The other day I landed on the web site of a marketer who runs special programs that overlap with but don’t duplicate those that I run. So to learn more about her approach, I filled in my name and email address to request her two-audio freebie. I started listening that very afternoon during a four-mile walk.

Now if you were face to face with an important prospect who might leave or shut you down at any moment, wouldn’t you lead with a strong opener, something that draws that person in so she wants to know more? Instead what came first were awkward preliminaries in which the presenter invited people to say hello. Just one person did and spoke about the cold she was suffering with. There were long silences and administrative comments from the presenter.

When she finally got going, I looked at the time counter on my audio player: two minutes and 20 seconds.

This was a horrible start. Obviously she had recorded this from a live telephone session, but she had neglected to edit out the junk in the beginning. People don’t mind various preliminaries before a live event, especially if they have dialed in early. However, it is annoying and completely unnecessary for a recording.

If you have audio editing software (which is available free), it takes about three minutes of effort to make such a cut. Do not skip this editing if you are turning a live telephone event into a recorded lead generator.

About two-thirds of the way through the recording, the presenter invited listeners to see an illustration of her points on a certain web page. Since I was walking, I could not watch while she was speaking – which was fine. However, I carefully jotted down the web address and looked up that page when I returned to my office. This yielded a \”page not found\” error message. This was not fine at all.

I now had the impression of someone paying poor attention to detail and thoughtlessly assuming something created for one purpose would suit another purpose – not someone I would want to learn from or conduct a joint venture with.

Apparently the page she had people view during her telephone presentation was a promotion for an upcoming or recent program. After that program took place, she removed the page, not remembering that she had referenced it during her teleseminar. She again did not pay attention to ensure that those listening to the recorded teleseminar later would be able to follow along.

She could have solved this problem easily by leaving the page up with a note on top that registration was closed.

A third pitfall emerged as I thought back on her presentation. The content became extremely useful and specific about three-quarters of the way through the program. I took notes and felt at that point that I had learned enough to make my listening time worthwhile.

Since I listened during a long walk with no other listening material available, I was predisposed to keep her audio on unless it was downright objectionable – in which case I would have listened to the birds and the wind rustling leaves on the trees for the rest of my walk. However, if I had been listening in my home or office, I might have ended my listening well before she got to the good part.

The moral: Plan your content so you have compelling points to share in the beginning, the middle and the end.

You may be thinking that I’m too demanding in this instance, that the average person has a more charitable attitude while listening to a live teleseminar that was recorded and is now serving as a lead generator. No, not by a long shot. The average person is busy, distracted and pulled in a lot of directions at once. You may have just one chance to earn a prospect’s respect and trust.

When offering free audio material, take full advantage of that opportunity by editing it appropriately, making sure everything referred to is still accessible and distributing your content so you start strongly, have rich content in the middle and end on a high note that encourages your potential client to take that all-important next step.

Author Bio: Veteran teleseminar presenter Marcia Yudkin specializes in high-ticket, high-value teleteaching courses. Download a free copy of \”66 Ways to Use Teleseminars\” at http://www.yudkin.com/teleteach.htm . Discover how to plan, promote and deliver profitable teleseseminars related to your business.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: teleseminars,live,recorded,teleclasses,audio,lead generation,prospects,selling,sales,preview