Ep 123 How to Book More clients with speaking

Wouldn't it be amazing if you could grab a microphone (whether that's virtually or in person) and share a message that delivered value for your audience and brought in new clients? Selling from the stage growing your business with speaking is hands down my favorite way to grow and scale my business. And it's not my favorite because it's a sleazy get rich quick scheme. It is my favorite sales strategy because we get the privilege of educating our audience, serving from the stage, and delivering a transformation that can change our audience’s lives… all while growing our business at the same time. What more can we possibly ask for in a sales mechanism? But with so many changes happening to the way that we speak and speaking looks a little bit different these days, you might be wondering if you can still leverage speaking to increase your sales. In today’s episode of The Speak to Scale Podcast I’m going to show you exactly what you need to include in your presentation to increase your conversion from the stage.

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Resources mentioned in this episode:

Free Speaker Training - How to Start Scaling Your Business with Public Speaking
Get 50% off of your first year of Honeybook (Our go-to system for sending contracts, invoices and closing new clients from the stage)

5 ways to book more clients from the stage

1. Speak to The Right Audience

Even the best presentation will fall flat if it’s presented in front of the wrong audience. When looking for opportunities to speak at, make sure you’ve taken time to research who will be in the audience. You want to seek out events that your ideal clients attend.

Let’s say that you’re a senior photographer. Speaking at a photography conference about in-person sales is not going to help you book new senior photography clients. In this scenario, your ideal clients would (typically) not be in the audience.

On the other hand, let’s say you’re a senior photographer who also has educational offers who other photographers. In that situation, speaking at a photography conference on in-person sales could be the perfect way for you to book new coaching clients.

Not exactly sure how this plays out for your business? Free Speaker Training - How to Start Scaling Your Business with Public Speaking. It will walk you through a few exercises to clarify your audience, offerings, and ideal speaking topics to scale your business and your impact.

2. Share Your Story

People buy from humans. We want to know, like and trust the people we’re purchasing from and working with. None of that changes when you step on to a stage. If anything, it becomes even more important. Every single time you step on a stage or grab a microphone, your audience instantly puts you on a pedestal.

It’s not as a result of anything you did, that’s just how we (as the audience) perceive speakers. We’ve been conditioned to believe that speakers on stages are more important than us. They are the thought leaders that we should aspire to be.

Your most important job as a speaker it to knock that pedestal over. You need to get on level playing field with your audience and show them that you understand exactly where they are and what they’re going through.

The easiest way to achieve this is to share your story. People want to hear about your journey. They want to know why this work is important to you, why they should trust you and if you truly care about their success. Sharing your story allows you to show your audience that you’ve walked in their shoes and you want to help them take the next steps in their journey.

But you need to make sure you’re sharing the RIGHT story. Check out this blog post on how to share a story your audience actually cares about for a full break down on how to craft your story!

3. Showcase the Results

It’s tempting to get caught up in the fancy features or elaborate process of our product or services. Your audience will be oh-so grateful for those details, but right now they’re asking themselves, “What is this going to do FOR ME?”

When sharing your teaching points focus more on the results your audience can expect to receive. They’re much more likely to take action on what you’re teaching if they can clearly see how it will benefit them.

If you’re an SEO specialist, sharing a list of technical steps the audience should take may leave them overwhelmed and running for the hills. Instead, give them one or simple things that they can do right now and clearly illustrate the impact that will make for their business. “Do x, y, z and you’ll start ranking higher in local searches so that potential clients can easily find you.”

4. Address Their Concerns

Before you ever teach your audience any important concepts, make sure that you’re taking the time to call out and address their concerns. If your audience doesn’t think the results you’re promising will work for them, they’re not going to invest in a solution.

What common misconceptions or concerns may your audience have about the result you’re working to help them achieve? How can you actively address those concerns in your talk?

5. Give Them a Clear Next Step

Whether you’re asking your audience to download your latest freebie, purchase your new book, or book your services, we need to tell them exactly what to do. This is especially important if you’re speaking at an event with multiple speakers. The audience is consuming so much information already. We want to make it easy for them to say “Heck Yes!” to purchasing from us.

We use Honeybook to collect leads and book new clients from the stage. Before I’m back to my hotel room a potential client can inquire and schedule a consultation without me getting involved. (Click here to get 50% off your first year of Honeybook).

Whether you’re speaking to five people or 5,000 as long as you stay committed to putting people first you’ll be surprised at how quickly speaking can help you add new bookings to your calendar. Stay focused on delivering transformations and give your audience (the correct audience) a clear next step. Before you know it you’ll be booking more clients from the stage