‍It’s a sad fact but unfortunately I have to say it, when your marketing shouts loudly your ideal customer probably isn’t listening. A recent study by Proxima group found that on average 60% of all marketing spend is being wasted, and the evidence is everywhere.

Take a look at your own email promotions tab, or the sponsored content showing up in your LinkedIn feed. The democratisation of digital marketing means we can ‘reach’ more of our ideal customers more often and more easily, but is it really working? The sheer volume of outreach is leading to an impersonal, fatigued approach to customer acquisition with low conversion rates to match.

My own industry is a prime example, we are a revenue generator focused on delivering quality leads for B2B SaaS companies expanding in Asia. The number of companies in our space promoting their services is enormous, traditional marketing tactics don’t cut through the noise, particularly considering the image problem that the lead generation industry has already.

I like to think that my company, Nectar, is very different to what’s out there, but to prove this we knew we had to think a little bit differently to make our marketing more personal and create an environment where we could really explain why we really are different. That’s why we use Lunch & Learn as our chief top of funnel tactic.

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In this article, I’m going to talk about the mechanics and psychology behind Lunch & Learn, why it works and how you can do it for yourself.

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What is Lunch & Learn?

‍As the title suggests, Lunch & Learn is an in-person event where you have lunch and learn something new about your industry. It’s an opportunity for like-minded leaders, working through similar pain-points, challenges and solutions to come together, share experiences and potentially collaborate. As the organiser and facilitator, you pick up the tab and in return you get 1-2 hours in-front of your ideal customers to show your worth.
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How to make your Lunch & Learn sell without selling

Pick a topic that naturally leans in to your solution

To answer this question, I’ll use the example from our own lunches. At our monthly lunches our topic is ‘how to scale your business in APAC’. Yes, that is exactly what our lead generation services aim to help businesses achieve, but this topic is far wider than that. If you have done your homework when compiling your list of attendees you have the opportunity to engineer a really vibrant conversation with multiple perspectives, that way the value of the conversation and your service offering become naturally combined.

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Then sell yourself not the solution

It's a cliche but it's absolutely true that people buy from people, they place their trust in you and not (only) the solution you are promoting to them. By taking an active role in the discussion you have facilitated and standing out as a real thought leader, you instantly add credibility to the solution you are intending to sell. 

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Why is Lunch & Learn a valuable customer acquisition strategy?

So you’ve got all of your ideal prospects in a room, they’re having an engaging industry-driven conversation and enjoying the refreshments, why does this methodology convert so many customers for us? At its core, Lunch & Learn combines informative content (facilitated by you) with personal interaction and strategic marketing.

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Real personalsation

The need for greater personalisation in marketing has led to the proliferation of personalisation tools which in turn has made personalisation tactics feel a little impersonal. At a Lunch & Learn, you have the opportunity to be truly authentic, to handle questions and provide answers dynamically and fit your solution into the context of the wider industry pain points in realtime.Something your cold outreach email just can’t do.

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Let your prospects do the prospecting

‍‍It would be great if all 10 of your lunch guests became customers, but they probably won’t and that’s not a bad thing, it's actually part of the power of Lunch & Learn.

When inviting guests to this event, one of the first questions they will ask is, who else will be coming? The opportunity to network with useful new contacts is an end in itself to many of your prospects. For the ones who are not ready to purchase, that’s fine, as they are serving as a compelling reason for those with higher buying intent to attend as well. ‍

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Find out about Lunch & Learn as a Service

‍In my next article, I’ll be digging deeper into a little bit more of the how that sits on top of the why we have covered today and showing you how we create these experiences for ourselves and our Lunch & Learn clients. If you can’t wait for that post, then book some time with us now or join our next Singapore or Hong Kong Lunch & Learn session here.