Interview with James A. Ziegler - Part 2

Thursday, 16 July 2009 00:00

Interviews - interviews

Rick Frishman: Wow!

James A. Ziegler: And he is just incredible and Glen has been a friend of mine for a long time. He is a member of the National Speakers Association but is one of those people in the background. The people in the center stage are often not the ones making the money and Glen has become a very close personal friend. He visits my office. I visit him [cross talking] excuse me?

Rick Frishman: Briefly, what is he going to teach his audience?

James A. Ziegler: He is going to teach an alternative marketing method for marketing seminars, how to pull the audience out because a lot of people today are using their lists, their email lists and sometimes it is not as effective as it was just five years ago because people are starting to click off a lot of those lists.

Rick Frishman: Right.

James A. Ziegler: So, you have to go back to some more traditional direct mail and Glen is a master of that. He will teach that. He will teach the ways that he does back at the room sales. He is part of the seminar community. I am very proud to be his friend.

Rick Frishman: Cool.

James A. Ziegler: We got Larry Benet speaking in this event and Larry is the connector. Larry is the guy that teaches you how to get celebrity relationships to draw bigger crowds. He was the guy that actually organized the first national tsunami relief fund.

Rick Frishman: Yes, he is meek guy. He lives in Atlanta too, does not he?

James A. Ziegler: He does. I have got a lot of southerners in this event…

Rick Frishman: Yes.

James A. Ziegler: We got our old friend Peter Fogel. Now, Peter talks about how to do award-winning copywriting. Your message is all important, what do you say to the people? The message has to be well crafted and it has got to be psychologically conducive and I have assembled these people very carefully.

Rick Frishman: Now, seminar business is not easy. It is like putting on a show and your talk is going to be about assembling the right people and how do you find the right people who are going to speak, who are going to give really great content, who are going to speak from their hand, who are going to do it without selling or at least appear to only want a sell. They got really teach or want to teach.

James A. Ziegler: We are limiting this event to 100 people. I am not trying to put a thousand people in the room.

Rick Frishman: Wow!

James A. Ziegler: I mean, there is going to be a lot of intimate one-on-one in this event.

Rick Frishman: And then how do you market it? I mean that is the real key. You can get your speakers. You can get a great hotel with parking. You can get hotel with great sleeping rooms but then how do you fill the room that is the key thing.

James A. Ziegler: Well, I have got four events that I do a year. I do Chicago. I do Atlantic City, New Jersey. I do Las Vegas and my facility in Atlanta will seat a 100 people in my offices and I like to do seminars there the best because we cozier there. I have got a staff that looks out for the people which is just incredible.

Rick Frishman: Wow!

James A. Ziegler: By the way, I am buying lunch for this thing. We are not going to leave the build for lunch. We are going to work through lunch. This is a working seminar for people that are serious about getting their act together, their life together, their business together.

Rick Frishman: And people can make I mean serious money doing seminar.

James A. Ziegler: Well, I can make $10,000 a day consulting or doing speeches.

Rick Frishman: Right.

James A. Ziegler: I had made a $100,000 on certain days doing seminars.

Rick Frishman: Well, that is a [bang-bang].

James A. Ziegler: Do you want to be the slave of meeting planner or if you are a speaker, I hate to be competing with other speakers. I set my own agenda. I set my own date. I control my life.

Rick Frishman: When you put on seminars, do you give guarantees? [cross talking] How does it work?

James A. Ziegler: I do not want people to have any guarantees at all. I guarantee I will show up and deliver world class information. You better pay attention and get it. You want a guarantee? I got your guarantee right here. I mean there is no guarantee. I do not guarantee your performance.

Rick Frishman: Right.

James A. Ziegler: You have got to be involved.

Rick Frishman: No, I understand that. You can guarantee how they are going to do.

James A. Ziegler: Testimonials, we got, my websites are filled with testimonial letters and video testimonials taken right at the event of people that attended and people that had success stories. When you do a seminar, you got to be vigilant enough to collect success stories directly thereafter and make those success stories known to the people that were thinking about attending the seminar. You got to, my main website is the car business website, ZieglerSuperSystems.com.

Now, are you familiar with the TV show King of Cards? Have you ever heard of it? There is a character in Las Vegas, he is a celebrity in the car business called King of Cards. I consult his company.

Rick Frishman: Wow!

James A. Ziegler: There are videos on the website of me and him working deals in Las Vegas to gather real customers. He has a show on ANE and I am appearing in that show.

Rick Frishman: Now, that is not the guy with the mustache and the funny guy, is not it?

James A. Ziegler: No, not actually. He looks more like a rapper actually.

