Conference Production Sales

About this training

Succeeding as a conference producer requires a combination of consistent effort, making connections in the industry, and delivering quality work, every time. However, without the ability to be able to sell their programs and “close” the speaker’s participation, success is not a possibility.

The process of “selling” a potential speaker, their participation to an event, can be overwhelming.

Some conference producers tend to avoid this challenging activity and instead, they either speak to the excecutive's assistant and it is through them that they conduct the production process of confirming a speaker’s participation, they do the process through e-mail communication or they rely on a consultant to use their connections and do the job for them.

The conference producers that understand that the confirmation of a speaker to any event, is a sales activity and requires the develop of selling skills, are the ones that are able to put together great events, with high quality speakers that no one else is able to accomplish.

We have trained hundreds of conference producers in every corner of the world, and we have a great understanding of the selling abilities that they must develop in order to be successful.

Our training will provide you with these skills.

Training summary

  • Reasons as why speakers agree to speak – Finding the right arguments
  • Always try to contact the potential speaker personally before sending them the event information
  • Strategy to conduct the telephone research and invitations
  • Prepare your conversation in every detail
  • Gate Keepers: make them part of your team
  • Smiling during the telephone call will take you a long way
  • The Pitch: best practices for delivering your sales presentation with authority
  • Give a convincing presentation of your organisation & product
  • Flattery part: speaker’s expertise, others bringing up his/her name and their company importance
  • Mention other speakers to be invited and emphasise the high level of your event
  • Mention other VIP names that you are speaking with to be part of your event
  • Summarise briefly & regularly
  • Start the conversation using an opening sentence that "draws attention”
  • The importance of how professionally you answer their questions
  • Make sure you engage your potential speaker in the conversation
  • Key qualifying questions: interest, time, availability
  • How to set up a deadline for their confirmation, without pressuring them - Tell them you would like to fax over the programme details so they can look over it and then check when you can call back for an answer and explain your deadlines
  • How to best deal with objections through intelligent questioning?
  • How to understand the difference between a “Major” and a “Minor” objection?
  • How to create a suitable environment for closing the sale-participation
  • Articulating the benefits of speaking and linking them to the speakers needs and requirements
  • Encouraging potential speakers to recommend and introduce you to other key contacts
  • Your conversation expectation determines your conversation attitude!
  • Be aware of your speech, tone of voice, choice of words and speaking speed

Who is this training for?

  • Conference Directors
  • Conference Managers
  • Conference Producers