When I told my colleague Scott Palat (who I had attended a 3-day marketing/networking event with) that I may be speaking at a similar event in the future, he emailed me saying, “Hopefully you can teach the people something valuable and make a simple offer that sells. Some of those speakers were way too crazy with their “Not $5,000, Not $4,000″ etc. pitches. One guy (who will remain nameless) really bothered me by not teaching, but instead doing a 90 pitch for his service.”
“Maybe it’s just me?” he asked.
I don’t think he’s alone in his thinking. And, when I read his message I thought that perhaps this was the first event like this that he attended. However, it was not. And, when he sent the following reply, I asked for his permission to post it here as I thought he expressed his sentiments beautifully.
So, thanks to guest blogger, Scott Palat. Here is the rest of his email. . .
Let me clarify where I am coming from and tell me if I am making sense. First of all, for any coach who goes into an event looking at numbers and putting pressure on themselves to speak and “sell”, that’s a tough situation to be in.
If I were going to speak and try to sell at an event, I would go into it just being grateful that I get to know more stand-up people and I would certainly teach my ass off while clearly thinking of how my teaching will benefit the crowd.
My goal would be to “WOW” the crowd with real information they can truly benefit from. Then, I would have a unique soft offer that would not include the entire discount formula that sounds so cheesey in my opinion. I would simply offer an “event special” and feel good no matter what.
I would be proud that I did my best to help others in the room and I would be grateful to hang out with other stand up coaches for three days. That alone is worth the money. On top of this, I would know that good things would come to me whether I sold a single package or not. I wouldn’t get stressed out if no one bought, because I know it all comes back.
That said, if you had met me two years ago, things might have been different. Back then, I wasn’t that in tune with knowing good things happen no matter what. I had to evolve to have this new state of mind and for anyone over-selling and under-teaching, they too need to evolve. That’s all I am really saying.
I actually had to forgive one of the experts who spoke at a conference I attended in 2006 that was a straight up pitch fest!
During this particular event, I was hanging out with one of my consultants who was also speaking (he was 1 of 2 people that actually taught and gave value. The other 10 just sold). This particular expert had completed their “pitch”and came to the back of the room to speak with my consultant. I was still standing there and I have to say, this guy came across so rude and uncaring about the people in the room that it disgusted me. It was evident that he only cared about money.
Fast forward to last month when I saw him again, I was still sort of mad at him, but decided to forgive him and have a conversation to see if he changed. He sure did change! He evolved just like I did. In fact, I love the guy now.
I think that more of the speakers associated with events such as these need to evolve in that manner.
What do you think? I value your feedback so please share your comments below. Feel free to share what else you’d like to see me talk about here. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks!
About guest blogger Scott Palat: Scott is CEO of Healthy Revelations Inc & TutorFi LTD. He is on the verge of releasing his new Evolutionary Training & Coaching Software (ETC Software) that is destined to change the coaching and training world. You can view a demo at http://www.TutorFi.com/software-demo.htm