Rick Frishman: Okay.

James A. Ziegler: Funny stuff. But seminars, we market a lot by telemarketing.

Rick Frishman: Right.

James A. Ziegler: I have got a staff that reaches out. We keep the databases up. The fact that we let people come back at no charge as many times as they would like is a real good marketing hook.

Rick Frishman: Because nobody does that.

James A. Ziegler: People move around.

Rick Frishman: Yes.

James A. Ziegler: And if they can come back at no charge, they would generally bring other paying customers with them.

Rick Frishman: That is great idea. Nobody does that I love that idea.

James A. Ziegler: What does it cost you because many times when I am using the hotel venue, we make room blocks and the more rooms, the sleeping rooms where people sleep over, the cheaper our meeting room is. They discount the meeting room so by having all these no charge people mixed in with a paid people, I get bigger room blocks and cheaper meeting rooms.

Rick Frishman: Got you and that is some of the tricks of the trade that you learned.

James A. Ziegler: Exactly.

Rick Frishman: Got you, okay. Let me open up the lines for a couple of questions. We have a whole bunch of people on. Let me just open up for couple of questions. Once again, it is SeminarAboutSeminars.com. You want to check that out, the dates are July…

James A. Ziegler: Twenty eighth and twenty ninth.

Rick Frishman: Twenty eighth and twenty ninth in Atlanta. The other one that I just want you to check out because you can learn a lot from this guy is ZieglerDynamics.com. He has got over 50 sites, making millions of dollars and you got to learn from him. So, it is worth getting your butt to Atlanta if you can on July 28th and 29th or just check in out some of Jim stuff that he teaches people because it is all about sales and I do not care if you are selling cars or if you are selling widgets or you are selling public relations. The stuff that he teaches you about selling contains your life.

So, I am going to open up the line in one second so if you are on, I am going to may be have room for two or three questions. You know the drill. Just say, "Hi. It is Stephanie in Miami," or so. So, here we go. Okay, line is open. Who would like to ask a question to Jim? There are a lot of people on this line. Sometimes it is glitch were we cannot hear them for a minute.

James A. Ziegler: We got a pretty big audience out there right now.

Rick Frishman: No, actually I just said we do but sometimes it is weird. I am going to check this line, we can hear when they ask the question. Let us just be quite for one sec. This is weird. I know that there was someone checking but I think there is a glitch where we cannot hear them.

James A. Ziegler: Well, that is okay. It happens.

David Hancock: Rick and James, I can see you are doing a great job.

Rick Frishman: Well, how about you? This is David Hancock.

David Hancock: That is right. I would say this SeminarOnSeminars…

James A. Ziegler: SeminarAboutSeminars.

Rick Frishman: AboutSeminars.

James A. Ziegler: There is a competitor that does SeminarOnSeminars. I do not do that.

David Hancock: But we will take them out later. It really sounds interesting.

Carol: Hi. It is Carol from Minneapolis.

Rick Frishman: Oh, there. Okay, hi Carol. Come on in.

Carol: Okay. I have heard a little, this is intriguing. I have been to mega publishing. I am in the process of reviving a book and then my vision is I am an artist too. I have a slideshow of all my work that changes people's perception. So, does this seminar apply to someone wanting to do that also?

James A. Ziegler: Anything applies to a seminar that if you could sell it to an audience that would listen to a speaking engagement, they will certainly pay for in a seminar environment.

Carol: Okay. I feel my work is putting out visually and quickly the concept of like this secret.

James A. Ziegler: Wonderful and of course if you could put something visually and conceptually, I would like that. That has been magnetic. That has been explosive.

Carol: Because I think, oh excuse me, I think in workshop when people just listen continually, my program would something where you can sit back and then just take in images.

James A. Ziegler: Carol, let me tell you something. I never used the word workshops because the word work is like a logically negative.

Carol: Okay.

James A. Ziegler: I do seminars. I do educational environments. I think you have a seminar in the making there. I do not know if it will be totally visual with that work. I have never done that before.

Carol: Well, I mean let us just, when I went to mega publishing and then we listen, listen, listen and then the music broke it up and so I just think mine is something that would kind of just see a different way of…

James A. Ziegler: Carol, what you are talking about is a visual [surf to so lay].

Carol: That is correct. That is what it is.

James A. Ziegler: The total sensory experience, the visuals, the music and the message is in the visuals and the music and the art, yes you can sell that.

Carol: Okay, good.

Rick Frishman: By the way, Jim, how do people reach you? What is your email address?

James A. Ziegler: Okay, my email address is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Carol: … This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

James A. Ziegler: Right, JimZieglerCSP, Certified Speaking Professional, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Carol: Okay, thank you.

