It’s that time of year again when home builders and real
estate sales people get their invitations to join a motivational speaker or
real estate hotshot tell them how to be successful in 2014. It could come in
the way of a free webinar, a local seminar or at big meetings such as IBS in
Vegas.
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| Beware the “Free” Seminar |
Like the old saying goes, “Something for free costs the
most.” Every one of these people wants to help you. Every one of them
has a good plan that should work if you follow it and every one of them
believes you can meet or exceed your goals if you just let them help you by
buying their book, DVD set, weekly or monthly consulting or invite them to talk
to your sales team.
The real problem is that only a very, very small percentage
of the people that “buy” their spiel after the Free stuff is used up actually
gains a penny’s worth of help.
It’s not because of the motivational or sales consultants
not doing what they say they will. It’s because we are inherently loath to
change our ways or expand any effort without seeing immediate results.
I blame this on McDonald’s. If you give the counter person a
$1, they give you a sandwich. You eat and you’re satisfied. But if they told
you that you had to change into one of their uniforms, cook the sandwich
yourself and take it to the counter before you ate it, there would be no $1
sandwiches sold by any fast food store. That dollar just became something too
expense to waste time or money on.
That’s the way people look at motivational speakers. If they
could get the speaker to show them how to get more sales without actually
changing into a new uniform and putting a little effort into it, every sales
rep would be selling their ass off. That never happens.
Here are the 5 steps you’ll probably follow when we listen to a motivational
speaker:
1. Anticipation: You learn that a speaker is going to tell you how to make a lot of money with minimal effort. You can’t wait until
you can sit down with our spiral notebook or iPad and jot down all the things
coming from the sales guru.
2. The Ultimate High: Now you’re at the seminar or listening
to it on a webinar with hundreds of other people and the words of wisdom come
out so fast and with such enthusiasm that you’re writing and listening and
planning how to implement all things you’re hearing. At the zenith of the
seminar the speaker tells you that you can get a copy of his/her program for
only $169 if you purchase today. You can also sign up for personal coaching at
only $200 a month which gets you a full hour of the speaker’s personal help. My
God, sign me up!
3. Realization: Now you’ve done it. You spent the $169 for
the 8 part program and start reading through it only to discover that there are
no definitive answers to your personal sales slump just exercises and suggestions on self
improvement. There are strategies that might help but most of them seem like a
lot of work and a couple even cost some money. This isn’t what you wanted. You
wanted to know what to do right now to improve your sales. It seems that the
only person that sold something was the motivational speaker that made $169 and
he/she never has to see you again unless you want to use their coaching
services at $200 a hour.
4. Flatline: After several days or maybe just one day, the
$169 program is placed on the shelf and you sit at your desk wondering how to
improve your sales. That motivational speaker really didn’t address your unique
situation, did he/she? Well, actually they did but you are only human;
reluctant and skeptical of change. But wait, you just heard about a guy that
promises fast results and he’s offering a “free ebook.” That must mean he really
just wants to help me and he’s willing to do it for free…sign me up!
5. The Easy Way: There must be an easier way. Maybe there’s an App for that.
