Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
Seth Godin wrote another interesting piece about the difference between prospects who will make one time purchases and those who will purchase something more often. He said the one-time purchaser doesn't know much about what they're buying while the repeat purchaser does. He makes a case for the educational seminar as a way to comfort and teach the group of people who will make their one-time purchase.
I agree with Seth about the impact an educational seminar can have. He uses a Bar Mitzvah DJ as an example of a service that prospects may not know anything about. As silly as it sounds to run an educational seminar about choosing music for a Bar Mitvah, it's equally silly to suggest that the educational seminar wouldn't be an effective way to differentiate your product or service for repeat buyers too.
If you have a compelling story to tell, entertaining and educational case histories, questions that push the edge, and a non-salesperson who can get up in front of a crowd and hold their attention, you can stand out from the crowd. If you sell a commodity, an educational seminar on The Changing Use of Widgets for OEM's might fill the room. Perhaps it can justify purchasing widgets from you at a premium. But more importantly, it can cause someone to do business with you instead of your competitors when you both have the same price.
By the way, for those of you in New England, I'll be presenting "Raising Expectations, Elevating Performance" on January 24 at an Executive Luncheon in Central Massachusetts. For more information on the event, click here.
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