Public presentations should be an integral part of your marketing program, says Sylvia Garibaldi, founder of SG & Associates in Toronto. The numbers will work in your favour, she adds.
Meeting a prospect through networking or a referral allows you to introduce your skills to one person. But a presentation that provides important financial information to a select group of people can result in follow-up meetings with several prospects.
To be effective, your presentation must engage your audience and address issues that interest them. Garibaldi offers the following three steps to connecting with your audience:
1. Speak with confidence and sincerity
Your purpose is to educate, not to sell.
“If you’re always trying to throw in sales tactics here and there,” Garibaldi says, “you’ll lose people very quickly.”
Avoid talking about products and your own reputation in your industry. You may be proud of the fact that you are the top-selling advisor in your firm, but that means little to people who want to learn more about effective retirement planning.
Confidence comes from knowing your presentation inside and out. You have worked hard to put together information that will intrigue this group, so don’t risk losing their interest by mumbling or continually checking your notes.
2. Include a call to action
While your main goal is to inform, don’t ignore the opportunity to meet with some of your audience members.
Prepare an evaluation form to distribute to participants following your talk. Ask for their thoughts on the presentation, whether they think certain elements could be improved upon and what topics they would like to hear more about. This form also gives you the chance to offer a complimentary first meeting to discuss a topic of concern.
For example, if you work with young families, offer to meet prospects and provide an analysis of their children’s education savings plans.
For those who are not interested in meeting, provide a form that is compliant with Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) with which they can register for your communications materials, such as your e-newsletter.
“You’ve built awareness of your services,” Garibaldi says, “but if you don’t even get people to tick off ongoing communication with them, then they haven’t become prospects you can’t place in your pipeline.”
A note of caution: Do not ask for audience contact information from the representative of the organization that permitted you to make this presentation. First, sharing information that way would be illegal under CASL if the participants have not given you consent to contact them. Second, such a sales tactic would give a negative impression and prevent future opportunities to present to this group.
3. Follow up promptly
If people are interested enough to give you their contact information for the purpose of arranging a meeting, pursue the connection while your presentation is still fresh in their minds.
“Don’t do the follow-up calls two weeks after the presentation,: Garibaldi says. “Do it while it’s hot.”
This is the second article in a two-part series on presentations.
For part one, see: Presentations: Getting the gig.