The Daily Record (Baltimore, MD) May 9, 2010
By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer
The drumbeat of dire warnings began a month earlier.
"Traffic will be a major issue. ... Please begin preparation now!" cried the weekly e-mails to city office workers from the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, forecasting a doomsday-like scenario for May 4.
The lines for the Get Motivated! seminar began forming that day at 7 a.m. - an hour before show time - outside the 1st Mariner Arena. A diverse crowd of men and women of all ages dressed in everything from suits to jeans and T-shirts, they were all waiting for a day-long dose of inspiration.
Police did their best to keep traffic moving. Many seminar attendees parked at M&T Bank Stadium and took a shuttle to the arena. But by 7:45 a.m. the streets were clogged.
While the sounds of traffic cops' whistles and honking horns outside the arena conveyed mounting frustration, there was a concert-like feel inside - long lines at the concessions and bathrooms and an excited hum in the crowd.
Thousands of people already inside were chattering about the day's speakers.
Gen. Colin Powell. Michael Phelps. Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin, to name a few.
At the top of the seminar's bill was 83-year-old Zig Ziglar, still a headliner after more than 40 years on the motivational speaking circuit.
"These people are going to draw your crowd," said Daniel Lerner, a psychologist and executive coach whose company, Strategic Family Solution, has offices in Baltimore and Los Angeles.
"They're successful enough at this point they don't have to go anywhere for a buck," Lerner added. "It makes it a credible program when they lend their name to it. "
Not that it isn't about making money. Now in its 25th year, Get Motivated! Seminars Inc. is run by Peter and Tamara Lowe, a Tampa-based couple that has combined the self-help business with celebrity-packed events. The seminars barnstorm around the country in the spring and fall - this month's stops alone are Baltimore; Akron and Canton, Ohio; Richmond and Minneapolis.
The day-long programs include national names like Powell and Giuliani, who began appearing on Get Motivated's roster in 2006, with a sprinkling of local draws like Phelps and Baltimore Ravens' tackle Michael Oher. Peter or Tamara Lowe also speak, as well as a rotating cast of famous people with financial success stories like Forbes Inc. 
founder Steve Forbes or Microsoft Corp. President Rick Belluzzo.
Over the years the seminar's business model has changed from selling tickets at $100 or $200 each to a few thousand attendees to loading up on attendees and dropping the ticket price to "practically free!" as the seminar's advertisements proclaim. Now tickets are $4.95 per person or $19 for an entire office. VIP seats close to the stage are about $50 each.
"That's largely because of the market," said Tom Ziglar, Zig's son and president and CEO of Ziglar Inc., a personal improvement company founded by Zig Ziglar in 1970. "Now there's such great free content everywhere [on the Internet] that it's really been a great competitor. "
Guy Dunn, a regional sales director for the Compass Group, the nation's top contract foodservice provider, leaned against a wall of the 1st Mariner Arena and watched author and motivational speaker Stephen Pierce tell how he made millions by starting online subscription businesses. Pierce was offering his Internet income workshop, which he said normally costs $497, for $49.
Dunn shifted his six-foot frame and leaned close, as if he were about to impart a secret.
"This is how they make their money," he whispered.
Like many of the attendees last week, Dunn is no newcomer to motivational seminars. He said that after attending a seminar by business and motivational speaker Brian Tracy a few years ago, he bought several sales books that have helped him close deals.
According to John LaRosa, owner of Marketdata Enterprises in Tampa, seminar admission tickets likely cover only the cost of advertising and facility rental (1st Mariner Arena General Manager Frank Remesch would not reveal the seminar's lease terms).
According to Marketdata, the self-improvement business in the United States is an $11 billion industry that has grown more than 13 percent since 2005.
While most self-help seminars feature one or two keynote speakers, LaRosa said the Lowes run the only seminar that includes so many high-priced speakers, some whose fees can range from $20,000 to $60,000 per appearance.
To make a profit, LaRosa said the Lowes are likely splitting the revenue with the three financial and business training product salesmen - whose 45-minute pitches are slipped between the main attractions' 25-minute appearances - from the sales they make as a result of the seminar.
Get Motivated! Seminars is a privately held company and no financial information is available. The Lowes did not respond to interview requests for this article and requests sent to each speaker's agent regarding their dealings with Get Motivated! Seminars were not answered.
