Do you want to sell more CCTV systems to small businesses?

For most dealers, small business camera system revenue is a lucrative and important part of their business. Many however struggle with generating sales leads in this market segment.

In this post I’m going to share a proven effective promotion to sell more CCTV systems to small businesses. Here’s why you’ll love this promotion:

• It works…you’ll sell a boatload of CCTV systems to small businesses.

• You don’t need to spend a penny on advertising.
• You don’t need to cut your price – in fact, I encourage you to go for your full margin.
• You don’t need to find prospects – others will find them for you.
• You can sell to multiple small business owners at one time – all in one hour from the comfort of your home or office.
• You’ll position yourself as an expert able to solve problems rather than simply a vendor pushing product.
• You can implement this promotion and see great results within 30 days!
• You’ll build your contact list for future marketing activities.

Keep reading to learn the components of this promotion.

Step One: Target Prospects

In the US, retailers lose more money due to employee theft than shoplifting (Forbes).

Shrinkage costs retailers about 1.4% of their annual sales in 2014, according to the National Retail Federation, and a huge percentage of that (estimated at 43%) is due to employee theft.

Employee theft can mean things like stealing, manipulating a transaction to benefit the employee or someone else (refunds, discounts, under charging, freebies, price modifications, etc.), work time manipulation and much more.

Its clear companies have a big challenge with employee theft, especially places like restaurants, nightclubs, bars, c-stores, and small retail shops.

This group has a huge PROBLEM and would BENEFIT financially if the problem was solved. Since CCTV systems can slash employee theft, these type businesses are great to target.

Step Two: Identify Where Your Prospects Gather

You can spend an hour of your time presenting to one company, or you can spend the same hour presenting to 100 companies.

If you only present to one company, you have to be perfect in order to earn money. If you present to 100, even a simple 10% closing ratio lands you 10 deals.

So how do you get 100 companies together at one time in one place so you can present to them? You don’t. All you do is get others to do it for you.

Here’s what I mean – trade associations, merchant associations and chambers of commerce have huge quantities of your target prospects as part of their membership rosters. Let them get the prospects for you.

Let’s use a chamber of commerce as an example. In order for the chamber to thrive, it must continually bring value to its members. A huge way they bring value to members is through informational programs (not sales pitches, more on that later) and content that helps members make more money.

So here is what you do.

Put together a 60 minute informational webinar about how to stop employee theft that you’ll present for FREE exclusively to chamber members. All the chamber needs to do is promote the event to its members through its normal email and event promotional channels.

The result? The chamber gets a highly relevant, high impact event beneficial to its members. You get a ton of highly targeted and highly engaged prospects gathered all in one place at one time to watch your presentation.

A trade association whose members are part of your target market is also a great source for this promotion. An example might be the restaurant association in your state. Their members face employee theft, the association has a ton of members and the association needs great content for them. It’s the same concept as I explained with chambers of commerce, in this instance applied to trade associations.

Click here for a handy, step-by-step checklist to help you set up this promotion for your company.

Step Three: Presentation Content

Wealthy companies understand that no one wants to be sold to. People don’t like ads or pitches. What they do want though want though is information of value to make them more money, to solve a problem or to make their lives a little bit easier.

Here’s the point: chambers of commerce and associations won’t promote an event that is simply a sales pitch for your company or its products. People won’t attend an event that is basically an advertisement.

People want great information, in this case information to stop or significantly reduce employee theft. Your job is to put together 58 minutes of great tips and advice in a webinar format to help them achieve their goal.

Your webinar presentation should cover things like effective applicant screening, how to theft proof a business, ways to detect employee theft and embezzlement, cash management, how to monitor employee behavior and technology that can assist in reducing employee theft (you guessed it…this is where things like CCTV systems and register interfaces come in).

The internet, your client base and other experts will help you get content for your presentation. In fact, one company we helped with this promotion used an author of a book about stopping employee theft and another retail loss prevention manager as co-authors and co-presenters in their presentation. If you need help with presentation content, contact me.

Title the presentation something like “How to Stop Employee Theft” or “18 Ways to Stop Employees from Stealing from You” or “How to Stop Employees from Stealing from You Today.” Write a compelling description of what attendees will learn and why they should attend, and you are on your way to success with this promotion.

