Many advisors are terrific educators, truly adept at explaining the world of investment and finance… but when it comes to seminars, this is NOT what brings in the business. (In fact, sometimes it drives prospects away!)
If you want to deliver a really great presentation, you have to do 3 key things:
- Engage,
- Educate, and
- Elevate.
Unfortunately, most advisors focus 99% of their time and energy on educating.
BIG MISTAKE.
Why? Because it’s boring – and if you lose their attention, you lose their business.
To generate great results from your seminar, you have to do more than deliver a lecture.
Here’s what you need to remember:
- Engage the audience, right from the start: Your introduction MUST get their attention and get them excited about what’s to come. Help them experience the issue at hand and become more involved. There are many ways to do this: a quiz; a story; a picture – something unexpected. The key is knowing what you want them to understand by the end of your intro.
- Educate the audience, but keep it interesting: People come to seminars in order to learn something, but most financial presentations are BORING. Stay fresh and alive, and the audience will love you for it.
- Elevate the commitment: In the closing, bring back the feeling or message they got from your introduction. Review the key solutions you shared during the “educate” phase of your presentation. Then go on to explain WHY they need to take the next step (i.e. schedule an appointment with you, or whatever objective you’re aiming for). Foster a sense of need and urgency, a desire to take action, and highlight what they gain by making this commitment. This is the most important step in any seminar. This is what turns prospects into clients – not phase 2.
When executed well, each phase builds up to the next, creating a sense of momentum that leads to action. This is how attendees become clients.
