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Here are my thoughts on lunch and learns...The coveted Lunch and Learn. What a great way to gather your current and prospective clients into one room for a morning of technology insight, education, and subtle sales cues :)If organized and executed properly, a lunch and learn can bolster relationships with your clients, generate discussion on new technology challenges, threats and problems, and fill the gap with your IT offerings to help your clients keep you top of mind for any IT needs they have as they grow.As with any marketing investment, getting the right people in the room is key, delivering constant value and insight is paramount, and leaving your clients thinking and excited about the future is your goal.While it can be nerveracking to be the center of attention, with proper preparation, content delivery, and takeaways, you can leave your clients saying “Wow, I’m glad that guy is my IT provider.”Here are a 10 steps to plan, execute, and deliver on your Lunch and Learn to generate new business and enhance current client experiences.1: Relax, You’re Good EnoughIt is perfectly OK to feel some fear. Even Michael Jordan felt fear before the his Championship games. The President of the U.S. has butterflies before delivering the State of the Union. It’s what you do with this feeling of positive stress that will force you to take action, prepare a great presentation, and put on a worthy show.It’s what you do with stress that matters. Recently, I read this book: The Confidence Gap, to understand how the world’s best performers (athletes, speakers, performers, CEOs, etc.) convert stress to action taking steps that exude confidence. Check it out, worth the $11 on Amazon. In summary, the author gives examples of how people like Nelson Mandela deliver speeches and performances under complete stress, while on the outside, win over their audience by speaking with confidence in their message, product, and values.TLDR: Get out of your box. You will learn and grow. You will be glad you did it and will have fun.2. Contact Your Favorite VenueFind a mid-priced local restaurant in the middle of your service area. While you don’t have to rent the back room of Capital Grill for $5,000, keep your budget moderate and the venue professional.Make sure the venue has proper seating, ventilation, good food, and at least 4 star ratings on Yelp or TripAdvisor. Ask around and get recommendations. Talk with 2-3 venues and obtain pricing on a per-seat basis for a specific time and date.Restaurants and hotels LOVE per-seat pricing because it’s efficient and quite frankly, more profitable for them than A-La-Carte seating on a Saturday night. If the price is too high, find a smaller place, especially if this is your first event. No sense in breaking the bank for your first event.Speak with the manager to build a basic, yet quality, menu and leave room for a few special orders for dietary restrictions.If they need a small deposit, negotiate something small to lock in your date and secure the room.3. RecruitDefine who you want to attend. Bring a mix of current clients and prospects. Encourage your clients and business friends to refer people in their network. There is no better salesperson than a happy, raving client.Create invites on Invitations, Free eCards and Party Planning Ideas from Evite or Eventbrite to send your audience official tickets and calendar invites so they won’t forget. Make things official and it is more difficult for them to bail last minute on you.Here’s an example of a happy hour invite I came across:4. Prepare Content and Write A ScreenplayYou almost always need a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. Product demos are good too, but only if you keep them short and to the point. Your audience is likely Non-technical, this is no time to impress them with speeds, feeds, and feature-sets. Your clients care about how you can solve their problems and a basic understanding of what they are buying from you and how easy you will make it for them to work with you.If you are using slides, here is a recommended slide ideasCover slide: Intro to your business, yourself, and some fun facts to break the ice. A big bold logo with your name with a few awards will suffice.Agenda: Set a timeline and leave room for 10 minute breaks every 60 minutes max. People lose focus quickly, so breaking it up with a snack and breather helps. Don’t steal their time, make the audience want to take more of your time.Insights: Educate, educate, educate. This makes sales more fun and meaningful for you and your clients. Include fun facts about the industry. Insight into data loss. Top 10 lists are great. Facts about big, familiar businesses (Google, Amazon, Home Depot, Target, etc.) that experience data loss to show that technology problems exist for even the biggest, richest companies out there. Feel free to glean content from websites and MSP-centric vendors you work with to get content. Your vendors spend millions creating content for you so take a look through your portal for content to build the need and teach the audience something new. Reference publications and articles so the audience