Rick Frishman: By the way for people who do not know, CSP is not easy letters to get after your name. I have been a member of a National Speakers Association for over 20 years and that crème de la crème of people in NSA, in National Speakers Association are CSPs which are Certified Speaking Professional. So, that means a lot which is why he adds that in his email. So congratulations for that.

James A. Ziegler: I have got three added letters behind my name as well, Rick.

Rick Frishman: Oh, yes? What is that?

James A. Ziegler: It is Jim Ziegler, but is not on the email address but it is Jim Ziegler CSP HSG.

Rick Frishman: And what does that stand for?

James A. Ziegler: High school graduate. You can put PhD behind people's name but I will put HSG behind my name.

Rick Frishman: I like it. That is great.

James A. Ziegler: We got a ringing sound. What do we got here?

Rick Frishman: I do not know. That is really weird. I guess that may have been Carol's line or so.

Carol: Thank you very much.

James A. Ziegler: Thank you, Carol. Visit the website.

Carol: I will.

Rick Frishman: Okay. One, well James, maybe one more question. There are a whole bunch of people on, it just sometimes hard to get through. Let us be quiet for a moment. Alright, or not.

James A. Ziegler: Okay, it is just us Rick. I got some shy people out there. That is what we got.

Rick Frishman: Yes, I mean there is a glitch in the system. It is very strange because there are a lot of people on the line. David, do you want to ask a question? Oh, he is gone. Mr. Hancock? He is gone. Alright, well he got bored today.

James A. Ziegler: David fell asleep.

Rick Frishman: No. Alright, well we have five more minutes to wrap this up so I am going to close it up but I will keep it open for a minute. What other things do we want to tell people about coming to Atlanta and about your site?

James A. Ziegler: Well, we have got the Hyatt Hotel suites for this seminar for $99 a month. Now, that is a $200 to $250 a night room. We have negotiated the room on annual contract. See, that is part of the seminar business is the amenities and from the Hyatt to my facility is about a mile and a half. The hotel is part of our seminar agreement, shuttles the people in 15 passenger vans to and from the event.

Rick Frishman: Neat.

James A. Ziegler: Now, that is first class.

Rick Frishman: That is cool. That is neat and I like Hyatt Hotel. That is good. I heard someone just trying to ask a question. Let me just as you were about to say that but…

James A. Ziegler: Hello? You have a question?

Rick Frishman: They were there but now they are gone. Okay, I think it is the line. There is somehow, they are not able to ask a question. I am going to have to talk to my seminar line people about that.

Bryan: Can I ask a question?

Rick Frishman: Yes.

Bryan: Hi. It is Bryan in Toronto.

James A. Ziegler: Hi, Bryan.

Rick Frishman: Hi, Bryan. Welcome.

Bryan: Thank you. The question I had earlier at the beginning you talked about study the masters.

James A. Ziegler: Yes.

Bryan: And who would you recommend to study? I mean, you have studied masters who would deal I mean, obviously co study you and…

James A. Ziegler: No, I will tell you, one of the people I most admire in this business, we have a bitter-sweet relationship is Fred Gleeck. Now, that is G-l-e-e-c-k. I love Fred Gleeck. We do not know whose CI we could get along famously but I think he is one of the masters of this business.

Bryan: Okay.

James A. Ziegler: And there is the Randy Gage's, there is the Armand Morin's. I mean Armand Morin is incredible. It is A-r-m-a-n-d-M-o-r-i-n. There is a number of gurus that I have met in the business and I have learned from them.

Rick Frishman: There is another guy, Alex Mandossian by the way.

James A. Ziegler: Oh yes, Alex is incredible.

Rick Frishman: And they are good friends but he is one of my gurus who is amazing and by the way, many of these people that we are talking about we have interviewed in the past and on our teleseminar series at PlannedTVArts.com you can listen to the teleseminars with them but Armand Morin, Alex Mandossion, Randy Gage and Fred Gleeck is actually was the first guy I interviewed and taught me about this seminar business and is one of the gurus. So, you got to listen to all of them and get their information, check out their sites, do Google search and they can help you.

Bryan: Okay, thank you.

James A. Ziegler: Did I answer your question?

Rick Frishman: What do you do in Toronto?

Bryan: I am just trying to start my speaking business and doing seminars and I am just sort of getting set up and trying to funnel as much as possible.

James A. Ziegler: Did you visit my site?

Bryan: No, I have not yet. I just first time I have heard about you so…

James A. Ziegler: Fantastic.

Bryan: So, called in tonight.

