Welcome to Monetize Your Audience…a BLOG entirely dedicated to helping YOU create MASSIVE PROFITS with your speaking and training business.

If you lead live events in any capacity (retreats, workshops, seminars or events) – then you MUST make a habit of visiting this blog AS OFTEN as possible! Every week, we are going to be POURING GALLONS of interesting tips, tricks, strategies and tactics into this Blog so you’ll have major assistance with your goal of helping LOADS of people while making HEAPS of money!

By the way, this is a brand new blog and we really want to get your attention…so we are going kick things off with a BANG!

The SUPER HOT TIP enclosed in this entry will undoubtedly get your mouth watering for what is coming on this blog in the weeks that follow.

Are you ready?

I want to share the #1 BIGGEST MISTAKE speakers and trainers make when they design and deliver their lives events.

This mistake will keep you from helping the amount of people you want to help, and making the kind of money you deserve.

By the way, the mistake I am about to share is one I see over and over again in many kinds of seminars. It is RAMPANT in this industry! It doesn’t even seem to matter whether I am witnessing a 1 hour presentation, a 1-day workshop or a 3-Day intensive seminar.

Are you ready? The mistake can be summed up by one word: SEGMENTING.

Most speakers and trainers segment their live events into two categories: The ‘EDUCATION’ segment, and the ‘OFFER’ segment.

During the ‘EDUCATION’ segment (which takes up most of the time), the trainers educate, inspire, teach and deliver valuable content to their audiences.

On the other hand, during the ‘OFFER’ segment (which is always a significantly smaller amount of time) they focus solely on selling what ever product, service or program they think would appeal to the group in front of them.

Now, it may feel somewhat counter-intuitive to you, but segmenting your event like this (i.e. into an “EDUCATION” portion and “OFFER” portion) is the BIGGEST mistake you could ever make to the profitability of your events.

Why? Because here is what happens.

During the ‘EDUCATION segment’, you are usually feeling really great because you know you are delivering amazing value and information. You are doing what you love to do, and the audience feels it. When you are feeling great, it is much easier to establish connection and credibility with your audience and much easier for them to like, trust and respect you. By the way, “like, trust, and respect” are the three things that must be in place if you are going to sell anyone on anything. It doesn’t matter if it is your philosophy or your next program!

So – during the education portion, you get your audience to like, trust and respect you which increases your chances of enticing them to create an ongoing relationship with you by purchasing one of your programs or products. Education segments are good for your business!

Then…the dreaded OFFER segment begins and spoils all the fun.

99.9% of the time, as soon as the presenter starts to “sell” or offer his or her wares, consciously and unconsciously things start to feel very different in the event room.

The presenter speeds up. His voice pitch, tone and pace change dramatically and he becomes a different (and not improved) person.

Why does this happen?

Maybe he has unconscious blocks against selling. Maybe selling is a new skill and he lacks confidence or feels awkward. Maybe keeping the last 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes reserved for the big sales pitch puts WAY TOO MUCH PRESSURE on the poor guy (or gal for that matter).

Whatever the reason, the presenter becomes a totally different person when he begins the ‘OFFER’ part of the event.

The result of this is that he loses the connection he’s worked so hard to establish with his audience.

And things start to go downhill fast!

The audience begins to tune out, turn off, look at their watches…and RAPIDLY lose connection as well. They feel like they are being “sold” and they start to remember all their terrible experiences with rude telemarketers and pushy used car salesmen…

…and they start to put you in the same category as them!

I know, moments ago they loved you…but audiences can be fickle.

Does any of this sound familiar? Can you relate in the slightest?

The solution to the problems SEGMENTING your event creates comes in the form of a new motto I want you to adopt whenever you are designing or delivering the content of your next live event. If you adopt this new motto and the mindset that goes with it, I guarantee your sales will skyrocket. If you ignore it, you will never realize the profit potential leading live events offers.

Here it is…repeat after me, “MY ENTIRE EVENT IS AN OFFER!”

This means, when you are designing and delivering your event content, you must start the process of ‘offering’ or ’selling’ what you want your audience to buy right from the beginning of your presentation!

Why wait for the last 5, 10 or 15 minutes? As I said, that puts waaay too much pressure on you and will contribute to enhanced anxiety…and that enhanced anxiety is not going to do you any favors when it comes to sales.

Now, here are a couple of other practical ways for you to apply the idea of your entire event being an offer. I’ll introduce you to three helpful concepts, and cover them in more detail in one of our future blog postings.

Concept #1: DESIGN YOUR CONTENT WITH ‘BUYING CRITERIA’ IN MIND

Buying Criteria is simply a fancy phrase that means ‘the reason somebody buys something’. When you are designing the content of your event, you must organize, design and structure your information so it strategically sets up the audience to buy into the rationale for purchasing whatever it is you are offering next. It must establish a Buying Criteria that leaves your product as the most logical choice moving forward.

Concept #2: SEEDING:

Seeding is the subtle strategy of ‘mentioning’ what you are selling next. It literally sets the psychology of your audience up in such a way that increases the chances they will purchase from you later.

I promise to do future blogs on seeding…because is is such an essential skill – and there are very few speakers and trainers I’ve seen that do it effectively. The ones I’ve seen master it, are definitely the richest.

For now, just know that ’seeding’ is subtly mentioning the product or program you are going to offer well before you offer it.

It can be as simple as mentioning the title of the product or program in a relevant way so it starts to enter into awareness of your listeners long before you give them the opportunity to buy.

Concept #3: The best kind of selling is EDUCATION BASED selling.

You might be wondering, “If my entire event is an offer, then when am I educating and offering my valuable content?”

And this is where I want to make sure you get the idea.

The next wave in selling does not distinguish between selling and educating. They are intimately connected. When you are selling effectively, you are educating at the same time!

And when you are educating, you are also seeding and selling! They are married to one another! Part and parcel. You no longer need to separate the two.

When you become a master of doing both at the same time, you will be well on your way to making massive profits at your live events.

So remember – your entire event is an offer…an Education Based Offer, that is.

For more information on this or other ways to grow your speaking and training business…check us out at http://www.worldluminaries.com .

Until next time… BE BRILLIANT!

Callan Rush
Maven of Motivation
Founder, World Luminaries