The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes [80]
Exercise
You can do this as a workshop with you staff. Let every one think about themes or ideas around your product or ser vice that might make a great event at a trade show. You can put up a lot of the ideas already offered in this book. But be open to new and different ideas.
Charity Events
Charity events are amazing PR vehicles. You may want to structure your trade show party as a charity event or do such an event separately. There are two primary reasons why they are an awesome opportunity for your company:
Charity events can get tons of publicity for the charity. It’s much easier to get publicity when it’s for a good cause than when you are trying to get publicity for your own company. The publicity will also mention your company in a very positive light.
In most cases, the event pays for itself. Only the profits from an event go to the charity. Ask restaurants, travel companies, and other trade show attendees to donate prizes, gifts, or entertainment so the value of the event for those attending goes beyond giving to charity. A charity event lets you bond like crazy and be a celebrity among your Dream 100. And you do a good deed in the process.
Here are some charity event ideas: You could set up a film premiere with a local theater without involving the distributor. When I worked with 680 chiropractors for a year and a half teaching them how to grow their businesses, we created an event to benefit them and a local charity of their choice. I got the president of Sony Pictures Distribution on the phone and told him: “I have 680 doctors across the country who are willing to promote your movie. Interested?” He was, and we set up film premieres in more than 200 of these chiropractors’ cities.
A chiropractor who lived in Dallas went to the Dallas Cowboys and told them he was doing a charity event—a Hollywood film premiere right there in Dallas. They said: “Great. We’ll send the cheerleaders by.” The film was Dance with Me and the chiropractor got the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders to dance in the parking lot for free. Do you think you could get your Dream 100 clients to an event like that? This chiropractor did, and dream clients even paid to attend the event!
Here’s another concept related to the Dream 100 concept: I call it the market influencer sell. Market influencers are leaders in your particular market: community leaders, presidents of the biggest companies, anyone who by showing interest in your product or ser vice increases the interest of others. Another good example might be celebrities. I remember a friend of mine owned an antique shop where he sold handmade lamps. After Barbra Streisand started collecting these lamps, their price tripled. In the case of the chiropractors, MDs are important targets because they are a great source of referrals. Many of our participants marketed the event to every MD in their town. Another chiropractor got a presidential candidate to come to the function. Having that market influencer enabled that chiropractor to get still other important people to his event.
Holding a charity event that was attended by such notables raised the public stature of the chiropractor sponsoring the occasion. In addition, these were truly great charity events because they were fun for every one and they raised a lot of money for a good cause. Some were the talk of the town for several weeks. These chiropractors decided they wanted to be famous in their communities. If you want to be famous in yours, put on a charity event and then get your Dream 100 and market influencers involved.
Exercise
Who makes it onto your market influencer list? Put together a list of the most influential people to promote your product or ser vice and add them to your regular marketing.
The most obvious and easiest thing to do is to put on a classic cocktail party, dance, or dinner dance. It’s simple: book the place, hire the DJ, get companies to donate gifts and prizes, and invite highly influential people. Charge $50 per head or more, and you can throw