Anyone Done Any Good with Seminars with Postcard Invitations?

ShawnBrooks

Expert
25
I'm thinking of getting into seminars via mailing out 5,000-10,000 postcards. it's costly, but seems like most of the "heavy hitter" type annuity producers all say they focus on seminars. Has anyone had any luck doing these? I've been in the biz 3 years, pretty good at closing and I'm an excellent public speaker.

Good mailing companies?

Did you have a few sales out of your first seminar to cover the cost?

THANKS!
 
Hi agent M. Yes I know seminars aren't cheap, but I see alot of the big heavy hitter annuity producers create most of their new leads this way. What part of NM are you in?
 
Seminars aren't or don't have to be that expensive. I was referring to the mailers. Those aren't cheap for 10000 like you mentioned
 
I'm thinking of getting into seminars via mailing out 5,000-10,000 postcards. it's costly, but seems like most of the "heavy hitter" type annuity producers all say they focus on seminars. Has anyone had any luck doing these? I've been in the biz 3 years, pretty good at closing and I'm an excellent public speaker.

Good mailing companies?

Did you have a few sales out of your first seminar to cover the cost?

THANKS!

10000 mailers! Really? Are you just banking on hoping for the 1% return for people to show up?

You don't need to send out that many, I don't think you would ever make a profit with that kind of expense. Send out about 1/3 of that maximum with a phone number for them to call to RSVP. You might get 30-50 people to call in and pick a date. In order to make any money, you will have to take your mailing list (hopefully you got as many phone numbers as possible) and start calling those that you sent the mailer to and ask if they received the invitation that you mailed them. When they say yes, you book them to a seminar.

Seminars is how I got started and yes, it is expensive to start, but it also is a great way to get in front of 20-30 people per week and begin your sales process. If you are good, you can book appointments with 80+% of the attendees, actually see about 80% of those and close about 50% of those with one product or another. If you have 20 people per week, that would equal about 6-7 new apps per week. This is of course if you are doing a wide variety of products. If you are planning on doing just annuities, you might seek information from someone that has done seminars solely on annuities. If you can pull anything close to this, you can make a profit. Also, I hope you have enough money either in your current residuals stream or in your reserves to pay your bills for about a year because until you get your presentation down, your new commissions will maybe pay for your seminars.
 
10000 mailers! Really? Are you just banking on hoping for the 1% return for people to show up?

You don't need to send out that many, I don't think you would ever make a profit with that kind of expense. Send out about 1/3 of that maximum with a phone number for them to call to RSVP. You might get 30-50 people to call in and pick a date. In order to make any money, you will have to take your mailing list (hopefully you got as many phone numbers as possible) and start calling those that you sent the mailer to and ask if they received the invitation that you mailed them. When they say yes, you book them to a seminar.

Seminars is how I got started and yes, it is expensive to start, but it also is a great way to get in front of 20-30 people per week and begin your sales process. If you are good, you can book appointments with 80+% of the attendees, actually see about 80% of those and close about 50% of those with one product or another. If you have 20 people per week, that would equal about 6-7 new apps per week. This is of course if you are doing a wide variety of products. If you are planning on doing just annuities, you might seek information from someone that has done seminars solely on annuities. If you can pull anything close to this, you can make a profit. Also, I hope you have enough money either in your current residuals stream or in your reserves to pay your bills for about a year because until you get your presentation down, your new commissions will maybe pay for your seminars.

My experience seems to be the opposite of this. If we have 30 people in the room (avg 17-18 buying units...4-6 singles w/ 12-13 couples), the goal is normally 50/50/80. 9 appts w 5 shows and close 4 for something. These are tax, annuity and retirement seminars with registered reps so maybe the numbers are different due to the content.

Either way, consistency is key. I have seen a number of "one and done" seminars that crash and burn. They need to be part of your marketing plan. They also need to be repeated w/ frequency and most importantly, the process and follow up is everything.
 
Also, I hope you have enough money either in your current residuals stream or in your reserves to pay your bills for about a year because until you get your presentation down, your new commissions will maybe pay for your seminars.

Would it be correct to infer that the sales from your seminars are small? I'm just curious because I've never sold annuities in a seminar, but usually my annuity clients are putting a good bit of money into them.

What kind of $$ are you talking about with the seminar client?
 
I suggest you speak with Emerald regarding their seminar series. Average cost for one class is anywhere between 7500-15000 to fill your seats between mailers, advertising, etc.. Been doing this too long to not know better. A few of my friends also run a radio show to help fill up their seats. Notice I did not say advertisement, I said show. Seminars have been so overdone that there are professional plate lickers that run each circuit. You are best told to teach a course (Something like Emerald) so that the participant does not feel they are being sold. Do not be surprised if a regulator is sitting in your seminar, it happens frequently. Seminars are no get rich quick scheme, that is fact! Lot's of time and your own money. Some companies will throw in a little money to help if you ask.
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I went ahead and called my friends who run their office near Detroit. Their marketing plan was to mail 50,000 mailers with the intent of enrolling 80 (4 groups of 20) and that was pretty much what they got up until 2008.They did this 4 times a year. Each person enrolling paid a $50 fee. Out of the 80, they would end up doing business with about 40 on average with the projection of doing 1 million in revenue total for the year. They related that each seminar cost them app $20,000 (80,000 a year) in mailers, classroom, hotels, etc.. They stated the bottom fell out in 2008 because there was so many people doing seminars and those qualified prospects were being covered up in solicitations to the point their ROI dictated they step away from that marketing plan for awhile. They did mention they are looking at doing a couple in 2013. Hope that helps.
 
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