Using Teleseminars as Part of Your Business Strategy by Meggin McIntosh, PhD

I am a huge fan of teleseminars – both as a learner and as a business owner. Each month, I participate and host these high tech (but low tech) ways of learning and teaching.

If you have not been integrating one or more aspects of telelearning/telecommunications as part of your strategy as an entrepreneur, then I would like to encourage you to do so. Here are ten ways that will productively support your intention to connect with clients, customers, or others in the broader community.

1. Interview key clients.  Others will be interested in learning from them and the clients you choose to interview will be honored by your request to feature them.

2. Have focus groups with various clients, customers, or other stakeholders.  This is another great service you can provide, i.e., offering connections between and among the people with whom you work.  By doing focus groups – virtually – you and everyone else is learning.

3. Teach something that your clients need (and that will help show them your value).  The teleseminar can be as short as 10 minutes or as long as a weekly series that lasts for years.  It’s up to you.  You also get to decide whether to offer these for free or whether to charge for them.

4. Offer classes that your clients (and potential clients) will pay for.  You are in business, right?  And your knowledge is worth something to others.  Figure out what your clients most need and offer teleseminars that provide that information.  People will gladly pay and you will have additional revenue and a deepened connection with your clients.

5. Interview guest experts that are related to your business’s core offerings.  I know you know people who are experts in fields or specialties that are related to what your business does.  Bring those special guests to your audience.  It’s a magnificent way to be seen as connector and also (potentially) to have your guest announce your class to their contacts.

6. Hold “office hours” where folks can call in and you’ll be available to answer questions, provide information, or otherwise demonstrate your value.  I have named these call-in times by a number of different labels (e.g., “The Doctor Is In”).  Choose a name that fits your and your business.  Just get the bridgeline, let people know the number and be there for when they contact you.  These are a blast.

7. Do follow-ups for new products or services you have offered.  Depending on what you do, your customers may need additional follow-up to make sure that they remain faithful to the new method you’ve taught them, stay true to the new practice they have learned from you, or otherwise continue using the product they bought from you or implementing the strategy that they learned.  You can offer teleseminars like this on a regular basis and either extend their learning or offer Q & A time for those who call in.

8. Create learning segments for people to access through your website or via email messages.  You can teach and record segments of any length, which you then post on your website for visitors to access, post on a password-protected website, or send out via email to clients, prospects, or subscribers.

9. Share best practices.  Gosh, can everyone use more best practices?  YES!  And if you are seen as an industry leader and resource about best practices, then this strengthens your relationship with your clients.  Consider sharing best practices related to your business that you have researched and/or you can have key clients and customers share their best practices. Now, to get going, there are a couple of suggestions, I would make, including

10. Set up a bridgeline using one of the many free bridgeline services and setting up an account with a service that records audio.

You don’t have to do all of these that are listed in this week’s tips!  Just choose one that you aren’t currently doing and see what a difference it can make. If you have never done any kind of teleseminar, there are certainly resources to help you with that.

And if you liked these tips then you will want the Get a Plan! Guide® to Networking. Networking is a far more important skill and practice than any of us can really comprehend. Years ago, it wasn’t necessary to know how to network because you knew who you knew – and that was all you needed to know. Today… that is far from true. Learn 19 Networking Need-to-Knows in this practical and specific guide which is part of the Get a Plan! Guides® series.

© Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D (also known as “The PhD of Productivity”®) was a university professor for over 15 years and spent five of those years working with faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno.  Since leaving the full-time academic life for the full-time entrepreneurial life, Meggin writes, consults, and does workshops for smart people who want to be more productive, thereby being able to consistently keep their emphasis on excellence. Thus, the name of her company is Emphasis on Excellence, Inc.