Six Secrets To Commit A Biz Dev Idea So Great It Should Be Illegal

Would you like to add $100,000 or more to your annual revenue? Read on.

If you have heard me relate this story before, I will try to do it better this time.

One day I was taking my two teenage sons from our home in San Diego to Disneyland. Along the way I stopped to give a speech to a group of Orange County business owners while the boys munched on a fast food breakfast in the car.

While that speech generated five figures worth of revenue for me as I picked up various paid speeches and consulting work as a result of my talk, the speaking fee was a few hundred dollars. As I came back to the car I tucked my honorarium check (more honor than rarium) in the glove compartment.

My older son Jack, fifteen at the time, asked about the check and I told him these business owners actually paid me to market my services to them. “Sweet,” said my son, “that is the perfect crime.”

(Why Jack's twin sister, Devin, was not on the trip I do not recall.)

I repeat this story often to make a point.

Here is another example of this perfect crime. A marketing research consultant I coached complained that he wasn’t getting any consulting business for the past six months from a Fortune 500 client. “There are more ways to get paid than straight consulting,” I told him. Often companies that don’t have money for consultants and coaches have money in their training budgets. So he organized a seminar, held the event near the company’s headquarters and sold eleven seats for $600 apiece to that same Fortune 500 client. After the event, several attendees found some budget and he landed about $75,000 in marketing research consulting projects.

Here are my six secret ways consultants and coaches are getting paid to market themselves (note: many have authored a book that helps open the doors):

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SECRET #1

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Killer keynotes and breakouts at association and trade group meetings. A keynote is typically thirty to ninety minutes and usually focuses on a broad topic of interest to all attendees. A killer keynote makes people think, cry and laugh. A breakout session is one of the side sessions at a meeting and last from forty-five to ninety minutes. This is the glamour field of professional speaking. Competition is fierce and the big fees go to celebrities (the group is trading on their star status to attract attendees).

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SECRET #2

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Vistage. Vistage International is the largest CEO peer group in the world.

Speaking at Vistage CEO peer groups (formerly TEC) of about a dozen company presidents for half a day at $500 per speech (to start) has been a career-changer for many consultants. Vistage also pays travel, but the real money is finding clients. The following is how Vistage categorizes its speakers. Where would your speech fit on the Vistage list? The eight main categories are: Beyond Business, Business Services, General Business, Finance & Accounting, Human Resources, Marketing & Sales, Personal/Professional Development, and Technology.

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SECRET #3

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Corporate training. These are typically half-day or full-day seminars and workshops conducted for a private client, usually a corporation, for a group of its employees. This might be the most lucrative field for speaking because there are many companies that have training budgets. Several clients who make hundreds speaking for Vistage make thousands when they deliver the same presentations to companies. This one-two punch has made several clients an extra $100,000 per year.

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SECRET #4

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Sponsoring your own public seminars. This is typically a full-day seminar or workshop where registration is open to the public. You market the event and earn a profit (or loss). This business is about getting people into seats. Many times it is a break-even proposition getting the attendees there, and then you make your real money selling information products and consulting services at the back of the room after the event is over. Fees can range from $800 to $1,000 per day per attendee all the way down to my three-hour Lunch and Learn seminars for $25.

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SECRET #5

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Teaching at colleges and for public seminar companies. An alternative to running the seminar yourself is to find a sponsor. This might be for a company like Career Tracks or The Learning Annex. Or you might approach the adult education marketplace through a college or university extended studies program. Typically you might earn 25 percent of what the students pay all the way up to $1,000 for a day.

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SECRET #6

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Speaking at fundraising workshops where you split the gate. Another alternative to running the seminar yourself is to approach a trade group or association and offer to stage a fundraising seminar. They promote the event to their constituents and you agree to split the profits (typically 50/50 and you may or may not offer them 10 percent of any informational products like books and CDs that you sell in the back of the room after the event).?

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