Speaking comes in many forms and it’s not always to a live audience face-to-face. One of the ways I made 2008 my best financial year ever was through adding teleseminars to my speaking agenda. I was also blessed to learn from some industry experts how to use teleseminars to touch a lot of lives and make big bucks doing it.

So here are 3 ways that I made my valuable information pay by using tele-seminars in 2008…and that you can model going forward in 2009!

1)    Do a one-time Free call to preview something you are offering

Whether it’s brand new or newly updated, it’s important to keep the word out about your offerings. A quick, easy and inexpensive way to generate interest and sales is to offer a Free call on the topic that your book, info product or tele-course covers. During the free call provide a lot of valuable information they can use right away and then offer them a limited time special on yourproduct. Be sure to show them exactly where and how to purchase it online.

Rather than including the call-in number in the promotion of the free call, set it up so that people have to Opt-In (give their first name and email address) to get the call information.

By doing wide promotion of a free call and using an Opt-In system, you end up with a “bucket” of folks who have raised their hand and said, “I’m interested in that topic!”

The beauty of using the Opt-In and collecting the “bucket” or list of interested parties is that you now have a targeted list that you can market to over and over, plus you have their email so you can send them the audio replay of the live call too. (Be sure to record the call. I use www.audioacrobat.com for recording tele-classes and client calls. It’s great!)

This is important because only about 25% of people who Opt-In for a free call will attend live. You have an opportunity for the other 75% to hear your message if you’ve used an Opt-in and sent out the audio playback.

You’ll double or even triple your sales beyond what you did after the free call by providing this playback as well as a series of reminder emails that lead up to your special promotion ending. (I use www.invisiblecart.com to manage collecting my bucket of leads with an opt in, send them auto responders and let them purchase my offering.)

2)    Use A Free or Paid Teleseminar Series to Create a Product

This is one of the quickest, least expensive and most effective ways I know for experts to get their message out while making money and creating a product they will be able to sell for years to come. It’s simple…

Announce a free or paid teleseminar series to your list (if you have one). If you don’t, invite all of your current and past clients and ask them to spread the word. You can invite prospective clients too!

Run a 5-week teleseries and record it.

Voila! You now have an information product you can package and sell over and over for years to come. You can turn your recordings into CDs, have the call transcribed, provide transcripts and create or include worksheets and handouts that support participants in applying the material.

Note: Some of the best handouts are items you use every day to make your business successful. This might include sample emails you use for promotional purposes, sample contracts that a person might need to get started, sample ads that have worked for you in the past.

3)    Take an existing information product that you have and deliver it with a tele-series

This is what Suzanne and I did with our Get Started Speaking Program and it’s a beautiful model for both you and your clients. Here’s how it works…

We did a small, local live event previewing our Get Started Speaking course. This is how we discovered how truly powerful the information we provide together is!

We had a sound tech record and edit it.

We packaged all the worksheets, got artwork and made it into a beautiful product.

Rather than just selling the product online, we decided to offer it along with a 5-week telecourse.

We are shipping participants the Get Started Speaking product and providing them with instructions on which CDs and Worksheets they need to complete before teleclass #1, #2 and so on.

The time on the 5 week Live teleclass with us can be spent answering questions and doing live hot seats about the material that was covered in the worksheets and CDs.

The participant gets the best of both worlds. They have a physical product they can keep in their success library and use over and over again for years, they get live individual coaching on the scheduled calls, they benefit from hearing the Q&A and Hot Seats of other participants and best of all, they actually open the box and work through the course because they know they have a live call to prepare for next week.

No more unopened products collecting dust on top of a file cabinet somewhere! You’re work actually gets put to use and makes a difference!

And isn’t that ultimately what we all want? To touch as many lives as possible while making a profit?

If you have info products in the form of books, CDs, DVDs, recorded classes, webinars, trainings, etc…I invite you to consider how you could use this model to revive something amazing. Of course, if it’s been out for a while, make sure to do the necessary updates.

I just did that with The Invisible Close. It’s been out for nearly 3 years so I just updated it with new order form samples, a new bonus chapter on converting sales from your website and beautiful new formatting. It looks so nice that I’m even shipping it now!

Happy Holidays!