Public speaking will get you more clients and more leads. Let me show you how. Take out a piece of paper and write LEADS vertically down the page. This will be an acronym that will help you to remember why public speaking is right for you.
L stands for Leverage
Public speaking lets you leverage your time. You can get in front of more people for less time. Instead of trying to get leads by networking one by one, you can speak in front of a group of 20, 30, 40 or even 50 people and generate more leads.
Let me show you how this works.
Commit to a speaking a minimum of once a week. Like anything else, public speaking works best when you’re consistent. You can’t dabble. It’s like taking vitamins once a month, unless you’re consistent, they won’t do you any good. It’s the same with public speaking. Commit to doing it every week, at the very least.
Hypothetically, let’s say you speak to 25 people every week. That’s 100 new people who normally you wouldn’t be able to reach. Whatever marketing you’re doing now, keep doing that. All you’re doing is adding a new business strategy and that’s speaking publicly once a week. Out of those 100 people who have heard you, how many do you think will become leads? If you’re doing it right, you should be able to get a minimum of 5 people. Now you have 5 people to follow up on within 24 hours. Even the warmest leads will turn to ice if you don’t get them into your sales funnel within 24 hours.
Out of those 5, how many could you close for business? You should be able to close at least 2 because they have already come to talk to you saying, “I want what you have,” or “I want to know more.” Whatever it is, they are deliberately talking to you.
If you spoke once a week for 10 months, then you’re going to be reaching a 1000 more people a year. Let’s calculate it per month. You close two people and your average sale is $2000 a month, times 10, that’s $20,000 extra income in ten months. Multiply it by the life of your client, say $10,000, and that’s an extra $200,000 into your business!
Public speaking works, especially if you follow my foolproof speaking system that you can find at http://www.instantprospeaker.com).
E stands for Expert
When you speak publicly you are looked at as the expert in the field, in your market, or in your community. You are viewed as the expert before you even open your mouth.
Every organization usually will send out a notice, a posting, a mailer or a flyer, announcing that you are the guest speaker at their event. You will get the leads because you are already at expert status.
A stands for Audience.
Know your audience. If you want to get leads from a particular audience, you need to know whom they are and what they want before you speak. Most speakers don’t even do any prior research on the organization where they’re speaking. They don’t even know who’s going to be in the audience, or about how many will be there. If you want to get leads and sell your product or service, you have to treat it like it’s part of your marketing.
Know your opponent’s position. That’s how you win. The more you know about your opponent the more you are set up to win. It’s the same thing here. Find out as much as you can about your audience. Go to their website. Take 5-10 minutes and prepare yourself. Before you even write your speech, talk to the person who has invited you and ask questions. What do they like? What are the demographics? Are they business people or service people? Do some research. Find out who is in your audience.
D stands for Database
Speaking is the best way to build your database because you’re getting warm leads every time you speak. I use a business card strategy. This is how:
To get leads from everybody in the room (as long as you have permission to do so from your host), have something to give away for a raffle. Ask for everyone’s business card. If you know your audience won’t have business cards, then bring 3×5 cards. (This won’t work for every group. I’m assuming that you will speak at a place where you can get leads. When I was speaking on a cruise ship, it dawned on me too late that people on vacation don’t have business cards!) So, every one gives you their cards for the raffle, and you give your “gift” away, and leave with bunches of business cards.
Now comes the moment of truth. These cards are not going to serve you if they sit on your desk. You must put them in a database. The better the database to follow and track the leads, the better off you are, and the more of a well-oiled machine you have. Get them into a sales flow. The hot leads also go into the database. The people who came up to me, my five hot leads, are set up into an additional sales funnel. To keep track of them I actually write them on a form and set up a strategy session so that they get into my follow up system right away. Whatever you need to do, follow up on these people.
Now you have 25 people to put into your database. The first step in the system is to send them an email and let them know it was great meeting them, give your website, and some free resources. I don’t sell anything at this point. I just give them something if they liked my talk. After the email goes out, I print that out and it goes to my sales person to follow up. Within 24 hours they’ve been contacted once or twice. That’s how you turn warm leads into hot leads, and your hot leads into sizzling, hot leads.
S stands for Sizzling Hot Leads
When you are speaking from the stage, anyone who comes up to you afterwards is a sizzling, hot lead. Make yourself available before and after your presentation. I know some speakers who stay off in a green room and act like a celebrity. They don’t eat with anyone. They don’t mingle. I have found that the on
es you mingle with in the beginning will always buy after your presentation–those who are actually ready to purchase.
The longer someone knows you, the more apt they are to buy from you. That’s why I say get more stage time. When your host allows you 25 minutes to speak, ask for 30. The more time you are in front of your audience, the more they will love you. When your audience falls in love with you, they will buy from you.
Here are two ways to get sizzling, HOT leads.
1. Mingle. Be friends with people. I go to the workshops when I’m speaking at someone else’s workshop. I participate. I don’t just sit at the back of the room and wait for my cue. When you participate, people will get to know you and then they find out you’re the speaker, and feel honored. They tend to buy from you first. This is really important.
2. Questions. This step comes right before the invitation at the end of your presentation. Instead of asking for that Q& A session–which will sabotage your presentation, hands down–invite people to come and ask you questions. Say, “I know you have a lot of questions and I want to answer them. At the end of my talk, feel free to come to the back and ask me.” Those who do are hot, sizzling leads. Get their cards.
Don’t spend a lot of time answering their questions because you have other people waiting. Just say, ”That’s a great question, and I want to take my time to answer it. Can I call you tomorrow when we won’t be interrupted?” Take their business card and fold the corner of the card. That indicates it’s a hot lead to follow up. Don’t break eye contact with them when you do this. This is the delicate moment of falling in love. Ask for their business card. Tell them you’re going to call them in in the morning. Fold it without them seeing it. Then don’t forget to follow up!
When it’s an offer to speak, I have a different signal on my card that tells me it’s a speaking engagement. You can train your staff to know which it is.
How do you get LEADS?
L is for leverage to save time and get more leads by getting in front of more people.
E is for expert because you are positioning yourself as an expert. No one wants to work with an amateur.
A is for knowing your audience. You get leads by knowing and loving your audience and giving them what they want. If you’re speaking in front of the wrong audience, you won’t get any leads.
D is for building your database with warm leads. They’ve seen you speak, they know who you are. Get them into your database immediately. Then contact them. The longer you wait, the colder they’ll get. It’s possible to have someone make those calls for you. After all, it’s only 25 people.
S is for sizzling, hot leads that you will get by being with your audience before and after your speech and by inviting them to come speak with you.
Arvee Robinson is a Master speaker trainer, international speaker, and author. She teaches business owners, service professionals, and entrepreneurs how to use public speaking as a marketing strategy so they can attract more clients, generate unlimited leads and grow their businesses, effortlessly. She teaches a proven speaker system for delivering persuasive presentations, and easy formulas for creating killer elevator speeches and magnetic self-introductions. Arvee has helped hundreds of individuals to win clients and close more sales every time they speak. As a high-energy motivational speaker, Arvee has shared the stage with speaking giants such as Mark Victor Hansen, Joel Bauer, Loral Langemeier, Chris Howard, Dave Lakhani, and many more. Arvee offers private coaching, workshops, home study courses and weekly tele-classes. Her persuasive speaker training programs transform ordinary business owners into superstars in their industry.
For more speaking tips go to http://www.instantprospeaker.com
