Giving free presentations is one of the quickest ways to grow your business.

Unfortunately, it can also be one of the quickest roads to burnout.

I can still remember back when I started my coaching practice. Knowing how important exposure was to growth, I connected with a local networking guru and expressed my interest in free group presentations.

I was soon scheduled to deliver a 45-minute presentation about how to attract more clients without burning out to hundreds of small business owners. And I was ready to start reeling in the success myself.

The Wasting Energy

Just one problem: With each presentation I found the audience engaged, willing to share and eager to continue working with me. But, the phone never rang.

After three rounds of seemingly successful presentations without a single client, I picked up the phone and called my coach for insight.

As expected, my coach was able to see the disconnect that had evaded me. He shared that the audiences I was speaking to were, if fact, engaged, but that they didn’t know me well enough to take the next step.

Building the Relationship

As Heart of Business calls it, I needed to walk with them from 1st to 2nd journey. I needed a way to try not to enroll these people on the spot, but to build a continued relationship with them.

My coach then shared with me a simple and affordable way to begin fostering these relationships. A Yellow Legal Pad. Seriously, he guaranteed that by passing this tool around I would see at least a 90% sign-up rate for my newsletter, and it would give me an opportunity to build a better relationship with those who were interested in my coaching.

The Yellow Legal Pad

I laughed, skeptical that one Yellow Legal Pad could make all the difference, but it did and I’m going to share with you how.

In the first five minutes of any presentation you will notice that there are people in the audience taking notes. Take a moment and share with your audience that you would be happy to share a copy of your notes and ezine that talks about X with them via email so that they can sit back, relax and listen. At this point you then take out your handy Yellow Legal Pad and pass it around.

You send around that Yellow Legal Pad with a phrase at the top saying they give you permission to email them and presto the first step is done, which is people are happy to give you their email.

We’ve all heard that fortune is in the follow up and that’s the next step. Within the next 24 hours you can send your audience the notes with a line or two at the bottom for your free consult or next steps in potentially working together.

The final step is to add all the people on your yellow Tab into your regular ezine.

After implementing the Yellow Legal Pad, I did sign up 90% of each presentation I gave and on average I gained at least one $1500 client per presentation.

So, how did the Yellow Legal Pad really help?

1. Like a first date, the first time people meet you and hear about your services, they may be interested, but they need more dates. By following up with your notes and then your ezine, the regular contact will help your audience feel safe enough and trust you enough to take a step towards you.
2. People are taking notes because they are really struggling with the topic and want to learn something new. By sending them the notes they can relax and be present. The notes become a way of saying, “I know you’re stressed and I want to help you, please let me.”
3. People just get plain busy. During your presentation they may even identify they want to work with you, but a few hours after your presentation they are back into the blur of life. By interrupting their day with your positive notes from your talk or ezine you will be allowing them the reminder that their struggles may stay the same without help. You can bring them hope that life really can be different.

What Else will Grow Your Business?

So, what else can you do to grow your business? Plenty, and that’s why I had a coach and recommend the same to you. The investment in having someone who has your back is priceless. I encourage you to check out our Organic Business Development Program and consider having a free call with me.