Outbound Marketing: One way to promote your services is to do outbound marketing. This is tough, very tough. It is not recommended. Yet, new speakers may have have no other way to get their feet wet. The two easiest to crack doorways are conferences and conventions that are budgeted, planned, and committed to happen. When you are a total unknown, when you have not established your name or your reputation, you do have a chance here. See the recommended profit-boosting actions #1 through 15, below.
Magnetic Marketing: This what I do. This is what I recommend. It usually takes years get this into orbit. I mean for this to deliver adequate inquiries to your phone and your mailbox. See Actions 16 and 17, below.
1. Get yourself the basic tools you need for penetrating the meeting market via outbound marketing:
Within the USA, invest in 3 directories. First, call Columbia Books at 202-898-0662. Order the NTPA Directory. (National Trade and Professional Associations.) It is your basic, must-have cross reference. Issued annually each February, it costs about $80, or so, less with a standing order. A vital resource, it gives you a lot of essential information about the Association market, key information available nowhere else.
Then call Bill Communications at 800-266-4712 or 609-691-0465. Order 2 Directories, as follows: Directory of Conventions. It is an Annual published each August. This covers the USA. Regional Directories are also available. Then, order the Trade Show and Exhibit Schedule. About $200, published each November. I discovered that most Trade Shows have educational sessions. These proved valuable to me. My normal fee for a 1 to 2 hour Breakout Session in the late 1980s was $2500 to $4000, sometimes more. (There are other USA Directories. These, however, proved most valuable.)
Outside the USA: In Canada, start with Micromedia, 800-387-2689. Every June, they publish the Directory of Canadian Associations. Also check out the Canadian Society of Association Executives, 416-596-6433.
Worldwide, you can get Directories of Corporations in the 100 largest countries. The source is KOMPASS INTERNATIONAL, Neuenschwander SA, St. Laurent, 73800 Cruet, France. (This is their world headquarters.) My English-speaking contact there is Marie-Jose Cocquyt. Voice: +33-79-652-508. In Australia, phone +61-3245-7777. In the United Kingdom, phone +44-342-326-972.
2. Prepare yourself to smile and dial:
Now that you have the Directories, consider the markets you are targeting and contact only the organizations in these markets. Arm yourself with a plan to call 25 to 50 target organizations each day relentlessly. Start at
8:00 AM in the time zones you are calling into. Yes, most decision-makers you want to reach are at their desks by then. Get to them while their day is young and they are fresh. Move through the time zones, calling between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM in each time zone. You'll probably have to call more than once to reach the decision-maker you want. Avoid burnout this way: Limit yourself to 3 or 4 outbound hours each day.
3. Eliminate inappropriate organizations fast:
Limit your calls to companies and associations that have definite conventions/ conferences planned and committed at specific venues for dates that are published. Have a series of questions to ask. Your objective is to get off the phone fast if the group does not qualify for your services. Here are a few model questions. Does your organization bring in experts who speak to help make your meetings more successful? Who is making the decisions on these outside experts this year? May I speak to that person. Now you have the decision-maker on the phone. Here are the magic words to say next...