by Lon Lindsey

I would like to introduce you to "EVENT SPONSORING" as a technique in the art of building a business. Although this is really not a new approach, we can now consider it a "defined" approach, especially if I can put a name and structure to it.

"EVENT SPONSORING" is taking your prospect through a series of events that will ultimately lead your prospect to coming into the business opportunity you are working, with you as the sponsor. The theory of event sponsoring is people are more likely to take "baby steps" toward your goal of sponsoring them into a business rather than their simply making one big leap into the business.

Due to the number of opportunities available, the days of sending one letter and immediately sponsoring people into a business opportunity are basically over. This is especially true on the Internet, and because of the Internet and the tools that are now available to us, information sending and receiving can take place quickly . . .even immediately, allowing people to go through a series of events in a very short time.

Do you want proof that the days of the one-time sales letter . . .sponsor them in immediately . . .approach is basically over? How many unsolicted email letters do you read that try to sell you or sponsor you into something? How many snail mail letters do you actually read when they come from people you don't know? My guess is you hit the delete button faster than a speeding bullet . . .even if the letter is more powerful than a locomotive or will leap you to a $10,000 monthly income in a single bound! You just don't read it. In fact, it may actually make you angry.

One answer to being able to sponsor is "event sponsoring, but it's more than "just" event sponsoring. It's a completely STRUCTURED SYSTEM which incorporates the event sponsoring technique. Notice I said "system." The word system implies structure and a thought-out series of events.

You may start out with a teaser ad . . . maybe a free report . . . maybe a short email message . . . maybe a URL . . . maybe your signature file. Responses that come to you from this first event is what we call "prospects" or "leads." Keep in mind you can have two or three structured series of events going on at the same time. You may have a structured series of events just to produce leads and at the same time you can have a structured series of events to turn those leads into sponsored participants and even a series of events that train your participants for the program you are working.

Once you have a lead or prospect, the next event may be more information .. . . be it an in-depth informational letter or an autoresponder, or sending them to a web page. It could be a personal phone call, a company sponsored conference call, more information postal mailed, another FREE report, etc. It could be all of these. The idea is to move and motivate people from one event to the next event IN A STRUCTURED WAY until you have your prospect at the point where they are ready to join your chosen company.

How many events you lead your prospects through is determined by the resources you have . . .you know, the tools you have available to provide information. As you move your prospects from event to event you are also qualifying them because each event is providing them more and more information. This is important because the kind of follow-up you do is based on how serious the prospect is and a prospect that has gone through three or four events is definitely a more serious prospect than one who has gone through only one or two.

By taking event sponsoring a step further, you can provide "event training" to your newly sponsored people. Here again, you simply utilize the resources that are available to you and structure your "event training" in such a way that you can take advantage of them. If you are a writer or have access to well written training materials, you can provide many training materials yourself. Be sure to utilize all the company resources, be it company phone numbers, company sponsored conference calls, company web pages, upline web pages, company and upline newsletters, referrals to good business books and magazines, testimonials, etc.

The way you make EVENT SPONSORING and EVENT TRAINING work, is by setting up a structured system to do it. That means organizing all your resources in a specific order and making them available in a timely fashion based on the results of the previous event. Keeping a simple chart is all that is necessary. Many people have access to computer programs that will chart what you do and will keep track of where you are with each prospect and each sponsored person. All you really need is a paper and pencil to chart your system as you utilize it.

In networking, the big question is "is it duplicatable?" Your ability to make it duplicatable can separate you from others. Your setting up an automatic "EVENT SPONSORING" system could be the ultimate for you because people may join you simply because you offer this system for, not only them, but for their people and so on. One way of making it duplicatable is your providing use of your structure and tools to your people and training them to do the same.

Think about it!