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How to Chose the Ideal Financial Seminar Date and Time |
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Here is an all too common scenario. You have invested a substantial amount of money, time and energy to promote your financial seminar. Much to your delight, 40 or 50 people have registered to attend.
As seminar day draws near, you are busy estimating how many new clients you will be getting. Finally the seminar day arrives. You patiently wait for the room to fill up. Then you wait some more. The reality becomes clear: neither waiting or praying will fill up the room. You realize you’ve become victim of the dreaded “no-show syndrome.”
You’ve just learned a discouraging truth: people register for seminars and fail to appear. It is important to learn some methods for minimizing this problem.
People pay lots of money for tickets to the World Series, Broadway shows, and important events of all kinds and then fail to use them. No-shows occur regardless of the event and its importance.
Our research has revealed that no-shows are subject to regional patterns. Large cities to the Northeast (with New York City leading) have the highest rate of no-shows. And, as a rule, large cities have a higher no-show rate than smaller cities and suburban areas. The Midwest has a lower no-show rate then the Northeast.
Some of the most radical no-show situations are created by a failure to carefully study the calendar and consider conflicts before scheduling a seminar.
When you are setting up your seminar schedule, check the calendar not only for the obvious holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Labor Day but also for religious holidays.
Avoid conflicts with national and local events, such as popular sporting events, elections, other conferences, etc.
It is important to identify the optimum day and time to conduct your seminar.
In general, Monday and Friday are the least favorable days for conducting seminars. Studies show most people are overwhelmed on Monday and are more interested in entertainment than education on Friday.
The exception to this rule is if you are conducting an in-house seminar for a corporation or organization. Many people will want to attend a Friday seminar if it is on site to reduce the length of the workweek.
If you are scheduling a weekend seminar, Saturday tends to be better than Sunday.
Always consider your target audience first when making logistical choices. For example, if you are conducting estate planning seminars, a midweek, midday seminar might have little or no effect on no-shows. Your target audience usually will be older and, in many cases, retired. On the other hand, if you are conducting college planning seminars for newly married couples with very young children, weekend seminars tend to be the best.
If your program will be presented in an area where your audience will be traveling substantial distances, or during heavy traffic times, make allowances for this when setting the starting time.
The best time to present an evening seminar is between 6 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
One of the best strategies for avoiding no-shows is to provide a variety of dates and times. For example, give your audience the choice of Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., or Saturday at 9:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. This strategy will add little expenses and will reduce no-shows considerably.
If someone registers for a Wednesday seminar and fails to show up you can contact this person on Thursday and offer him or her the opportunity to attend the Saturday seminar.
In some cases you can even create a third day from the no-shows from the other two days. Enroll the no-shows from Wednesday and Saturday into a newly scheduled event the following week.
Create a special offer for your audience. There are lots of fairly inexpensive rewards you can offer to reduce no-shows.
The lunch or dinner meal is the most obvious and most common incentive for someone to attend. There are, however, lots of more creative alternatives.
People will be attending your seminar for information. You might want to offer a special report or book relevant to your topic. If you are more creative and ambitious you can create an audio tape program.
A personal consultation or needs evaluation might be an incentive for some. Just make sure you can make this a legitimate gift and not an opportunity to hard-sell your products and services. Remember, if you do a good job, people will naturally want to do business with you.
Multiple confirmations should be your standard operating procedure.
When people register by phone, this will be four first opportunity to confirm. Using a simple script, say something to the effect, “Do you have the correct date and time? Let me just confirm that for you.”
If people register by mail, make sure you request both day and evening phone numbers. Call them as soon as you receive their registration form and use the same script.
In either case, assuming time permits, mail a postcard or letter, and confirm by mail. Be sure to include date, time, place, travel directions and restate any incentives.
Finally, place another call one or two days prior to the seminar to reconfirm. Always express anticipation in meeting them in person.
Remember: Your ultimate success will be determined by your ability to establish a relationship and build trust with those who will be attending your seminar. Use the confirmation process to get to know your prospect and create a productive relationship. Ask a few questions about specific concerns or problems. Reassure your prospect that you will be addressing his or her issues.
There is no sure-fire way to completely eliminate no-shows, but they can be reduced. Follow these proven strategies and techniques and you will increase the productivity of your financial seminars.
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