Tele-Classes: Telling and Selling

By: Wilson Cole
Date: 1/1/2007

The best form of marketing that will put you head-and-shoulders above your competition is tele-classes, and I am amazed that more companies do not do them.

Think about your most profitable clients. I would assume they call you from time-to-time to ask for your professional assistance on different subject matters. You may spend 10 or 15 minutes coaching them and assisting them with their questions. Then, shortly after that call, you typically notice they send you additional business. That is the same thing we are going to do systematically with the tele-classes.

The best example I can give to you on how profitable these "Free" tele-classes can be is: About two years ago I created a tele-class on "How to set and manage credit lines." Five minutes after the tele-class was over, I had a prospect call and say, and I quote, "Wilson, I just participated in your tele-class and I learned so much I feel like I should give you business. The people that I work with now do a good job for my company, but I wanted to give you a shot."

This client, over the last two years, has meant over $175,000 in new business to our company. Let me ask you a question. If I had "cold-called" that client, do you think I would had have had a chance at acquiring his business? The neat thing about that prospect calling me was I had created the class over 60 days prior and this was a replay of the class. Yes, you heard me correctly. I landed one of our largest clients and he called me on a class that I had pre-recorded.

My second favorite story about teleclasses is: I was talking to a client, and he said, "I received a call from your competition last week, I told them 'no thanks' because I am happy with your results. I also told them I would not ever leave you guys because you offer free tele-classes on how to make things run smoother for my business."

I thanked him and we finished our conversation and I hung up the phone. Then, I started to think, and realized, I had not recalled seeing him ever register for a class. I did a quick search of the numbers that called in to our conference line, and guess what? He had never participated in our tele-classes, but the fear of loosing the access to the tele-class kept him as a client. While our competition is cold-calling, trying to find a needle in the proverbial haystack, we are beating them every time because we have out-marketed them.

The neat thing about tele-classes is that once you record the classes, you do not ever have to give the class again. It runs on autopilot. My favorite thing about this technique is you do not even have to be there to make it happen. Some of my most profitable tele-classes have happened when I have been on the golf course.

The very first thing you do is set-up with a conference line company. You then record the class, and advertise via email to your prospects and clients. (You may want to set-up some type of class registration form at your website to capture the participant contact information so you can follow-up at a later point.) If you are a very shrewd marketer, you could also add a question to your form to help qualify your leads. For example, our collection company always asks one question on our form, and that question is, "Do you have a collection problem?"

Think about that for a moment. In one single step, with absolutely no additional work, we can have our prospects and clients raise their hands and say, "I have a need now." Then, we can take that information and follow-up with warm prospects versus cold- calling people that do not want to talk to us.

Here are some pointers on how to develop the right tele-class. First, think about six subjects in which you have expertise. After that, choose the subjects that would be most beneficial to your clients and prospects. Finally, draw outlines for the subject matter. Each outline should be set up with three to five points on which you will be talking. Each point should have a story for specific ways in which it should be used, or has been used.

If you would like to see our tele-class format and template for free, simply email me at Wilson@marketingmagiconline.com, and I will have it emailed to you. If you would like register for our free tele-class on marketing this month, visit our website at www.marketingmagiconline.com, and click on the tele-class tab.

Wilson Cole is founder of Adams, Evens & Ross and cofounder of Recruiting and Staffing Solutions Magazine. He is also president of Marketing Magic. He can be contacted at 877.266.2442, or by email at wilson@marketingmagiconline.com.