You live and die by your ability to leverage one speaking opportunity into numerous additional bookings. It’s not enough to just be a great speaker, you also need to be an innovative marketer. The good news is your biggest potential marketing opportunity is your actual speeches.
It is in this setting that you shine, and you are at your most eloquent. You are also providing everyone in the room a demonstration of your capabilities. In these settings you are offering up your best marketing pitch, your actual speaking ability.
The audience is already on your side. They are already attending your presentation, which means they are predisposed to be advocates of your offerings. Take advantage of this perfect storm of opportunity, capability and interest by utilizing the following three tips.
1. Ask for the Job
This seems like a simple thing to do, but far too many speakers forget to actually come out during their presentation (and when talking to participants one on one) and let them know they are available for other speaking opportunities and would love the opportunity to book one on the spot.
Get out there and mingle with the participants. You never know what conversation will lead you to your next booking. Ask questions and engage in small talk. Leave the power sales pitch for later. During breaks, work on building relationships.
2. Make Yourself Easy To Find And Remember
You are a speaking brand. Make sure people in the presentation know who you are and what you have to offer them. Put posters up around the room advertising other speeches you offer. Put table tents on the conference table, highlighting your capabilities. Add brochures and marketing material in your handouts.
When the presentation is over, your participants will leave and go back to their daily lives. It is often not until a day, week, or even a month later that they have some reason to think about contacting you, or passing on your contact information to someone else. Make it easy for them to find you. Put it on every piece of collateral you pass out.
3. Offer Value
Make sure every person leaves your presentation feeling like you exceeded their expectations, what we call the “wow factor”. That means becoming a master of details. Make sure your handouts are professional looking. Create well designed and graphically appealing PowerPoint presentations . During your presentation ensure you are eloquent and powerful in your delivery.
Use each event you speak at as an opportunity. When participants leave your presentation, hopefully they are leaving inspired to share what they have learned with others. What better way to get new clients and create leads to the next job, then by giving your participants a way to share what they learned with colleagues, peers and friends?
Offer free pre-recorded webinars of the highlights or tips from your presentation on your website. Try writing a simple eBook with tips or inspiration from your presentation and giving every participant to your course a coupon to download it for free from your website.
If you’re new to speaking, you should consider joining Free Speaker Bureau – you can set up a free account and start looking through available speaking opportunities (there is also a Resource page with lots of great tips).
Need help implementing any of these suggestions? Have a tried and true trick you use at your speaking gigs to book more events? We’d love to hear from you here at Create 2 Sell.
Until next time … to your success!
Paige Jackson
Create 2 Sell