Facebook Seminar Best Practices

Agent must use a CreativeOne-approved topic along with CreativeOne-approved copy. CreativeOne approved topics are:

• – Retirement Income Planning
• – Taxes & Retirement
• – Social Security
• – Women & Wealth
• – Social Security & Taxes
• – Retire for LIFE
• – Medicare
• – Federal
• – Estate Planning
• – Other topics will be subject to CreativeOne-approval for the guarantee to apply.

All seminar dates must be at the same venue.

Workshops

• Colleges, universities and libraries are the preferred venues for workshops. Other venues must be approved through CreativeOne to be guaranteed.
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• Make sure locations/rooms are easy to find and accessible with ample parking. Use signs to help people figure out where to go.
• Agents should never use their office space to host an event. We see very poor registration and turnout numbers.
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Dinners Seminars

• Venues for dinner seminars must be at an actual restaurant. We recommend mid- to high-end venues. Other venues such as buffets, diners, country clubs, hotels, etc., will not be guaranteed. If you are unsure of whether your venue will be guaranteed or not, please consult with your MSC.
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• CreativeOne recommends providing multiple menu options with a steak and/or salmon option. High quality food visuals result in more engagement, which means we generate cheaper clicks and drive more conversions.
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• Avoid restaurants with minimums. If the restaurant is a nice venue with a lot of appeal, but has a certain minimum, CreativeOne would recommend only advertising for one date to make sure you can hit your minimum. We can attract higher quality individuals with nicer venues.
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• Check venues on Google to see if they have a high star rating (4+ stars) and a large number of reviews. If they do, that typically indicates that it is a popular, well-liked restaurant.
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Experiential Events

Consider doing something outside of the box to set yourself apart from the competition. Wine tastings, golf outings, etc., can help drive more attendance.

Event Location

When choosing your location, think about where people frequent and where they may be willing to travel. If you are near a metro area, people who live in the metro/suburbs may not be willing to travel to rural town outside of the metro, but people in the rural town might be willing to travel in for an event. Venues in areas where people typically frequent for shopping, entertainment, etc., may be more familiar to people and increase the likelihood that they may be willing to attend.

If a specific venue or market area does not meet a guarantee, CreativeOne, at their own discretion, may not guarantee future events at that venue or in that market.

Events must start between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Lunch events or daytime workshops will not be guaranteed.

Events must last no longer than an hour and a half for workshops and 2 hours for dinner seminars.

Saturday morning workshops should start between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and end no later than noon.

Event must not take place during the week of a major holiday. (examples: Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, etc.)

There must also be at least 30 days between your last event date and the start of our next advertising campaign (typically 45 days between dates) for seminars taking place in the same market. If there is overlap between our targeted audience between two different venues, they are considered part of the same market.

Event dates should be within the same calendar week to be guaranteed.

Seminars with dates spread over multiple weeks are subject to CreativeOne’s approval for the guarantee.

CreativeOne recommends moving to different areas and utilizing varied venues to help keep your audience and messaging fresh.

Seminar orders must be received at least five weeks in advance for a first-time agent or four weeks in advance otherwise.

Seminars will launch approximately two and a half  to three weeks before the first event date. We launch our seminars on Fridays three weekends before the first event date.

Late orders will be processed in the order they were received. Seminar orders received on time will be prioritized.

Anything that causes our launch to be delayed will result in the seminar not be guaranteed.

CreativeOne will automatically send a confirmation email, a reminder email and a text message the day before the event unless the agent specifically opts-out of them.

Agent will receive real-time notifications as registrations are received. They will also have access to an online leads dashboard that will house all of the registrant info for each seminar.

In addition to our automated follow-up, CreativeOne highly recommends confirming registrants via phone calls. Reach out to registrants within 24 hours of registration and also one to two days for a final confirmation.

Keep communication light and friendly. Ask if they have any questions about directions or the event itself. You can also ask if there is anything specific they were hoping would be covered. The point of this is to put them in touch with a human to make it real, and to build a rapport to get them excited about attending.

CreativeOne highly discourages pre-qualifying the registrants as they come in. We are already using financial qualifiers for our targeting and pre-qualification questions can be a huge turn-off and significantly impact the attendance of your event. Even if there are a couple unqualified people at your event, at least you didn’t turn away the qualified prospects.

If the agent is unable to make the confirmation calls, CreativeOne can provide a calling service for $350 per event. Our caller will make these calls for you and give you a confirmed count for each date. If you provide a no-show list, they will also call post-event to try to schedule them in for your next event and/or a one-on-one appointment.

Please find our seminar follow-up scripts here.

Make sure you provide comfortable seating in a room that is closed off from outside noise.

If you have technology for visuals, make sure it is working before the event. Also ensure your text is large enough for those in the back of the room to read.

Consider using a microphone and speaker so those in the back can hear you clearly.

Give your attendees something to take notes on or jot down questions as they follow along. CreativeOne has workbooks that accompany our seminars if you would like to use them. Just ask!

We recommend giving people a nice branded folder and pen along with materials for notes, your brochure and an appointment-scheduling sheet. First impressions can go along way, so make sure your branded materials are professional.

It is important to build a strong rapport with your audience. When looking at successful parts of a seminar, content is typically only 10%, but building a strong rapport accounts for 35%. Start off your presentation by sharing your story, why you do what you do, your family and any accolades you have acquired, i.e., as seen on Fox News or as published on Kiplinger’s.

People like to work with people they like and they can relate to. Showing your personal side and integrating some humor can go a long way.

Use banners at the event to help let people know they are in the right place when they arrive. Feature accolades and accreditations to help build your authority.

Use power phrases like “Write this down,” “When you come in for your appointment,” or “When we meet we will cover [this topic] in more detail.” Using strong phrases like this can help set expectations and improve appointment ratios.

At the end of your presentation, explain the process and what people can expect when they meet with you. Help lower anxiety by thoroughly explaining everything and emphasizing that it is just an initial consultation to look at their situation and figure out if you are a good fit for each other.

After the presentation, especially for a dinner, work the room and meet with everyone. Have someone else there who can help you schedule appointments. Try to schedule appointments with everyone before they leave, but don’t be too forward or restrictive by not allowing people to leave. This can come off the wrong way. Remember, you still have their contact info even if they don’t schedule an appointment right away. Sometimes people aren’t in the right mindset to buy and it can take them awhile to get to that point.

Don’t take too many questions at the event. You don’t want to spend your time giving people answers that you could be giving them during an appointment. Just let people know that you will take any questions during their appointment and you want to respect everyone else’s time and privacy.

Whatever you do, make sure it all puts people at ease. Don’t make your future clients anxious or upset.