What makes a great trainings promoter?

Since I started developing the PCW model in 2006 I have been teaching this model in 13 different countries. This has meant working with a wide range of different promoters. This article asks (and hopefully answers the question – “What makes a great promoter?”

I get approached by all kinds of individuals wanting to promote my events. Enthusiasm is always welcome, but it needs to be matched by good business and communication skills. When I ran NLP trainings over a decade ago I was amazed at some of delusional thinking from some fellow NLP trainers in the UK. Most had not had a background in business and could be quite delusional in their thinking.
To date I have sacked three promoters who hosted PCW trainings. In all cases they were pleasant enough individuals but had terrible communication skills that ultimately made working with them a torrid task. I would find myself spending hours trying to obtain key information regarding the requested trainings. Here’s a simple checklist I have to decide who I hire to host my events.

• Does the promoter have experience of filling workshops?
• Definition of expectations
• Do they have good communication skills and respond promptly in correspondence?
• Do they have a genuine interest in my work?
• Is working with them a good association for me?
• Does it pay? (and I don’t just mean financially!)

Often when people attend a training they can mistakenly think “Wow this is an easy way to earn money” not realizing how much work is involved in making such events happen. There’s no substitute for experience and I always look to see what kind of track record a host has in this respect.  Experienced promoters are able to inoculate against problems, have a good database of customers, a great awareness of venues and crucially appreciate the need to look after the trainers!

In any business transaction proper definitions of expectations are essential for a successful outcome. Any professional trainer appreciates that there’s a great deal of time involved in preparing training materials for the proposed event. Trainers who are presenting their own unique material have often spent years working on content and figuring out how best to sequence this in a live training. This is with respect very different to presenting stock NLP or hypnosis courses where there is a well-thumbed existing template.
Agreement on timing of payments is also important. I request full payment at the conclusion of the training, which I think is only fair and reasonable. There is usually an agreed daily fee plus expenses. The promoter’s role is to generate interest and if they do very well financially then I am happy for them. The trainer may assist in supplying promotional material but should in my view not be relied upon to both market and present the event. This is where some trainers literally tear their hair out when the promoters have a limited delivery system to customers or endlessly request advice on marketing. I know of one promoter whose sole marketing strategy was to send out e-mails. On paper there was a massive database, but this only ever translated into single figure attendance.  I hosted Frank Farrelly for many years and appreciated that as soon as I signed of on booking his time it was my responsibility to make the event work in every way including balancing the books. I ensured he was always paid promptly at the conclusion of every training and we had a great business and personal relationship.

Even if promoters tick box number one, many crash and burn when it comes to this aspect. There is nothing more frustrating as a trainer than trying to get key information from a promoter and either being fobbed off with excuses or even worse have requests ignored. The most successful trainers and presenters can literally pick and choose where they want to train and some time is at a premium. Sometimes I am approached by a promoter with a request to do a significant amount of training. I always decline such ambitious requests until they have at some level proved they can deliver a professional event and crucially do so in a stress free manner.  One of my big frustrations is to ring fence blocks of time in the calendar for a specific host, not hear anything and then have them want to cancel or shift dates. This can lead to “dead time” which with notice could have been used more productively. Yes, when dealing with people things don’t always go to plan, BUT good communication is essential at all times.

Perhaps you may think that if a promoter approaches a trainer to host them they will have an interest in the trainer’s work? This is usually of course the case, BUT not always. I had one promoter host me for a number of events, but only attend less than two hours of the entire trainings. This meant he had zero awareness of what he was promoting, which of course shows very poor business acumen. In stark contrast my Japanese promoter flew to Colorado to attend a 3-day PCW training hosted by Steve and Connirae Andreas, so she knew exactly what I would be presenting. You could not have a greater gap in awareness. I stopped all trainings with trainer “A” after two intro events and Japan to date has hosted me every year for five years, sometimes three times per year. We have also run two 10-day practitioner trainings there as well as two specialized PCW trainings which have never to date been run elsewhere.

This is a key consideration, as it’s my reputation on the line in these situations. If I get complaints from workshop attendees about the promoter it’s not good. Of course if the promoter does a great job then it’s great for my reputation as well. To date I have had many excellent hosts who have helped bring PCW to 13 different countries all over the globe. I’m very grateful for all these individuals and in turn I will use all my social media and blogs to promote their businesses.

Every relationship is a trade. Yes, there is a financial trade in terms of a fee and expenses, but the trade goes beyond that. The whole trade includes all the above factors I have mentioned. Things don’t always go to plan, but the best promoters are an absolute joy to work with and everyone involved benefits from the association. When I choose promoters there is always a trial period to assess the working relationship. I fully appreciate that not everything always goes to plan straight away and that’s fine. However, with sensible co-operation in most cases we achieve excellent results. The best promoters are great strategic thinkers, personable and well-grounded in the realities of business. I applaud such individuals as without them my own PCW trainings would never have reached such a global audience.

I currently have PCW trainings booked in 2017 in the UK, Japan, Holland and the USA with more countries to confirm in forthcoming weeks