Yes I know the snowball effect sounds like a cold winter's day and definitely not like the beautiful warm Caribbean climate we just experienced on our August cruise. However, I wanted to share with you how the snowball effect can be a powerful tool to expand the number of people who attend your presentations.
My husband Cliff and I were both part of the enrichment program on the Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas, 9 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise. This was our first 'cruise for free' experience and thank you Daniel. This all happened by joining Daniel's club and following through with all the great information Daniel provides. I would encourage you to be on as many teleconference calls that you can and book private one-to-one coaching sessions. I also watched all of the videos Daniel provided and all of this combined, prepared us from the gecko!
When we arrived at the Port of Baltimore, our port of embarkation, we asked for the Pier Coordinator and stated that we were speakers for the Enrichment Program. The bonus here is that we were asked to join the small exclusive line, which also served suite cabin guests and the process was fast and efficient. This allowed us to board the ship earlier and provided us with extra time to explore the ship until our room was ready. When we were allowed to go to our cabins we were excited to see if our first letter was in the room. Voila! there it was, our first welcome letter from the Cruise Program Administrator (CPA) just as Daniel had stated! This letter provided us with the the time of our key notes and the location where we would be giving our presentations. The letter outlined where and when to meet the CPA which was right after the muster drill and asked us to be ready to go over any possible changes in the order of our key notes or anything else we wanted to discuss in regards to our presentations. We promptly got everything ready for the meeting, any questions we had, technician requirements, then off we went to explore the room we would be speaking in. We were pleasantly surprised that we would be presenting in such a huge and gorgeous location, the lovely South Pacific Lounge! I thought it felt like we were in the movies!
When we met Joanna, the CPA, we had our two gift bags, one for the Cruise Program Administrator and one for the Cruise Director. This was our first meeting and this is a nice thoughtful thank you gift and a great relationship building gesture. They were both thrilled with their gifts and we added our CD audio books as another gift during the cruise.
It is also important to get the contact number for the Cruise Program Administrator (your contact), just in case you may need them in regards to your presentation. Remember they are very busy and it is extremely important to be professional, organized and not take their time. Our CPA was at the beginning or end and sometimes both for our enrichment talks. Joanna followed up on the attendance and our feedback.
Here we are with the Cruise Director Clo on one of our walks for the Make-a-Wish Foundation(tm). This foundation grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Royal Caribbean will also donate 150 seven-night or longer cruises to the Make-a-Wish Foundation(tm) and gift seriously ill children and their families complimentary cruises. It was special to be part of this and participate several days and give back. We also had the opportunity to talk with Clo, who has an extremely busy schedule. We were delighted to get to know each other and share with Clo that we were thrilled to be part of the Enrichment program. I would encourage you to find out if the cruise line you are booked on has a program such as this and 'say yes' to getting involved and making a difference!
Right from the beginning of the trip when we met new people, we informed each person that we were part of the enrichment program and invited them to our presentations. Each enrichment key note was listed in the daily Cruise Compass and much to our surprise, we not only had the one short line "Enrichment Lecture, South Pacific Lounge", we also had a few lines with the full title of our lecture under the section "Explorer Academy." Another surprise was that we wre announced on the sound system for some of our presentations by the brilliant Cruise Director, Clo! Again, one of the things I know Daniel states is to go with the flow and wow the flow was truly wonderful!
Here I am creating interest in our talks. One of the ways we did this was my new marketing tool, the "Smiley Ball." From the beginning of the trip we decided to take the 'smiley ball' everywhere and people started to ask us what the 'smiley ball' was all about! So, we told everyone and this created a buzz, piqued interest in our key notes and created a lot of smiles everywhere we went. This is now part of my branding for my presentations and we will be taking the 'smiley ball' on every cruise! Here I am with Ben, one of the talented photographers aboard the 'Grandeur of the Seas.' We thought it would be fun to take a picture of Ben with the ball!
Back to the snowball effect! As the days went by, we found the attendance in our presentations grew. We continued to meet wonderful people and invite them to attend our up-coming keynotes. Booking a large table for dinner is also a great way to meet more people and have great conversations! Our wonderful table was brilliant and each one not only attended many of our presentations, they are now new friends in our lives. Another opportunity to meet people is at breakfast, lunch and all activities!! We began to create a buzz around all of our presentations. In summary the attendance at our talks grew as the time went by, hence the snowball effect and we had a loyal following of people who we got to know personally.
At your presentations a great way to build your lists and for people to get to know who you are and what you do is have a draw. At each of our key notes we had draws and gave away our CD's and other inspirational gifts. We asked permission to add their names to our mailing list and everyone said yes! I also let them know that they would be receiving a free chapter of my "8 Keys to unlocking Infinite Passion" CD Audiobook. As a thank you, it is always nice to give a gift, a free article, chapter, e-zine. We also purchased a Sony DCR-SX40/SX41/SX60 Handycam. We wanted a camera that was easy for editing and turning into future give a ways and products for our sites.
In regards to selling your product at the back of the room, we soon learned what to do and what not to do. We did not have our product in the gift shop on this cruise, however, we were given permission to sell our product at our presentation. I soon learned that there was not enough time at the end of the presentation, as the room was booked for the next event and people are there right on the dot to attend. So, what I did learn was to create a space ahead of time, in this case, closer to the entrance of the event, to set up a space to sell my product and take a picture of some of the people who attended the event.
Here we are below with Gabriel the extremely gifted and huggable technician and Joanna our wonderful Cruise Program Assistant. This was just after my last presentation and we took the opportunity to take this picture and thank both of them for all their help.
Back at home, we wanted to thank Linda Givens, Specialist, Enrichment Programming, Royal Caribbean International with a thank you card. We created this with 'send out cards' which allows you personalize the card with pictures and you can choose a gift. We decided to include two pictures, one with the cruise director on the Make-A-Wish Foundation(tm) walk and one on our 'Jeep 4x4 Adventure' excursion with 'Smiley Ball.'
So many wonderful people along this journey and I want to again thank Daniel for sharing his expertise and teaching us how to cruise for free and experience the world!
Live the Passion one day at a time!
Moira
Live the Passion one day at a time!
Moira
If you would like to see more pictures of the cruise with "Smiley Ball" please feel free to visit my blog and leave your comments and thank you. http://thepassionsource.blogspot.com/
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