Speaking Engagements

If you enjoy public speaking, having regular speaking gigs can be a fantastic lead source for your business. Below is a how-to guide for getting speaking gigs, preparing for them, and getting clients from them.

Step 1: Start thinking of places that you could speak at – places your ideal clients are, for example, do your ideal clients work at places like law firms, investment firms, and so on? Workplaces often bring in guest experts to give bag lunch workshops, which makes it easy for you to get good speaking gigs set up. Examples of other types of places to speak at are: Chamber Events, Rotary Clubs, Winery’s, Country Clubs, hobby clubs and organizations such as Angels Whiskey Club, and so on. If you pay close attention to where your ideal clients are hanging out online and offline, what their hobbies and recreational activities are, and what they read – you’ll be able to create a long list of places to speak at.
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​Download this list of over 100 different places to speak.

Step 2: Set up a tracking spreadsheet to track each of places you want to speak at, your communication with them, and the results from each the talks you give. These are the columns to include on your spreadsheet: Name of Company, Location, Website, Phone Number, Contact Person, Date of Initial Call, Date of Follow-Up Call, Date of Booked Workshop, Number of Attendees at the Workshop, Number of Email Opt-Ins, Number of Consultations Booked, Additional Notes. You’ll find that some of the venues you speak at are very lucrative for you, and others are not. You want to set up another speaking gig at the lucrative venues – maybe become a quarterly or semi-annual speaker at that venue.

Name of Company, Location, Website, Phone Number, Contact Person, Date of Initial Call, Date of Follow-Up Call, Date of Booked Workshop, Number of Attendees at the Workshop, Number of Email Opt-Ins, Number of Consultations Booked, Additional Notes. You’ll find that some of the venues you speak at are very lucrative for you, and others are not. You want to set up another speaking gig at the lucrative venues – maybe become a quarterly or semi-annual speaker at that venue.

​You’ll find that some of the venues you speak at are very lucrative for you, and others are not. You want to set up another speaking gig at the lucrative venues – maybe become a quarterly or semi-annual speaker at that venue.

Step 4: Start contacting your list of places to speak at in order to set up speaking gigs. We made you a Sample Booking Script that’s been tested to work like a charm. You could start with that script and then as you speak to prospects and book gigs you’ll be able to tweak it to best serve you.

Step 5: When you get a gig, fill out the Speaking Gig Details Form (we created you a form to use which you can edit to your liking).

Step 6: Prepare for your talk. We HIGHLY recommend that you come up with one or two signature talks to start with and give those same talks at all of your gigs. This will save you a LOT of time, and you can refine your talks. Then, when you are returning to the same gig to speak again, you could develop a new signature talk to give. After you introduce yourself and build rapport with your audience, you then want to offer them your IFO and pass clip boards around the room so they can sign up for it. Be sure to bring several clip boards and pens with you – even for a small audience. People inadvertently forget to pass the clip board on, and then it just sits in front of them while you talk and no one else has the opportunity to get on your email list. So, bring at least five clip boards with signup sheets on them. We created a Template Sign-Up Sheet for you to edit and use. You could add to it a 3d graphic of your IFO.
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​Another option that can work even better than clipboards, is having a piece of paper and pen at each spot (set one out before people show up). On that piece of paper pitch, your IFO and have space for them to write their name and email. And have a spot where they can check a box if they are interested in booking a free consultation with you.

During your talk when you are introducing yourself, be sure to let your audience know that you offer free consultations. Of course, use the name you gave your free consultations and let them know who they are for and what they will get out of it if they choose to book them. And tell them that at the end of your talk they will have an opportunity to book with you.

Towards the end of your talk pass out your bookmark business cards. They are nice takeaway for your attendees and a great advertisement for your business. And many people love beautiful bookmarks so they tend to keep them and use them.

​At the end of your talk, remind people about your free consultation and invite them to come up and book with you. Have your calendar open and ready to make appointments. Most people will immediately schedule the appointment on their cell phone, however, you still need to have a stack of your appointment cards there to write down the appointment times and dates for the people who don’t immediately put it on their calendar. Be sure to get their email and phone number so you can confirm the appointment (or better yet, enter them into your appointment software so that it automatically confirms the appointments for you).

Step 7: Craft three emails that market your talk, and save them in either a Word Doc or Google Doc. Be sure they are well written and compelling. We created three sample promo emails for you to use as your template. Send your contact person an email, and attach the promo emails you crafted. Here is a sample email for your contact person.

Step 8: Track the results of your talk on your spreadsheet.

Step 9: That same day or the next day, thank your contact person and use the Ninja Follow-Up Trick to get employees of the company on your email list who did NOT attend your workshop (we’ve found that this ninja trick works about 60% of the time and can result in dozens more prospective dream clients getting on your email list).

Step 10: Within two days, send a beautiful hand-written thank you card and if you want to help ensure you are invited back for another gig, you could send a small thoughtful gift such as a gorgeous candle or some luxury travel-size products.

PRO TIPS

Consider joining Toastmasters to refine your speaking skills and practice your talk on a live audience.

Check out these 10 Pro Tips for Your Attire & Appearance.

​Consider teaming up with one or two other agents in your area that specialize in different types of trips than you do. You could do the speaking engagements together, share the workload, and then share the clients based on what each client wants to book. For example, all River Cruise clients go to the agent that specializes in River Cruises, all of the Disney clients go to the agent that specializes in Disney, all of the South Pacific clients go to the agent that specializes in the South Pacific.