Just past 10:20 a.m. in Baltimore, investment advisor and motivational speaker Bob Kittell bounded onto the flood-lighted stage at the center of the darkened arena, his entrance punctuated by flames and fireworks. Powell, the previous speaker, had just left to a thunderous ovation and the strains of "God Bless the U.S.A. " when Kittell shouted, "Heeeellllo Baltimore!"
The former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had become the warm-up act for the day's first sales pitch.
"Here, the show was actually the opener for the commercial - it was brilliantly executed and crafted," said Lerner.
Kittell, who appears exclusively on the Get Motivated! circuit, spoke movingly about spiritual and family values and how his own success has allowed him more time for those priorities. Pacing slowly around the stage while engaging the surrounding audience, he told how he learned pole vaulting with his kids, and he showed a recent video on the JumboTron of his son breaking the state record in the sport.
Half an hour later, he turned to his investment strategy, explaining how he can play the stock market at almost no risk. Kittell described his two-day investment training seminar, study materials and a six-month subscription to Wealth Magazine. It's a package worth nearly $3,000, he said, but if you buy now, it's only $99. And he throws in a free lunch coupon.
Suddenly, ushers emerged waving flashlights and directing people to rows of tables piled with clipboards holding order forms. Seemingly half of the roughly 8,000 attendees were on their feet, elbowing their way toward the tables.
Yvonne Clark, who started her medical billing business in Harford County five years ago, was a first-time attendee and one of those rushing to buy. By the end of the day, she spent about $150.
"It's very appealing - if you spend a little money now, you can help broaden your future," she said.
Christina Engerman, a local Realtor, was also a buyer. She said she attended a seminar by real estate coach Brian Buffini seven years ago and immediately became a fan. Engerman, 64, said she subscribed to his investment package for $500 a month after that until the recession forced her to cut out the expense two years ago.
"It was worth it when I was doing it," she said.
But getting hooked is exactly why Bill Copsey, a 45-year-old airplane technician, didn't spend a cent during the seminar.
"Generally when something seems too good to be true, it is," he said. "You get the feeling that when you get there, they're going to sell you something else. "
Industry experts say that roughly 10 to 20 percent of those who attend such seminars don't buy anything. Another 10 to 20 percent buy products and successfully use them. The remaining 60 to 80 percent buy products but never use them.
"People can come back all fired up and energized ... and eight days later you don't remember anything about it," said Tom Ziglar. "But if you take something home and spend 10 minutes a day on it, it changes everything. "
He said his father's role at the Get Motivated! seminars has been one of showing people that with consistent action, there's hope for a change.
"Radical change comes in minute steps," he said.
Zig Ziglar's portion of the Baltimore program was mainly a memorial to his past. Ziglar began speaking in the 1960s and later became a staple of the Lowes' seminars because of their ability to draw large crowds.
But after an accident three years ago, Ziglar suffers from short-term memory loss. His daughter, Julie Ziglar Norman, appears with him on stage to keep his short talk on track.
"What we sell is not really tangible," said Norman. "It's encouragement. We talk to so many people every day who have never heard anyone say 'you're bright' or 'you're smart. '"
Ziglar started his talk by declaring "America is the best country God ever created!" prompting loud applause and cheers.
Like nearly all of the day's speakers, Ziglar's talk was laden with patriotism and nondenominational religious overtones. Each time, the crowd responded enthusiastically, giving the program a revival atmosphere.
For some, it was just the motivational boost they needed.
"They're using biblical principles to apply to today," said Clark, as she signed up for a seminar offer later in the day by real estate investor James Smith, another Get Motivated!regular. "Sometimes you go to church and practice spirituality, but you don't know how to apply that to your everyday life. "
It's also part of the psychology of selling, said Lerner, a rabbi as well as a businessman.
"They touch a nerve," he said. "It hits them emotionally and when a person is in an emotional state, they are more willing to buy. "
But he and LaRosa noted that the products sold at the seminars, which have an "A" rating with the Better Business Bureau, all offer a money-back guarantee.
That's the difference between a con man and a salesman, said Lerner, who said he nearly jumped at Kittell's offer himself.
"Had I not been there as an observer and committed to not buy anything in advance, I would have been one of those people," he said.