Virtual Event Success

I just got off the phone (well, Skype) with Peter Shankman, the founder of HelpaReporter.com. I recorded an interview with him to ask him about how he used Facebook to launch a service to connect experts with journalists. He provided some interesting statistics and I’m going to post the interview in the Fall.

The interview lasted 20 minutes and one thing became clear – Peter is so dang cool because he sprinkles all his answers with personal anecdotes. For every question I asked, Peter answered it with a story from his experience. I laughed, I didn’t cry, but I also became reflective based on the things Peter was telling me. And we were talking about social media.

Peter took me on an emotional roller coaster, but not in a bad-relationship-with-a-crazy-guy type of way. He was able to get me emotionally involved and I can see why he’s a sought after keynote speaker.

As I got off of Skype with him, I had to ask myself if I’m sprinkling stories about my experiences throughout my presentations. Sadly, I do so little of it. There is one where I talk about my 14 hour road trip to Boston when the drive should’ve taken only 9  hours. I recall that every time I tell that story, people either laugh in hysterics or crease their brow in shame wondering how I could make such a mistake.

This is what makes your marketing materials and keynotes speeches so interesting – when you can recount situations that are unique to you and use them as part of your brand. Peter is himself in so many ways. He’s quirky, he’s transparent and he reminds me of Philip Kaplan, but not as dirty.

And I had a great example very early in my life. My dad is the best storyteller in the world. He makes a drive to the supermarket seem like a 10-day journey around the world. My sisters and I love spending time with him because we laugh until our bellies hurt based on his stories. All we have to do is mention taxes, politics or David Miller (the mayor of Toronto) and that gets him started.

If I enjoyed my interview with Peter and enjoy spending time with my dad, then this is the experience I must create in my own business. Everyone who comes into contact with me must enjoy the experience whether they are my target market or not.

So, if you’re looking for a slight edge over the competition, don’t lower your prices or try to be faster or better. Instead, dig down deep, look into your past and figure out which experiences help shape your unique wisdom today. Then, sprinkle that throughout your presentations and speeches to create a memorable experience for your target market.

I’m listened to a video sales letter. The guy said that he was homeless, didn’t finish high school, then joined the army. Now, he has all the money in the world and can teach me how to put my sales on autopilot.

I didn’t believe him. Why? Because he rattled through his “story” so quickly, as if he read it on someone else’s page and decided it would work for him too.

I listened to the entire video sales letter more out of curiosity. Then, when I reached the end, I closed the page and went on with my work.

It seems like everyone who’s selling something online has been homeless or went bankrupt or failed in some way. I’ve been to too many marketing seminar where they say the very same thing.

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Facebook has now attracted those smarmy, get rich quick folks. It’s getting quite gross, but whenever something is hot, there will be some who will jump on the bandwagon to make a quick buck.

As I look at all these tall claims of making thousands on Facebook in just 6 hours, it seems too good to be true. Typically it is, however, the claim isn’t untrue.

In the 5 years that I’ve been writing my own sales copy and reading others, I now understand what these “claims” really mean. Here are some examples to illustrate my point.

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Shamus Brown (pictured left) over at The Shameless Sales Blog posted a strategy on how you can get customers to call you back.

I loved it and decided I would try it out on an event organizer. This event organizer has punked me off twice. He has a radio show and an organization where he holds monthly seminars.

Back in November, this event organizer double booked me on his Internet radio program. I’ll never forget it because it was a lousy day to drive as it was the first snowfall of the season in Toronto. People seem to lose their minds and all sense the Creator has given them when snow falls in Toronto for the first time in the winter season.

But, I digress…

So, I had to leave my home west of Toronto and drive 30 minutes into downtown Toronto just to find out that he “forgot” that he booked me as he climbed comfortably into his host chair with his guest, another author.

Fine, things happen.

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This is totally unbelievable. Watch this video to see how unprofessional the reporter and the anchor are on live TV.

Which brings me to my question – are you and your team on the same page? If a customer has an objection, do you fight with your contractor, vendor, supplier or colleague in front of the customer? Or, do you show a united front?

Hat tip to Lee Hopkins.

Although I don’t sell to big companies, I enjoy reading Jill Konrath’s blog called Selling to Big Companies. She recently posted a question on her blog about LinkedIn, a social networking tool. Jill’s question:

“As a seller, how do you use LinkedIn to increase your sales?”

One of the people she interviewed to answer this question is Scott Allen, co-author of The Virtual Handshake. I’ve known Scott for 4 years now and he’s a speaker at the Social Media Telesummit. He will lead a session at the Telesummit on how to price, promote and position your social media services.

While Scott said that LinkedIn is great for generating leads and finding partners, he said that LinkedIn is best used to accelerate sales. In fact, Scott says:

“Search for people in your prospect’s company who are not closely involved in your deal – preferably 2nd degree contacts, not 3rd degree. Ask for an informational interview. Ask your interview subject about the priorities that are going on at the company — what are the high-level factors that might be influencing the buying process. Be completely open/transparent.”

This is a great way to eliminate the cold call. Well, you are calling, but because you’re linked to a friend or colleague to that person in LinkedIn, he or she will more readily be open to speaking with you.

How are you using LinkedIn? If you’re not, why not? Share your comments below.

I’m organizing an event for February. Part of this is preparing the speakers’ bios for the sales page in bullet form.

There are 25 speakers and as I visit each page one by one to copy and paste their bio, each of the speakers are doing amazing things. I’m honoured to be associated with a smart bunch of people.

There’s only one problem. Some of the bios are so boring. Some just list what the expert has done and where they were featured. They’re president of this and have been featured in that magazine and teach at this university.

What these bios are missing are the results, the numbers that show what has been done and for whom. Bios should be results oriented where you quantify what you did while you were president of this or featured in that magazine or teach at this university.

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I’m celebrating (again).

My 3 year cellphone contract with Hell Canada ended on December 4, 2007. And let’s just say I will never do business with Hell Canada ever again.

Three years ago when I became a Hell Mobility customer, I was in a different place. I got laid off from my job about 6 months earlier and was on employment insurance. So, I started to cut a lot of my household expenses.

One of them was my cellphone. At the time, I was on the Mike network through Telus. I was paying $72 a month. Too steep for someone on a fixed income.

So, while on the phone with Hell Canada cutting back on some of my landline services, the sales rep told me I could get a cellphone plan for just $30 a month.

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