May 2002

Website Technique
FAQ Pages

Frequently Asked Question pages are basically used for two purposes. 1. To lighten the customer service load and 2. to sell. I use mine to sell.

Visit http://www.antion.com/faq.htm to see my page.

Part of selling is education. When you educate your customer about what they need and then fill those needs you can sell lots of stuff. Here's and example from the first FAQ on my page.

Do you customize?
I sure do! I know many speakers say they customize, but to them that means they sprinkle in the name of your organization and charge you extra to pronounce it right.

Here's how I do it:
1) I do a computer search of your industry, your company and your competition; 2) When possible, I do phone interviews with audience members (sometimes I incorporate their quotes into color visuals and/or handout materials); 3) I review your trade publications; 4) I "secret shop" your retail establishments, if appropriate; 5) You get handout materials that reflect the theme of your meeting; and 6) Titles and subjects are customized to your event.

Let's break this down:

First, many new meeting planners or people that are given the task of finding and hiring speakers may not have any experience doing so. They may not know that a customized presentation is more valuable to them than a standard dog and pony show. It's my job to educate them.

I also take the opportunity to bash other speakers a little by exposing what they "call" customization. This will alert the meeting planner to watch what other speakers say about their customization. The meeting planner will automatically compare what the other speaker says to what I have already told them is the standard. If the other speaker doesn't reach my standard . . . .chalk up one point for Tom.

I then go on to mention the different ways I customize. This is pretty impressive that I would go to all that trouble to call people, secret shop, customize the handouts, titles etc.

Let's look at the next question:

How long are your presentations?
My presentation will be designed to fit your available time from 30 minutes to two days. I am also experienced and flexible enough to adapt when my segment needs to be cut or expanded unexpectedly. I will do whatever I can to accommodate your needs.

In the above question I'm showing that I'm flexible, that I have plenty of material and that I'm experienced and capable of adapting it to their needs. I'm basically showing them that their needs come before mine.

How can you effectively address so many different types of groups?
The fact that I've addressed a wide range of audiences (more than 87 different industries) is a big part of my value to your organization. Every group is different, but I have found that we face many similar challenges. In my areas of expertise, I bring the best of "what works" from other industries to your group.

The above question makes a benefit out of my experience. This is to counteract someone thinking that they need an expert from their own industry.

How can we get extra value by engaging you?
Many groups that hire me to do a keynote presentation also have me do a breakout or spouse session at the same event. This gets you a big discount on the second presentation and saves you travel
and expenses. I will also help you design exciting convention openings and closings, even if you are on a bargain basement budget!

Again, I'm educating them about the ways they can get more bang for their buck, i.e., I'm adding value.

Creating a FAQ page

You can simply start listing questions and answers right down the middle of your page. In Microsoft Front Page they have a template with all the book marks and hyperlinks already in place. You just fill in the questions and answers.

Make sure you concentrate on educating in a way that gives you an excuse to highlight the benefits you bring to the table.