I just returned from a week long trip from attending an internet marketing conference in Stockholm and Ali Brown’s Platinum Business Retreat in Phoenix. Inevitably, attending them side by side made me compare them and these are the lessons learned.

• Events are always more than being about the content

Firstly, I would like to describe the internet marketing conference. It was delivering the latest internet marketing trends and tools to get found on Google, iTunes and even mobile.

It was full of the techie people and some of the language, I didn’t even understand.  I did learn some cool tricks and techniques in internet marketing however the general organization of it could be improved. I spoke to some of the attendees and they said that they expected to get a bag of goodies and nothing was provided.

What I learned is that you often have to exceed your customer’s expectations because people expect the basics and you have to provide more than that to tip the satisfaction point.

In comparison, Ali Platinum retreat, provided all the expectations, good content, a beautiful file and even threw in a surprise “ free flow of drinks” for the attendees at the end of the first day.

They went beyond the expected and naturally, this was well-received and people were pleased.

Lesson:  In delivering your product / service, always deliver beyond expectations and throw in surprises to delight your customers. In a time of multiple choices, you have to stand out to become the preferred company.

• Its often about building the connections

Most companies simply look at what they are providing on a face value and choose to deliver it to their customers. You can get 50% satisfaction level with this, however to move to 100% satisfaction, you must adopt a holistic approach to it.

In the internet marketing conference, it focused on providing good content and the rest of the activities were laissez faire. They had networking drinks after that, however there was no structure to networking to ensure that attendees were encouraged to mingle.

In comparison to Ali Platinum Program, there were many activities designed to help you meet your lovely members. They organized lunch in a way that you could meet members and discuss about the last topic that Ali spoke about. You were broken up into masterminding activities where people gathered together to share and brainstorm for solutions to solve their specific problems. At the end of the event, I had nearly spoken to 60% of the people there.

Lesson: Adopt a holistic approach to your business services or products. Know that people want to interact and learn from each other. Are you providing a platform to allow them to do so?

Therefore, I am glad that our Easy Business Secrets Seminar adopts a holistic approach to helping low tech people master internet marketing in a fun environment while building your business network. Learn more about Easy Business Secrets  by attending our free introductory internet marketing seminar now.

Pic is from http://thegreenfrogstudio.typepad.com