You’ll most likely be using PowerPoint or Prezi to present your information. Make sure to use presentation slides that are branded to your company.

Step Four: Promoting Your Presentation

Your partner (the chamber or association) will promote the event to their members. They have a relationship with them, and they have credibility with them. Their members will know they are attending a learning event, rather than a sales presentation.

Your goal is to make it easy for the chamber or association to promote the event. That means you want to prepare all the materials your promotional partner will use to get attendees to come. And keep in mind that the only thing attendees need to join the event is an internet connection…they can participate via smart phone, tablet, or desktop from any location, including the comfort of their own home!

One thing your promotional partner will want to know is why you are doing this. And your answer is simple and straightforward…you know that with informational webinars like this, about 15% of attendees will express an interest in CCTV systems. If they want to evaluate or buy one, you want it to be from you. You’re willing to share your time and expertise so others know how to solve a problem and that you’re an expert in this area.

The webinar should be promoted as being sponsored by your partner and your company. An example might be something like “The Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce and Brian’s Security Present… How to Stop Employee Theft.”

Ask the chamber or association what content formats and promotional channels they use to promote events. Then, develop promotional materials in these formats for the channels they use.

Most chambers and associations use email, Facebook and Twitter to promote events like this one. That means you’ll want to give your partner tweets to send, posts to put on their Facebook page and text and/or image based emails to send to their members.

Let’s cover how this works, using a chamber of commerce as an example. You give the chamber a series of emails to send to their members. A member reads the email and clicks on a link which takes them to a web page so they may register to attend the webinar. Same concept applies with Facebook posts or a tweet…a member reads the information and clicks on a link to go to a page to register for the event.

The registration page must reaffirm why they should attend, it should allow them to enter in their name, company name, email address and phone number, as well as the event date, time and a button they can click to add the event to their calendar. Make sure anyone that registers gets confirmation via email or a landing page that their registration has been confirmed, along with details about how to attend the webinar.

Promotion should start about three weeks before the webinar. Talk with your partner about how often they will promote your event, and give them the necessary materials to accommodate their schedule. Ideally, promotional messages should be sent by your partner to prospective attendees at the 21, 15, 10, 5, 3 day marks before the webinar, and the day before and day of (and don’t forget to send reminder messages to those that register for the webinar…you need them to do more than simply register – you need them to actually attend, which is why reminder messages are quite helpful).

Take your time with this as the messages crafted for your promotional partner will directly determine the number of attendees at your webinar. I recommend you use a professional direct response copywriter and marketer (find one on Craig’s List or call me) to assist you with this portion of the project. The few hundred dollars it will cost you will be worth every penny.

Your promotional partner may already be conducting webinars for their members. If they are you can simply use their webinar software for your event. If you do this, make sure you are comfortable using the presentation software (most are very user friendly and easy to use, and your partner will most likely provide a representative to host the session anyway). If they have their own software, make sure they provide you with the webinar registration information (registrant names, phone and email addresses) so you have it for your future marketing and your records.

If you need to provide the webinar software, there are low cost options to consider. Check out http://www.gotomeeting.com/webinar/homepage, or https://www.join.me/ or http://www.webinarjam.com/welcome/.

Click here for a handy, step-by-step checklist to help you set up this promotion for your company.

Step Five: Doing the Presentation

Using the presentation slides mentioned earlier in this post, a representative of your company should conduct the presentation. If there are co-presenters, like the situation I mentioned earlier in the post, understand who is doing what, who is saying what, and when it is to happen.

Practice makes perfect, and I suggest that all parties practice the presentation prior to delivering it live to your target prospects.

At the beginning of the presentation, the audience must be introduced to the presenters and given some background information on each. Keep this to a minimum time (less than 20 seconds a presenter). The audience is there for the information, not for the presenters.

The quality of the information is what will really establish credibility with the audience. Attendees are there to learn how to stop employee theft, not to learn about your company or its services. Keep that in mind at all times.

The first 58 minutes of the webinar is where attendees get great tips to stop employee theft. They get the information they need while you establish yourself as an expert capable of solving employee theft problems.

