Making a Seminar Work Via Non-Profits=

Offering your seminars through a local community
college can be a great way to generate income and
clients ... without the hassles of renting a meeting
room, handling logistics or doing the marketing.
You turn in your course description ... then show
up to teach.

Unfortunately, the reality is not so pretty. The
primary tool used to promote events is a course
catalog, which means your seminar will be listed
alongside hundreds of other courses ... and your
course description will only be a few lines long.
(If you're lucky, you might get a longer slightly
longer description online ... or maybe even be listed
in a brochure that promotes 6 to 12 related courses,
such as business management courses.)

For the most part, however, people who want more
information will call the college for details,
yet the person who answers could easily not be
too interested in selling.

It's not that they don't care about making the sale --
non-profit organizations definitely should be making
a profit. (The difference is that profits are
reinvested in the organization vs. distributed to
shareholders or owners, as with for-profit organizations.)

The problem is that (1) they typically aren't salespeople,
(2) they have way too much to do in a day, (3) they
don't know anything about your seminar or they don't
understand the true benefits of what you're offering,
and (4) the person answering the phone may be a
registration assistant who's trained only to register
students -- not sell them on attending your event.

To help fill the seats you secure at local venues,
consider the following:

1. Ask if you can write your own course description.
You know your material -- and prospective attendees --
better than anyone. Write something that hammers home
the benefits of choosing YOUR program.

2. Find out in advance what, if anything, your program
coordinator will be doing to market your seminar. Ask
how you can supplement their efforts. If you write a
salesletter, will they send it out? If you split the
cost of a separate mailing promoting your course only,
will they do it? If you offer a free preview seminar,
will they promote it? Asking these questions also lets
the program coordinator know how to satisfy the different
needs of those marketing seminars which, in turn, will
benefit them as well with a higher number of
student registrations.

3. Provide your seminar coordinator with a "cheat sheet"
that lists key details that can be used to sell your
seminar, such as who should attend, the top benefits,
answers to common questions, and questions the registrar
can ask to help callers decide if your course is right for
them.

4. Do your own promotions. There's nothing stopping
you from sending out your own press release, postcards,
newsletters, etc. Yes, you will then be investing your
own money into promoting the "college's" course, but
if your students turn into clients, the investment
may be worth it. You can also try negotiating a
bonus commission for any students you bring in.

Finding new and inventive ways to market your seminar to
a not-for-profit venue can only help your business in the
long run, by putting your event in front of prospective
customers in the form of students.