What to do When No One Signs up for Your Workshop

Conducting public seminars, either free or for a fee, use to be a lucrative means for experts to bring in some extra income, increase their customer base, build their brand, sell their products, and up sell clients to more advanced training and coaching. But lately it seems that getting folks to register for anything is becoming more and more difficult. 

I’ve been asking professionals who I meet, why they think this problem exists. Some of the reasons I’ve hear are: there are too many out there vying for everyone’s attention, they have limited time or money to spend on attending these types of events, and they've attended too many that focused too much on the up sell toward the end and not enough on delivering what was promised. This last one has left a bad taste in their mouths for registering for future events.

The Best Bluetooth Speaker for Your Next Workshop

Instead of renting a hotel room, creating social media buzz, and hoping enough people register, an alternative route may be to go through an organization that manages an existing community. It is highly likely that your prospects all belong to an organization that connects people by employment, skill, education, interests, beliefs, or fellowship.

One alternative way of reaching your potential customer is through an organization they belong to and finding a creative way to engage that organization to allow you to conduct seminars for their members. Imagine your classic prospect in your mind and write down everything you know about them. What are the common interests that they share with others like them and investigate to see if an organization exists that pulls like individuals together.




As a behavior specialist, a classic prospect for me is a school principal who hires trainers and speakers for staff professional development days, and most principals belong to a principal association. Taking action, I sent my press kit to this association and included a proposal for a short presentation I could do for them free of charge, at their next association meeting. The annual meeting organizer eventually contacted me and invited me to speak at their meeting. From that free presentation came numerous RFPs for future training opportunities at individual schools.

So… what groups do YOUR prospects belong to?

Bill Corbett is a professional speaker who delivers keynote speeches and training seminars across the United States, and helps his clients leverage 2.0 strategies in order to grow top line revenues. Bill has built several successful businesses from the ground up using top-notch entrepreneurial techniques to implement inbound marketing campaigns. He is a much sought after business consultant, trainer and mentor, is a regular contributor to major network television affiliates, and currently produces two television shows as part of his own unique marketing plan. You can visit his website http://The20Entrepreneur.com or email him at bill@billcorbett.com.