James A. Ziegler: There is another site called TheProsperityEquation.com and of course SeminarAboutSeminars.

Bryan: Yes, I got those two written down.

James A. Ziegler: Fantastic.

Bryan: So, I will be there.

Rick Frishman: Great and if you missed any of this call, you can listen to it again, by the way the replay line 620-294-2837 because Jim gave a lot of information here but well thanks for raising a question.

Bryan: Oh, no problem. It is my pleasure. Great information tonight.

Rick Frishman: Yes well, that is why I have been trying to get Jim to do a teleseminar with me for like 18 months but he is always out giving seminars so I am trying to get him down and get a date from him but I am pleased that you have actually freed up some time.

James A. Ziegler: I traveled 250 days a year right now and I am going to slow that down. I have recently turned 60 but I got to tell you I love what I do. It is hard to slow down.

Rick Frishman: You know what and this is the reason that when I met you, and I love your crab story. I just resonate with this piece. You have great energy, you have great enthusiasm. You have great passion. You believe from your heart everything you tell people and you live it. Again, I have had you at my seminars and you just blew them away and if you can teach people how to do it what you do, they can make big money and more importantly, they can really I think change some peoples' lives.

James A. Ziegler: Well Rick, I hope people act quickly. We are only selling a hundred seats. We are going to cut it off and I guarantee there is going to be 200 people trying to get into this event.

Rick Frishman: Right and also if you, now here is the point you can register for the event and get your $100 discount because you heard it on this call unless you call you or at least email you.

James A. Ziegler: Right, the 800 number. My 800 number Eastern Standard Time is 800-726-0510. That is 800-726-0510 nine to five eastern. My staffs will crosiers your every need and we will make it happen.

Rick Frishman: And you will get a $100 discount because you follow him from this call.

James A. Ziegler: They mention this, absolutely. They mention this call. They got a $100 discount. If they are member of NSA, they got $100 discount, member of Toastmasters or Meeting Planners International.

Rick Frishman: By the way I mean you just mentioned that. I mean if you are a professional speaker, I am a speaker that does not make a living as a speaker but I do it a lot. Talk about some of these other organizations like NSA and Toastmasters because this is something interesting for people and more particularly, if they are doing a seminar business.

James A. Ziegler: The National Speakers Association that look them up, NSASpeaker.org that is the organization of profession speakers. I walk in a door making a million dollars a year or more and they have benefited me. It is not just for the amateurs but it is from every level. They would develop you. They will bring you along. It is like having a backstage pass at a rock concert. You are elbow to elbow with Harvey McKay. You are elbow to elbow with Zig Ziglar. You are elbow to elbow with Les Brown. The gods of our business are right there at the national conventions next week.

Rick Frishman: Yes in San Diego.

James A. Ziegler: And I am so proud to be a member of National Speakers Association and a professional member and I earned my CSP, which is a very difficult award to win, and I am very proud to be a member of this organization.

Rick Frishman: Yes. Great, great people and they are all starting to really helping each other. I mean it is a real community which is different from most other associations.

James A. Ziegler: It does not cut throat in any way. It is the most giving, caring organization thousands of people have ever belong to.

Rick Frishman: Yes. Now, what is Toastmasters?

James A. Ziegler: Now, Toastmasters is amateur speakers, people that are speaking but are not doing it for a living, people that do it in their business, their work, or just want to learn how to do it better. A great organization but it is a step, NSA, National Speakers Association is a step up. It is Toastmasters that have graduated to professionals.

Rick Frishman: And you mentioned one other organization.

James A. Ziegler: Meeting Planners International.

Rick Frishman: Okay.

James A. Ziegler: Now, that is people that actually plan the conferences and I have got a number of those people that attend my seminars because they are the professional meeting planners. They do the entire gamut or booking the hotels, marketing. They do what I do for the corporate conventions.

Rick Frishman: Got you and that is, actually a lot of them are members of NSA. I mean I just spoke to the New Jersey chapter of NSA and the lady who runs it came right out of the Meeting Planners associates. That is what she was with the meeting planner.

James A. Ziegler: I have spoken to a number of chapters this year. I give freely to the NSA at my time. I had spoken to the Los Angeles Chapter, the Oklahoma chapter, the Saint Louis chapter, the Central Florida chapter on and on and on. I attended each chapter. A lot of the chapters I have given my time even paid my own expenses to go speak to them and share my expertise with them as of other people.

Rick Frishman: Right.

James A. Ziegler: It is a giving organization.

Rick Frishman: Yes, really good and now it is not easy to become a member either.

James A. Ziegler: No, you have to have 20-page speeches annually.

Rick Frishman: Right. That is not easy for a lot of people.

