I'm curious as to how businesses take this.  I would love to hear from folks who have participated in this program.

Kent, sounds like a great idea -- I'd been thinking about doing this for a while.  I'll have to check in to the program that you mentioned.

So far, we've had a couple of the suburbs' town governments take us up on the offer, with mixed results.  One was very successful, and the other not so great.  I'll be writing about this again, once we've had a chance to see some action...and what the results are like.  Thanks Tiffany.

Brian - nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Thanks for stopping by!

Kent:  I've been thinking about doing this -- as I love to teach and put on seminars.   I think I'll start seeing if I can put some seminars on the fall time.

I have attempted to offer the same type of thing from a lending point of view and have had some success with it.  It is a great way to find buyers.

Thank you for such an informative post...I am looking in to it right away.

Love the idea - I am going to look into it!

I hear mixed results from seminars here locally... and I have a slightly different type planned for next month.  This sounds like a good one, too. 

I am a MN loan officer who has done this first hand.  We have trademarked 'Qualified Mortgage Plan' which is a stand alone employee benefits program help to educate employees.

Our approach has been an educational one.

it is viewed as a lunch and learn.  

We bring in lunch and host a 30 min. seminar on such topics: Issues revolving around Credit, Investing w/ in your 401K, identity fraud, lending industry updates.

the trick is to find topics that your target audience wants to learn more about.  We have targeted financial firms: accounting, brokerage, planners.

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions.

scott@uptownfinancial.com

It may just be me, but I can't connect to the video.  At any rate, this is a great idea. 

This looks like a great idea to round up some buyers.  thank you for sharing will have to look into it some more.

I just emailed my board and my broker to look into this. There are no classes in my area so it needs to be sponsered. Thanks for the info!!

I am definitely interested in this program. You are absolutely right. This sounds like a very good way to get buyers. I am going to have to check out GCAAR to find out more about this. Great post.

What a great idea! It may be a long term commitment, but sounds great!

I've never heard of this program but it sounds reasonable. Anyone else actually use it?

What a great idea!  I'll have to see if our local association is participating at our next Education Committee Meeting.

This is a great idea. When I managed an office some of our agents tried to get some traction this way through employee groups. They didn't have much success, but a packaged program like this may make a difference. Thanks

Kent.... thanks for sharing this.  This is another great networking idea. It's almost like going to a college or a community college and asking to teach a class on home buying. The school usually likes this and will give you the classroom free of charge.  Thanks for the idea....

Wow - my BlackBerry was beeping all day long with your comments!  I am excited about this program and hope to implement it when I slow down a bit, as it is a serious commitment.  Thanks to all of you who read this and also to those who commented.

Kathy - I'm thinking about the same time frame for myself.

Don, Scott, Lane - Can you share with us some of how you approached different businesses and a little about your programs?

Joan - I have had difficulties with video when switching from HTML to WYSIWYG.  Think it is fixed now.

Cherimie, Emily, Bronson, Jeanette, Lanre, Chris Ann - good luck and let us know how it goes!

Elizabeth - thanks for the enthusiasm!

Alan - I know of at least 2 who were at the training with me who have been waiting for this class to get rolling.  One of them has me customizing her PowerPoint for her in my spare (?) time.

Geoff - good luck...let us know how it works for you.

Jeff - now you've given ME a new idea on how to approach this--thanks right back at ya!

Great idea!!  I think this would work with any organization that needs a guest speaker also!  I am definitely going to look into this and team up with a mortgage broker and a title company.  Thanks again for the idea.  Good Luck.

Great Idea!  I know that some mortgage brokers in our area do this and enlist their core group of realtors to assist.  Of course, these realtors have a constant stream of "new blood"!  There never seems to be room for any more of us in the group, so I like the idea of starting a new group!

Great idea Kent. I have done seminars in the past and had poor results. It was my fault and I know I would do a better job of it know. I will be trying it again.

Diane & Cami - thank you.  Good luck in your endeavors.

Wayne - glad to hear you're plugging along--don't be too hard on yourself though, we all have poor results sometimes, the trick is to change the method, not the message!

The original Live Blogging! Nice work Kent - congrats on getting featured and highlighting this program.

Great idea!  I've tried the 1st time home buyer seminars, but it can be a challenge to muster up a crowd.  This is an innovative solution to that dilemma... 

Kent- this sounds like a very cool program... I'll check it out. Congrats on the gold star!

Wow that sounds like a very interesting idea.  What a way to go get them.

Kent,

You rock, my friend!  Congratulations on the feature!

Mike in Tucson

Jason, Joe, Chuck, Ryan & Mike - thanks for the kind words...and for stopping by!

Kent...Curious have you tried this program?  If you did how did it go?  Definitely interesting and worth a try...every good idea is worth a try!  Thanks!

C. Lange

Hi Michael & Cheron - I took the class and am on the committee sponsoring the program--currently part of a team presenting the program through one of the local bedroom communities.  Seeing results takes a while.  After I slow down a bit, will be putting together my own team to approach businesses directly.  This is a program I heartily believe in. Thanks for asking!