How to Build a Highly Profitable Speaking Business

Let’s start with the 5 new rules for experts who speak.

1. Think beyond the keynote. What other innovative formats can you use to deliver your content? Think onstage interviews, interactive discussions, group masterminding, and hybrid keynote-seminar-workshop-labs
2. You don’t want to be asked to do it again – you want to be asked, "What's next?" or "How can we go deeper with you?" or “What else can you do to help us?” A speech is a transaction - and you are in the transformation business so think in terms of follow-on consulting, training, coaching, strategic work sessions and helping your clients and audiences go deeper and drive change further after you get off the stage. 
3. Speaker is a skill set – not a job description. Focus on ALL of your possible distribution methods for your expertise and let clients connect the dots of what they want and need – and HOW they want it. Don't limit yourself to just speaking because then you'll be trapped in the gig-to-gig hustle that only leads to exhaustion and never being able to get off the hamster wheel of forever hunting "the next gig."
4. Training is the most popular mode of delivery for live events. What can YOU do to supplement and complement your speaking with training? It could be live training, video training, onsite training, e-learning, online courses. training assessments and tools, or even “train the trainer” programs or offering certifications to other trainers to teach your material and licensing your programs internally to large corporations.
5. Consider the golden triangle – Three legs of the stool:
   
   
   1. Speaking leads to Awareness. Now they know they have a problem and they've been made aware of gaps, challenges, problems, heartaches and headaches tied to their current condition.
   2. Training leads to Skills transfer. Meaning that before your training, they are missing some skills, capabilities and competencies. After you leave the building, they now DO have new capabilities and competencies. 3. Consulting and coaching leads to Behavior change. This is where the rubber meets the road and long-term change starts to kick in. This is a sustained program over a period of time (from a few months to a few years) that will seriously move the needle on their results, outcomes, and possibly change the direction of their entire company, department, or team. This has MAJOR economic value to your client and you can charge premium dollars for these types of projects. 

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Let’s move on to talk about how you can evaluate potential niche markets and decide how to set up your speaking practice to maximize your chances of success.

First of all, don’t guess. Don’t hope. Don’t wing it.

Do some research. If you’re evaluating several different potential niche markets or vertical industries, spend some time on researching each one.

Live in their world, think about their problems, and think about their clients and prospects. What’s the first step? Data gathering. Preparation. Homework. Industry, regional, business, and company news is now at everyone’s fingertips on the Internet. Look for articles, blogs, verbatim quotes from executives and industry analysts, video clips, audio interviews and capture as much as you can.

Then go directly to the source – real live customers and prospects. If you’re not intelligently researching your prospects’ issues, challenges, and pressures, how can you possibly come in with credible high-perceived-value solutions? One of the best ways to approach prospects is with:

• Interviews
• Surveys
• Research
• Data gathering

It positions you as an expert resource and it gives you valuable data you should be getting anyway.

Here is a simple, repeatable process for researching what types of speaking services and programs your target market will pay for - and use this strategy to start prospecting tomorrow. Here it is…

You're a writer, researcher, journalist. Find the top trade association magazines or highly targeted industry publications that your target executives read, recognize and respect. And prepare yourself to write an article for them.

Why? Because thought leaders do original research…

For prospecting purposes, this is priceless.

• You access high-level Buyers it would take you months to reach (if ever!)
• You establish yourself as an expert and a peer
• You have a good reason for a series of follow-up relationship building opportunities

Here's how:

Title of your article must contain an embedded compliment

Ex: How Smart Leaders at Top Companies Profit from Breakthrough Ideas (for an innovation speaker)

Ex: How Top Producers at Leading Firms Create Referrals for Life (for a sales speaker focused on financial services firms)

Ask 3-5 questions

- What’s been the biggest factor in your success?

- What obstacles and challenges are you still working on?

- What’s the best advice you've ever heard on this topic?

- In your opinion, what’s the secret sauce that many miss?

- What’s the key practice or tactic you keep coming back to?

- Crystal ball: What does YOUR next level of success look like in this arena?

Do these by phone or email whichever they prefer (phone is better for rapport)

Map out approach and all follow up touches over the next 90 days:

Interview – thank you email - thank you card - send finished piece - send link to blog - offer to stop by and drop off signed copy of your book - send different article - invite them to seminar - send note "another idea for you" – Call and say, "I was thinking about your situation" and ask if they would value a conversation about how you might help.

Do 3 of these per week = you’ll get 12 per month. In 90 days, you'd have 36 top prospects who know your name, will take your call and who might even look forward to hearing from you!!

One speaker who wanted to do a lot more work with associations did a series of interviews under the banner of “The Association Speaker of Tomorrow” – guess what happened? He used that information to BECOME the association speaker they wanted to hire!

Another client I just finished working with wanted to go deep into the banking industry. He used my interview strategy and got interviews with a dozen CEOs including the 2nd and 3rd largest credit unions and the CEO of every major community bank in his home state of Arkansas.

From these interviews and following my advice, he landed a regular column in TWO major banking industry publications. From the follow-up he’s doing, he’s building great relationships with these CEOs on a first-name basis and they’re looking forward to hearing from him.

THAT is how to create a powerful and sustainable speaking-driven business. It's not about the gigs - it's about increasing your influence, impact, and income by delivering massive client value before, during, and long after your speech!

Want to put some of these ideas into action and connect with meeting planners, conference producers, and association executives who hire speakers just like YOU? 

Grab your FREE Speaker Booking Machine Cheat sheet right here >>>

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Want to put an end to silly, ineffective, blind cold calling for speaking gigs FOREVER? Please share this post with your network. They'll thank you because YOU are a rock star!

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David Newman, CSP works with speakers, consultants, entrepreneurs, and executives who want to leverage the power of speaking to dramatically boost their influence, impact, and income. Grab your FREE "Speaker Booking Machine" cheat sheet here >>>