My friend and colleague Lois Creamer works with professional speakers who want to book more business, make more money, and avoid costly mistakes. We teamed up for a web event to help you build your professional speaking business, but our suggestions will help you in any professional services practice! Enjoy the video replay below.
Lois “Book More Business” Creamer says, “If your goal is to get more speaking engagements, it is necessary to connect with those professionals who actually book speakers. You may find them on the phone by calling. However, social media is a great way to find and connect to executives in the companies who could well hire you. Unless you have an existing relationship, an email to discuss how you might help them in their next meeting is unlikely to be opened.”
Lois Creamer’s favorite resource for this type of detective work is LinkedIn. Twitter is her second favorite. Lois will teach you to create a positioning statement. It’s important that you do that before you take her other suggestions. Lois says, “A great positioning statement is the opener for any conversation about your business.”
We both agree that one of the keys to being successful when selling yourself and your services is knowing who you are, what you do, what is different about what you do, and for whom you are a good fit. Lois asks speakers, “Are you able to create a list of those whom you want to approach about getting speaking engagements?”
Perhaps you are more like me. Over the years, I have created multiple ways to promote in an ongoing and consistent way. This creates many incoming calls and inquiries. It is a combination of a great website, frequenting blogging, writing articles, active social media, and now regular webinars. Some of these I deliver alone. For others I collaborate with different professionals who serve my various audiences.
Lois is one of the professionals I admire, and we joined forces to give you our best advice. See the entire webinar at the end of this post.
Whatever approach you take, on a somewhat regular basis you need to revisit, refocus, and re-script your message. Although we know that you always want to find new business, let’s not overlook keeping in touch with your past clients. Dan Maddux, the Executive Director of the American Payroll Association, hires celebrity speakers, well-known keynote speakers, and breakout speakers. He says, “It is not my job to know how many ways I can place you at my convention. It is your job to communicate that.” Dan first hired me in 1987 as a luncheon keynote speaker. Since 1996 I have spoken at APA conventions, run speaker schools for his payroll speakers, and coached his leaders on their presentations.
I would add that it is not your past client’s job to remember you. It is your obligation to make sure they don’t forget you. What do we recommend? You have many options. Select what works best for you.
Professionals like Lois can help refine your marketing session and set an action plan for you. Speech coaches like me can help increase the quality of your presentations and delivery.
For more tips guaranteed to help build your business, enjoy this replay of our web event:
As an in-demand speech coach, I work with executives, sales teams, and even high-fee professional speakers to transform their presentations, both in content and delivery. The secrets and strategies I share with my coaching clients are now available 24/7, through Fripp Virtual Training. Transform your presentations easily, conveniently, and quickly: http://frippvt.com
“I wanted a super bowl-quality coach, and I was lucky to be introduced to Patricia Fripp. Her help in coaching and scripting was world class. With Patricia Fripp on your team, you can go places.”
– Don Yaeger, Long-Time Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated magazine, Award-Winning Keynote Speaker, New York Times Best-Selling Author
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Executive Speech Coach and Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker Patricia Fripp works with individuals and companies who realize that powerful, persuasive presentation skills give them a competitive edge.
