Quickstart Product Creation – Using Marketing Events

I was just about to post about this topic when my friend
Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins posted all about this topic which
you can read here. So rather than repost the material that
I had which nearly overlaps his, I encourage you to head over
to his blog and read about it.

Instead I thought I would share some thoughts on going to
marketing events and how to get the most out of them. A lot
of people that I have spoken to ( including myself ) are very
nervous to go to an offline event, for whatever reason, they’re
just not comfortable going to one.

And I say…Just do it

I was very nervous the first time I went to an event,
that was The Internet Marketing Main Event San Fransisco
in 2007 held by Mike Filsaime. I didn’t know what to expect,
I had only chatted by phone or email with some of these guys
but I still didn’t feel comfortable going but I did it anyway.

I arrived in San Fransisco and made my way by taxi to the hotel,
when I got in I went into the lobby and was greeted by my good
buddy Bob Jenkins and immediately felt a rush of relief as we
sat and finally got to meet face to face after working together
on our Discover Cpanel product.

The event was a blast, I met some of the biggest names in internet
marketing and had a great time, we had a big party at the end of
the conference complete with a George Bush look-a-like and a famous
Vegas hypnotist Dr. Scott Lewis who somehow used his ‘magic powers’
to seduce me onto the stage and be a guinea pig for the audience.

I had one of the greatest experiences at that event and even have
video evidence of my performance on stage live. I really encourage
you to take the chance and go to one of these offline events, they
can be life changing and I don’t say that lightly, I have made some
of the best relationships of my life by going to these events.

Here are some tips that I would like to share with you about getting
the most out of offline events and then you can go and read this post
from Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins and use that to even create your very
first product right at the event.

1. Remind yourself why you’re going

2. Know who you want to meet

3. Establish goals for the event

The purpose of these offline events in my opinion is NOT for the content
that gets delivered. At least not for me. I am in a business to make money
and I do that by helping people solve problems and offering solutions to
their problems through information products and services.

So what I use these offline events for is simple, I am there to network
with individuals in the industry and to create long lasting relationships
that will help deliver solutions for my customers and friends.

You really want to remind yourself ‘why’ you’re going. What I mean by that
is you need to keep fresh in your mind exactly what you are looking for by
going to the event. If it’s to learn how to grow your business then make
sure you keep reminding yourself about why you’re going.

It’s important to know exactly who you want to meet. Most of the time there
will be a list of speakers and attendee’s that are going to be at these events,
so what I do is I will go through the list and write down names that I want to
make sure to be able to sit down and have a drink with. I don’t drink “alcohol”
but I mean that I write down those names who I know that I will not leave the
event without being able to sit down and spend a little time getting to know.

And finally you need to establish your goals for the event, this kind of ties
into the first one but this is where you go a little bit deeper in your thought
process and map out exactly what your goals are going to be for the event.

Using these three tips will instantly give you more focus for the event and
will take the edge off before you hit the event. We’re all just ‘regular’ people
and I think that is one of the biggest misconceptions that people face before
going to their first event. I thought that no one would even talk to me because
I am just a regular guy with one teeny tiny info product. I was wrong.

Here is 5 simple steps to speaking to a ‘guru’ and I say that lightly…lol.

1. Get into the conversation

2. Talk about them

3. Talk about you

4. Chat / Small talk

5. Get out of the conversation

Here is exactly what I did while I attended my very first event.
I didn’t know a whole lot of people there ‘personally’, I mean I
had promoted for them and had email conversations with them
but most of them didn’t know me all that well.

I took my list and began one by one introducing myself.
“Hi ‘x’, my name is Chris Morris and I…” this is how I got
into the conversation. Then you just get them talking
about themselves…this is easy…”What are you working on now?”
This sounds corney but it’s perfect because people love talking
about themselves and it makes you interesting because you’re interested.

The next step is getting to talking about you. This is also easy
because the follow up to you asking about them most likely leads
to them asking about you…lol. Talk about killing two birds with
one stone right?

And finally getting out of the conversation…”Well ‘x’, it was very
nice speaking with you, I know you’re busy but I would love to sit
down more and see how I can help you do…”

That’s all there is to it. Do this a few times and you will
be doing it naturally and without thinking about it.
I hope that you enjoy these tips that I’m sharing with
you and will use them as I have to build long lasting
relationships.

Be sure to submit your comments below and I hope to see you at the next marketing event.

Chris Morris

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Tagged as: Bob Jenkins, internet marketing, marketing events, mike filsaime, new product creation, product creation, product development