Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Don't make it an infomercial. Make it as non commercial as possible. Teach them something.

As far as getting a current customer to speak-- just ask them. Tell them they aren't there to endorse outright your product-- cause as great as it is-- they deserve the credit. You want them to talk about THEIR success story

Good advice from Carol already. I'd just add that you should make sure you record the session so you can make it available "on-demand." On demand webinars make a great piece of content for a nurturing program.

If the webinar is product focused, it might not be right for new prospects, but existing customers need nurturing too. Especially if you want them to buy more.

All the best!

Melissa

You're on the right track, offering solutions, not sales pitches. TO spread the word electronically, you might consider these strategies:
- write a press release written for your buyers (not the press), and release it on businesswire.com, marketwire.com, primenewswire.com and prweb.com. The search engines will find it and anyone looking for the type of solutions you offer will see your PR in the search results
- If you follow blogs in your industry, or have a blog, mention it there
- Join some industry related groups on LinkedIn and post it to those groups.

Regarding your question: "what is the best way to get a current customer to agree to be a guest speaker on the webcast?"
Just ask them! Give them a call. I have worked with testimonials for a number of years, and the best ones come from customers married to your brand. Those folks who have a great rapport with your company.
You'll need to draft a letter for them to sign granting your company the use any or all of their testimonial (written or recorded), without compensation. You can find samples on the web.
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