One of the best ways to
build your business or practice is through speaking. Whether it
be through seminars, webinars or workshops, speaking is a way for you
to get in front of a group of qualified prospects and give them a taste
of how you can help them. It’s one of the most effective ways to
leverage your time and get results fast!
It’s not uncommon for
me to hear the following from independent professionals and
consultants:
“I like speaking and I
speak often, but I can’t say I’ve gotten a stitch of business from a
speaking engagement.”
Maybe you feel the same
way – that speaking helps your visibility (you think), but it seems to
be a very indirect and uncertain way to develop business. You
speak because it’s good to “get out there” and you hope that
the phone will start ringing as a result. Unfortunately, it
rarely does.
If this is your
experience, what may be missing is a simple call to action
combined with a follow up strategy to transform your speaking
engagement into a lead generating activity.
Here’s an example of
how to do this:
1.
Engage your audience.
Make sure your workshop
is interactive and has a lot of “what’s in it for me?” focus.
Spend time focusing on a problem that your audience is
experiencing. Scope out the problem, some examples and what it
may be costing them. Talk about what can be done to solve this problem,
where they need to start, what issues they need to consider and some
ways that are proven to work. Include some case studies for more
impact.
2.
Have A Free Report. Be sure to have
with you one hard copy of a free report that you can offer the
audience. This is a short report you have written on the problem
you’ve been speaking about, say 5 to 10 pages long.
Create a title that
will make them curious and interested. I like “X# ways”
titles. For example:
·
The 7 Biggest Mistakes
People Make When Buying A Home
·
5 Secrets To Skillfully
Motivating Your Team
·
10 Ways NOT To Grow
Your Business
3.
Offer Them The Free Report. At the end of
your talk, after you have reiterated the key points, hold up your free
report and say, “I have a free report on the “8 Critical
Characteristics Of A Superior Business.” Raise your hand and ask,
“How many people here would like a copy of this report?” What
you’ll find is that most will raise their hands. Why?
Because people LOVE free stuff!
4.
Tell them what they need to do. Give them
instructions on how to get the free report. Say, “To get this
report, take out your business card, make sure your correct e-mail
address is on it (it’s surprising how many people have outdated e-mail
addresses on their cards), and give it to me on your way out. I
will e-mail you this report to you in the next few days.”
5.
Follow Up Promptly.
Now you’ve got a set of
business cards representing qualified prospects you can keep in touch
with. Call them a week after you send them the free report.
Ask them if they have any questions or feedback about the report.
Explore the issues they’re experiencing with the goal of understanding
their challenges. Ask them if it would make sense to get together
and discuss their issues in more detail. If they say “yes” – set
up a time. If they say “not right now”, be sure to keep in touch
with them on a regular basis.
Now you have a system
for turning your speaking engagement into a stream of leads to
follow-up on and nurture. Many of these will turn into
appointments and then sales. Do this consistently and you won’t
have to make cold calls again!
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© 2004 David C.
Miller. All Rights Reserved.