classic unemployed-to-multi-million-dollar success
stories of our time.
A self-improvement seminar is conducted
much the same as a Toastmaster's Club meeting...It can be held just about
anywhere, from the informal atmosphere of someone's living room to the formalities
of the Hilton Convention Center.
Basically, a self-improvement seminar is a
gathering of people where one or more speakers talk on a specific subject. More
often than not, only a certain aspect of self-improvement, such as How To
develop A Positive Mental Attitude--is the thrust of the seminar. In other
words, the more successful seminars deal with "specialized areas" of
self-improvement.
These speakers usually wind up their talks
with audience involvement questions and answer sessions. Most of them
"wind down" with the speaker circulating thru the audience, plus lots
of opportunity for the purchase of self-help books and tapes by the people
wanting on-going motivation and reinforcement to what they've just heard.
Always-sometimes even as the featured subject of the seminar--there's a great
deal of motivation projected during these meetings. At the bottom line,
motivation is more the purpose of these seminars than the attendees learning
something they don't already know. The favorite words of most seminar speakers
is usually, "It's the difference between having a dream and taking
action--a matter of saying I can, believing it, and then doing it--because you
can!
Successful seminars are generally based
upon the concept of giving you the power to believe you can. The speakers
usually speaks from insights and expertise gained from their own life experiences.
Self-improvements seminars give the attendees the tools--and the motivation--to
succeed. Thus, a well-organized and well presented seminar that helps people up
the ladder of success can't help but succeed because we are a success oriented society--it's
an easy sell with an income potential limited only by your ability to express
yourself.
You won't need an office to make it big
with self-improvement seminars. The public doesn't visit you--you take your
programs to them. Self-improvement seminars appeal to almost everybody--from blue-collar
workers to top executives.
The average cost per person to attend a
seminar is very close to $300--so your basic audience will be from the
upper-income brackets--but if you handle the promotional aspects properly, you'll
pull them in from lesser income brackets as well.
Many seminar promoters employ sales teams
to call upon top company executives and either get the to partially pay the
cost of several employees to attend as educational or business improvement
investments--or to foot the bill for the sponsorship of a "group
seminar" for all of that company's middle management personnel. Many specialty
speakers make in excess of $100,000 per year with regular motivational and/or
self-improvement seminars in this fashion.
In the beginning though, you'll get your
start by staging seminars for the general public in restaurant banquet rooms, hotel
ballrooms, and convention centers. These will entail advertising costs, plus
the charges for the rented space, and an "on hand" inventory of the
materials you want to sell to the people who attend your seminars.
Generally, you'll do best with an
intensive radio advertising campaign during the week preceding your seminar
date. In a metropolitan area of half a million population, you should spend a
couple of thousand dollars on radio advertising, plus half as much for
flamboyant newspaper advertising. Some seminar promoters invest a quarter of
their budget in newspapers, then a half going into radio. Of course, the
allocation of your advertising budget should be related to the previous proven
pulling power of each media within that particular market. Not too much concern
is given to television advertising, excepting for guest appearances of the
community service talk shows.
Most promoters spend all of this effort
and money to promote a series of free seminars. These free seminars usually
draw huge crowds, during which special "front men" turn everybody on
with super-motivational stories designed to wet the appetite of those in
attendance for more. These free seminars generally last only 45 minutes to an
hour, and are strictly motivational in purpose.
Each person in attendance is handed a
brochure describing the up-coming "main event" as they leave these
free seminars. An attempt is made to get an commitment---at least a deposit for
the cost of the "real thing" which is usually set for the week following.
Those who do commit themselves to attending the big one are then contacted by
professional telephone sales people and given the complete sales presentation
between the time of the free seminar ad the date of the real thing. With good advertising,
up-front motivational speakers, attractive program brochures and experienced
telephone sales people--you can count on closing about 30 to 35% of those who
attend your free seminars.
If you don't have the confidence or
inclination to participate--be the principal speaker--at your seminars you can hire
local sales training people, professional people from the medical specialties,
local "experts" known thru your area newspapers or broadcast media,
and or/ nationally known speakers wiling to travel and operating thru speakers'
bureaus. You might want to contact
Burt Dubin of Personal Achievement Institute--225 Santa Monica
Blvd., Suite 305--Santa Monica, CA 90401...or Dottie Walters of The National
Speakers' Bureau--400 W Foothill Blvd., --Glendora, CA 91740.
Finally,
a reiteration of the fact that there are literally millions of people in all
parts of the country willing and able to pay you for helping them to improve
themselves. You can start with meetings in your living room, or your local
restaurant. All it takes is action on your part to get it set up, and a push
from yourself to start making it happen. Best of luck, and now get going with
it.
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