How to Tell if You Are
Seminar Leader Material
First, you need to be honest and ethical. Speak the truth. Act for the benefit of all concerned. Play fair.
Second, you need to be well adjusted. This business isn’t for the faint of heart or weak of character. How do we measure that? I don’t really know. That’s what our selection process will help us determine. But here are some hints.
How well do you get along with people? Friends, relatives, total strangers, everybody. Do you hold grudges? Do you get angry easily? Are you jealous of those who have more than you? Do you tend to whine?
If so, you really owe it to yourself to examine those behaviors. And you owe it to us to resolve them before sending us an application. Again, forgive me if I seem harsh here. But I’m trying to do both of us a favor.
Third, you need to be well organized and able to keep a calendar nine months in advance. And you have to be responsible enough to keep all the commitments you make to us, to our sponsors, to your students, and to yourself.
Fourth, you need to be able to play the piano. It should go without saying, but you would be surprised. This is why we hold an audition. Here are some of the musical skills we are looking for.
- knowledge of basic chords
- knowledge of some advanced chords
- ability to play a pop tune from a lead sheet
- ability to play a little by ear
- ability to play piano and make it look like a lot of fun
- ability to entertain with the piano
Here’s what you don’t need:
- vast amounts of formal training
- a degree in music
- super technique
- awesome sight reading abilities
None of those last qualities will necessarily hurt you. It’s just that that’s not what we’re about. Some of our best seminar leaders have been bar room piano players. Others have doctoral degrees in piano performance.
We never know ahead of time what goes into making a successful seminar provider. But the ability to present piano playing as a fun activity is essential.
Fifth, you need to be a convincing presence. This may be the most important attribute of all. Our business depends on creating happy seminar students (aka customers). Your job is to show them how incredibly enriched their lives can be with the basic piano skills you are teaching them in class. Then you need to motivate them with the promise of future enjoyment by way of our follow up courseware.
Look at it this way. As teachers we all strive to make a difference in the lives of our students. When your students come up to you after class and spend $200 on follow-up courseware, they are in effect giving you the best evaluation you could ever get as a teacher. It’s a pat on the back for you. A sign of a job well done.
And it’s the key to your creating personal wealth.
So take a deep breath, and think about this for a minute. Teachers generally don’t like to be labeled as salespeople. That is understandable. But the fact is a teacher is always selling something. Every time you teach something to a student you are selling them on the idea of learning something from you. We are all sales people to one degree or another. Jesus was a salesman. So was Gandhi.
And we will make it easy for you. After our training, you will not come off as a super slick salesman with patent leather shoes and a pinkie ring. In fact, my entire sales presentation during my three and a half hour seminar lasts no more than four minutes. But those four minutes adds up to several hundred dollars of pure profit each day.
Everybody wins. You make more money, you get sincere recognition for a job well done, and your student gets some of the finest course materials ever devised for a very good price,guaranteed.
We can discuss all this at length if you want during the interview phase. It’s important.
More Topics:
How to Apply
Why Be a Seminar Leader?
Frequently Asked Questions
Application
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