It’s during the last two minutes of the presentation that you focus on converting webinar attendees into sales leads.

At the two minute mark, say something like:

“Many of the attendees on this webinar today have lots of questions about camera systems and register interfaces. Most want to know how many they need and where to put them. Some have asked if we can help them answer these questions.

The simple answer is yes we can help. Email me right now at (insert your email address) and I’ll have someone come out and survey your business so you know exactly what you need. We normally charge $99 for this service but I’ll waive that fee for you chamber members. Email me now at (insert email address) and I’ll make it happen for you.”

Or you could try something like this:

“Many of the attendees on this webinar today have lots of questions about camera systems and register interfaces. Not only are they effective, they’re highly affordable, most run about (insert price). If you want us to survey your business to see what you’d need, email me now at (insert email address) and we’ll arrange a time to meet at your business and talk.”

Then, show a presentation slide with your contact information and you are well on your way to making sales.

Step Six: Post Webinar Follow Up

What you do after the webinar is critical. Take these steps in the order in which they are listed:

• Immediately after the webinar, check your email to see who responded with an interest in learning more. Call these people right away. Strike while the iron is hot and set the appointment. The quicker you do these follow up calls, the more people you will actually see.

• Immediately after the webinar, add all webinar registrants to your email names data base and CRM system.
• The day after the webinar, send an email to all who registered to attend, even those that did not show up. If they registered, they get the email. In the email you give them the link to a recorded copy of the webinar, and you reiterate your offer to show them a system for their business.

• Three days after the follow up email goes out to all registrants, call all of them, even those that did not attend the live session. Ask them if they have any questions, and see if they are interested in meeting with you about a system.

• Five days after the webinar, send a formal thank you note to your promotional partner. Let them know of any feedback you received from attendees. Get their feedback concerning the event…you may even get a testimonial. Share with them your feedback and how the event worked for you.

Keep in mind as well that you may have additional marketing opportunities with your promotional partner throughout the year.

As an example, you may do a webinar for the restaurant association, and then throughout the year send them articles for their blog and newsletter that contain additional information about reducing employee theft and other security issues of interest to their audience. That way you stay in front of the audience in an informative way that positions you as an expert.

Click here for a handy, step-by-step checklist to help you set up this promotion for your company.

Summary

Let’s talk some numbers…there are more than 70,000 restaurants in California. Let’s say we partner with the California Restaurant Association, and they promote to only 10,000 restaurants.

If only 3% of that 10,000 attends the webinar we’ve been discussing, you’ll have 300 companies attending! If 15% of those who attend grant you an appointment, that’s 45 companies who have attended the webinar and invited you to meet with them and survey their business. How many of those highly pre-qualified prospects can you sell?

My bet is a whole lot. Even if you only close 10%, that’s almost five deals!

How about a chamber of commerce? There are 4000 members of the Atlanta Chamber, 3000 in Indianapolis, 4000 in Philadelphia, 2900 in Phoenix, and 2200 in Seattle. There’s plenty of opportunity out there!

Some of you may be a whole lot smarter than me. You may have figured out how to sell camera surveillance systems over the phone or via a website landing page. If you have, more power to you and this promotion will work extremely well for that type business model.

Like any other plan in life, execution is crucial. You have to take action with what you’ve just discovered about this promotion. You have to have great promotional materials to invite people to attend. Your webinar must contain quality content presented in an engaging manner. Your follow up needs to be timely and professional.

You can do all of these things. And if you need a little help, feel free to give me a call.

Please share with me how this promotion works for your company.

Happy Selling!

Click here for a handy, step-by-step checklist to help you set up this promotion for your company.

Brian Offenberger, CeM, CSMA, is the founder of Right On – No Bull Marketing, a small business marketing agency and NJL Sales Training, a salesperson performance accelerator. Brian’s an expert in internet marketing, social media and social selling. Brian worked as a senior executive in the alarm industry for a SDM Top 100 Company, an SDM Dealer of the Year, and one of the world’s largest system integrators. Learn more about Brian at http://www.righton-nobull.com/security-marketing-qualifications/. Reach Brian via this link at http://www.righton-nobull.com/contact/.