James A. Ziegler: Well, they teach you how. You can become an associate member, associate but not a member, but associate and you could become the associate which is the prelude to becoming a member and there is an educational class that every one of these conventions knows how to do this.

Rick Frishman: Right, pretty cool. Well we have been talking for over an hour so you have given an enormous amount of information. This will be turned into a book soon probably in the fall, Interviews for the Million Dollar Rolodex. The first book is already up on Amazon, by the way, which is my interview with Mark Victor Hansen but there will be about 50 or 60 more to come. We are just handpicking the best ones to up their first. Please email Jim if you are interested in learning about all the things that he does. Go to ZieglerDynamics.com. Go to SeminarAboutSeminars.com and if you can get to Atlanta July 28 and 29…

James A. Ziegler: That is it.

Rick Frishman: That is it. You got a $100 off just because you are on this call.

James A. Ziegler: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Rick Frishman: And what is the 800 number once again?

James A. Ziegler: Okay, the 800 number nine to five Eastern Time, 800-726-0510.

Rick Frishman: Perfect and this will be up at Planned TV Arts in a day or so and up on a replay line as well and I urge you to if you cannot make the seminar which is going to get close off soon in Atlanta then please check out all Jim sites and…

James A. Ziegler: Sign up for my newsletter.

Rick Frishman: And there are a lot of things you can learn from him.

James A. Ziegler: Sign up for my newsletter.

Rick Frishman: Get the newsletter and you have about over 100,000 people in newsletter?

James A. Ziegler: We have 118,000, the grand and most of those people are automobile people.

Rick Frishman: Right.

James A. Ziegler: And I bought some of those lists. A lot of those people have paid me and attend to my events but they are all opt-in. They all want to be on that list.

Rick Frishman: And how often you send out your newsletter?

James A. Ziegler: Three times a month.

Rick Frishman: Wow! Fantastic. Well, I got the newsletter and even though I am not a car guy but always lots of great information there. So, sign up for that newsletter. It will give you a lot of great info. Well, Ziegler I am sorry that I am not going to see you next weekend at the NSA convention but hopefully I will be there the next but who is going to be there with you?

James A. Ziegler: I am not taking anybody but my spouse. I mean my wife Debbie and I do not do anything separately. When I have free time, my wife…

Rick Frishman: Mike Stewart is going there? Was he going to the convention?

James A. Ziegler: Who is?

Rick Frishman: Mike Stewart?

James A. Ziegler: Mike Stewart is going to be there presenting.

Rick Frishman: Presenting!

James A. Ziegler: Not presenting, he is going to have a booth.

Rick Frishman: A booth then.

James A. Ziegler: And Mike and I are doing an internet conference in October for the automobile industry.

Rick Frishman: Neat.

James A. Ziegler: A lot of people do not realize I have the internet expertise. I have been on CNN talking about internet marketing and even though I do not have the expertise in the coding, I have expertise in the marketing end up.

Rick Frishman: And you have products that teach people about the internet stuff that is on your sites?

James A. Ziegler: My tech does. I have guy, JC Hurst who is world class.

Rick Frishman: Okay.

James A. Ziegler: My tech, I pay him a lot of money. He is, my theory is hire the very best people and pay them too much.

Rick Frishman: Ah, okay. My people wish I have that philosophy. Most people I know, if they have any amount of money that they can outspend and no matter how much money they make, it is not enough.

James A. Ziegler: My thing is replicate your self. I have people to do what you do and do not be afraid to pay them. That is always been my philosophy.

Rick Frishman: Yes, well that is true and then I wish everybody is as smart as you with just the high school education. Some of the most brightest people I know never went to college and some of the dumbest people I know have PhDs.

James A. Ziegler: Well, I will say school did you teach you how to think outside the box. The school was the box.

Rick Frishman: That is a good one. That is a good one. We will end on that one. So, thank you. It has been an honor to have you here and also to be your friend and knowing you and thank you for what you do for everybody in our industry and especially at NSA and I hope I will get to see you face to face with your lovely bride soon here in New York.

James A. Ziegler: Would you please, you are loved and appreciated Rick. Thank you.

Rick Frishman: Alright, thanks. Everybody have a great, great week. We have David Riklan, July 10th coming up in a couple of weeks. Another great marketer, he has an email list about 950,000 people, interesting guy to know about. That is coming up so everyone have a wonderful July 4th holiday. Jim thanks for being here and I will talk to everybody really soon; Interviews for the Million Dollar Rolodex in bookstores soon. Thanks a lot everybody. Bye-bye, Jim!

James A. Ziegler: Bye-bye!

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