Building Your Database

I always hold a drawing by collecting business cards during the presentation. This can get a bit tricky, so make sure you orchestrate it early on nearly at the beginning of your talk. I purchased a beautiful silver, red velvet lined, hinged top box that is slightly larger than a business card and about two inches deep. I pass the box around with blank business cards in case anyone in the audience doesn’t have their own. Surprisingly, at least 20% of every audience never has busuiness cards.

I also suggest if the attendees have any particular information they want from me, they should write it in the back of their business card. This will give you a solid reason to follow up with them. It will also help you set priorities in who you want to call first.

Ask the audience to fill out your feedback forms. Let them know you depend on their reactions to improve your presentation and if they know of other speaking engagements. You can use their comments for your testimonials while you’re building your resources.

I also offer to send them particular articles, my newsletter, up-coming presentation information or even seminar they might be interested in. You can take it one step further and provide a postcard for them to mail with specific requests at a later date.

You can even suggest they follow up with you for a free telephone consultation. I always offer them to attend one of my Elite Leads meetings at no charge. Surprisingly, very few ever take me up on the offer.