can back-check your facts.Offerings: Build the need. Get the audience thinking about their problems, why they haven’t solved them yet, then fill the gap with your solution. This is a sales process. Now you offer your solutions in a pressure-free way that lets the audience make a decision that you are the one to solve their problems, and nobody else. Here’s a visual of how to build the need, show the client a better way, then build the bridge to a better business (that’s where you come in).Your Process: MSP solutions are a large investment for most companies. Especially if you work with 3 year contracts and require hardware investment. Your clients need to plan, budget, and evaluate their options accordingly. Include a slide on your sales process so they know what to expect if you each decide to pursue a relationship. It might include:Step 1: 60 minute discovery callStep 2: On-site network evaluationStep 3: Deliver a network risk assessment and sample disaster recovery plan templateStep 4: Budget, pricing, and proposalStep 5: Post sale support and expectations. This is key: While every relationship starts off rosy, if you don’t explicitly state from the start your pricing, adding extra users, hardware purchases, support hours, extra billable items, and every single thing you will and will not charge for, there are no surprises. Don’t lay it all out there from day 1 either. Keep a list of 5-10 “Freebies” in your back pocket that you can include to “sweeten the pot” during negotiation time to justify your price and close the deal.Bonus: Everyone likes a deal. Include a give-away (a book, a free network assessment, a webinar, something inexpensive but meaningful) to thank them for their time and leave them in awe and wanting to set up a meeting with youClosing remarks and contact information5. Prepare Your EnvironmentBeing prepared is the best thing you can do for yourself if you're nervous about being in front of a group. Review the bullet points and agenda thoroughly. Put it into a well organized PowerPoint or Keynote Presentation. Spell check. Keep bullets at 20+ point font, use shorthand, and use LOTS of graphics rather than words. " Make copies of "take-aways" and have a PDF version of your presentation for delivery to email to clients before and after. Practice at least one day before the presentation. If possible, check out the room a day or more before the event. Test your equipment, get a feel for the room.Buy a remote control slide clicker so you aren’t bending down to click the arrow key with each slide. If you're doing a software demo, practice using the computer in the room to ensure the WiFi and display dimensions work properly, and save all the right files on your desktop. Keep a copy on a thumb drive and in your email account for backup. On the event day, arrive at least 1-2 hours before so you are in no rush and address any equipment malfunctions without stress.6. PracticeYou should plan at least 30 days in advance to get the right venue and recruit your audience. Rehearse your delivery in your office at least three times. Don’t worry about your delivery, your facial expressions, or the fact that you’ve never presented before. If you really feel anxious, consider attending a few meetups in your area to pitch your idea, or any idea, that you feel confident with, to a group of peers. Get used to speaking in public and it will get a lot easier after a practice run or two.7. Provide Take-AwaysTake-aways are tangible brochures, whitepapers, and infograhics that illustrate your solution set. You can be lazy here and use your vendor brochures if you are OK with it.Here are some examples:Backup and disaster recovery whitepapers illustrating the differences between tape, file backups, and business continuityAnti-virus infographics illustrating threats and how to solve themCase-studies and testimonials of your happy clientsNote taking sheets: Ask your venue for a stack of notepads and pens to leave on each table setting. With a little nudge, tell the Marriott manager that their logo might generate more business from your clients when for their own events.Reference materials: Industry articles. List of books you enjoy. Websites and tools you use to make yourself productive. Business blogs you follow. A bulleted 1 pager. These don’t have to be specific to your business. Show your audience that you are constantly thinking about how to improve your own business, and they will appreciate your thought leadership.8. Have Fun!If you aren’t having fun, this will be a tough 2 hour slog for you. Surround yourself with good people and good food and give it your best. The more you prepare, the more confident you will feel, and the more comfortable your clients, prospects, and staff will feel.Don’t sweat the details and acknowledge but move on past your typos, word stumbles and keep a good flow.Ask your favorite vendor rep to coach you on best practices a week in advance, and give it a solid shot.You will be happy you did it, and hopefully you land a few more raving clients in the process.See other posts like this at MSP Success Insights | Sales, Marketing & Strategy Insight For MSPs and IT Consultants.To your success!