As I explained in my teleclass some of you attended last month, one of the ways I got my consulting business off the ground two decades ago was to teach one-session adult education seminars in Boston and Cambridge.

I did this roughly ten times a year, for more than ten years. Each time I taught, I had 15 people in the class who had paid to be there. I received $50 - $75 for teaching the class, but more importantly, I would on average get one out of the 15 people as a client almost immediately, and later (sometimes years later) at least two more of the people either as consulting clients or as participants in followup classes I taught.

A few of these people are still clients today or still referring business to me, more than 15 years later.

So it's fair to say that this was a very reliable and fruitful lead generating system for me.

However, after about 12 years of doing this, I became more and more stressed by having to drive to teach the classes and then find parking during rush hour, and I stopped offering the classes, much to the consternation of the adult education centers, who viewed me as one of their most popular teachers and not easy to replace.

If you can put up with the traffic and parking hassles, teaching adult education classes on a carefully chosen topic can still be a successful lead generator for you today.

But now there's also an alternative way of displaying your expertise for the benefit of interested participants that does away with the traffic and parking hassles, as well as something else I disliked, getting dressed up: Teleseminars.

It's possible now to put on teleclasses at absolutely zero cost. All you need to get started is a telephone and email. You don't even need your own web site.

Here's just one example of how you could do that.

Let's suppose you know a lot about grant writing. And let's suppose you belong to an email list of varied kinds of businesses and nonprofits in your city or region. (I belong to a list like this, and as far as I can see, they're common in many geographical areas.) Assuming that the rules of the group allow this (and when a teleclass is free, it's rare that it's disallowed), then you announce the teleclass to group members and invite them to attend.

Give great content during the call, and mention from time to time various grant projects you've worked on for clients. At the end of the call, let people know in just a one-minute promo how they can hire you.

Even though a call is free, people don't normally attend unless they have a need for the information on that call. So the chances are good that at least a few of the people on the call will hire you as a grant writer.

Teleclasses are a great way to demonstrate what you know, provide value and come across as a person someone would want to do business with. And when you record the call, you effortlessly create a product you can sell.

Why am I telling you this?

One reason is that someone who attended the most recent teleclass asked me afterwards about teleclasses as a lead generating method. And the second reason is that I have a few more spaces open in my upcoming comprehensive course on how to offer teleclasses and wanted to let you know about that.

Read the complete details about "Teleteach for Profit" here:
http://www.yudkin.com/teleteach.htm

Please let me know if you have questions.

Marcia Yudkin
Copywriting and Teleteaching Mentor
http://www.yudkin.com/teleteach.htm

Hi Marcia, that's wonderful advice, and highly recommended that others listen to it.... I too taught adult-ed classes at night for University of Phoenix-Hawaii campus in downtown Honolulu for many years, both to pay the rent and to generate leads... it worked so well I did a lot of volunteer classes (Aloha United Way, on telemarketing for non-profits for donations), as well as through KCC/Kapiolani Community College for businesses as well. That's how I got to 140 clients so fast, even while other consultants were flying back to the mainland complaining about "there's no work"... the tip is you've gotta work hard for it...

Teaching adult-ed classes is a great way to polish your presentation skills, add value to a lot of folks, and build your business much faster.

Also recommended: give volunteer talks at service organizations like the Rotary Club (I was a member, we were always looking for new interesting presenters! about 10 minute presentations..) eg "7 Tips for How To (your niche topic).."... and presentations for the Chamber of Commerce morning meetings..

Thanks for bringing it up - it's a great tip for everyone. I like your ideas about teleseminars, it's also a superb way to leverage and get exposure/PR/build credibility with folks in a given target market (and do it without the commute/parking hassles/admin work).

Your "Teleteach for Profit" looks like a superb opportunity for people to learn how to do this online... solid resource!

-ken

I did a free Q&A session last week on teleseminars as a profit generating marketing method and then put it on a telephone replay line.

No opt-in required, and the one-hour call, which answers more than a dozen of the most commonly asked questions about teleseminars, is free.

The call-in information is in the red box (the last box) at the bottom of this page:

http://www.yudkin.com/teleteach.htm

Listen and learn!

Marcia Yudkin
Copywriting Mentor and Veteran Teleclass Presenter
http://www.yudkin.com/teleteach.htm