162: How to Troubleshoot Your Speaking ROI
You’ve added speaking to your business for a reason, but what do you do when you’re not seeing the results you want? Today’s episode breaks down the different speaking tiers, how to measure the ROI of those tiers, and how to troubleshoot your ROI (Return on Investment) when it’s not meeting your goals.
If you loved this episode and it motivated you to work on more polished presentations, I’d love for you to leave a review on iTunes and tell me about your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @jessicarasdall.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
speaktoscalevault.com use code "PODCAST"
Episode 150 - How to Select the Right Speaking Topics for Your Business
Speaking Should Work for You
Are your speaking opportunities working for you? If it's not, we need to build the right strategy for you and your business. You can't simply duplicate what someone else is doing. Today’s episode is all about troubleshooting your speaking ROI to ensure you’ve set yourself up for success in every speaking opportunity.
Get Crystal Clear on What Your Speaking Tier Is
Do you know what your speaking tier is? If you’re new around here, a speaking tier is a category of how we refer to why you're speaking about, what you want to get out of it, and the action you're going to take.
If you’re not sure what your speaking tier is, head on over to howtostartspeaking.com to take my quiz to determine what tier you fall into!
Speaking Tiers
Tier 1 - Focused on Increased Brand Awareness
Tier 2 - Focused on Conversions
Tier 3 - Focused on Becoming a Paid Speaker
How to Troubleshoot Your ROI by Speaking Tier
The ROI of your speaking opportunities is important to measure and understand. Everyone’s ROI goals will look a little different, but let’s break down how you can troubleshoot your ROI based on your speaking tier.
If you’re not seeing Brand Awareness, here are a few things you can look at as a tier 1 speaker:
Review Your Speaking Topic to Ensure It Fits What You Specialize In
Workbook in the Speak to Scale Vault - speaktoscalevault.com use code "PODCAST"
If you’re not seeing conversions from your speaking opportunities, here are a few things you can look at as a tier 2 speaker:
Audience - Does the audience of the event match your ideal market?
Presentation - Did you do a good job of building the case for why they should take action on your offer? Help them overcome the problems within your presentation.
Next Step - Are you explaining why your next step is important for them?
If you’re not receiving the speaker fees from your speaking opportunities, here are a few things you can look at as a Tier 3 speaker:
Your Marketing Materials - Do you look the part of a high-end speaker? There are plenty of people willing to do it for free... how can you stand out?
Networking - Are you consistently putting yourself out there, building relationships, gathering referrals, and asking for opportunities?
Evaluate your sales process. Are you just sending over a number?
Turn one into three
If you're not already a member of the academy, we'd love to invite you to apply to join The Speaking Strategy Academy. You'll get instant access to our A-Z speaking training system with video lessons, transcripts, scripts, templates, and more.... access to our live group coaching calls, personalized 1:1 feedback on your work from me, and an opportunity to present your work live in front of our community for hot seat coaching and feedback. What are you waiting for, friend? Apply today!
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Read the Transcript from this Episode
Transcript for Episode 162:
If you've added speaking to your business, but you're not seeing the results you hoped for today's episode is for you. I'm going to show you how to troubleshoot your speaking ROI, so that you can start increasing your impact and income. Welcome back to another episode of The speak to scale Podcast, where we're helping small business owners just like you grow and scale their companies by speaking on podcasts, webinars, main stages, and more. I'm your host, Jessica Rasdall. And after spending the last 15 years speaking, I've learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn't. And unfortunately, I learned most of it the hard way. So if you are in a season of feeling like you are taking all the action, you are speaking on the stages you are showing up, and you're just not seeing the results you hoped for. I want to take today's episode to help you troubleshoot your speaking strategy, and really get down to what needs to change.
First and foremost, I need you to know that if speaking is working for your business or not, it should work for you, okay, all of us have the potential to scale our business we're speaking. But if we're not following a strategy that fits our unique business, things can get messy pretty quick. And that tends to be the issue that I see the most often it's one business owner sees somebody else doing something, you know, they see somebody speaking on a particular stage at a particular conference in a particular style. And they try to duplicate that. And they're wondering, why is this working for somebody else, but it's not working for me. That's not a speaking strategy that's following somebody else's lead. And if we want to really create impact, and get a return on our investment, when it comes to speaking, we need to create a plan that is tailored to us. So let me just get that out of the way. So first and foremost, whether if speaking is not working for you, I don't want you to freak out, okay? Don't freak out. Because even though that stinks, and I'm sorry, I know that you're frustrated, optimizing your speaking strategy to fit your business usually involves some pretty simple shifts. See putting yourself out there getting started all of that stuff you've already done. That's the hardest part for people.
Typically, that's where we get hung up. That's where we drag our feet. Not necessarily because it's hard, or it's complicated. But because we overthink it, we get in our own way, we put it off until later, or we're just too scared to even start sharing our message. So if you've made it this far, if you've already started, you're ahead of the game. And now I want to help you optimize what you're already doing. Because once you get going building momentum is easy, but we don't want is for you to build momentum and be rolling in the wrong direction. So if you're not really sure how to determine if you're getting a good return on investment, a good ROI was speaking, if it's actually working for you. I'd love for you to head back to an oldie but goodie episode. I think at the time, we may still have been called the creative speaker podcast, so just ignore that. But head back to an oldie but goodie Episode 58. It's how to calculate your ROI, your speaking ROI.
So if you're still unsure if you're like, well, just I'm speaking, but I don't know if it's working for me or not. That's not a silly question or thing to say, first off, I wouldn't have a whole podcast episode about it, if a lot of people hadn't asked me. So you can always head back to Episode 58. To learn all about how to calculate your ROI and see if any specific events and opportunities or strategies are paying off like you hoped. I'm going to link that in the show notes for you. So let's say you already know the answer, okay? You're like just it's working or just like, please help. It's not working. Okay. The very, very, very first thing we need to do is get you crystal clear on what your speaking tear is. If you're new around these parts, this might sound weird. If you're an odd listener, you already know you're speaking my language, right? You're speaking tear is just a category of how we refer to why you're speaking what you're looking to get out of it. And really, that guides what action we're going to take. So if you don't know what that is, don't worry. We've got a 10 question quiz. You can add pause this episode, head on over to our show notes all link it there, or go to how to start speaking calm. And you just answer 10 questions and it's going to tell you, you're either a tier one speaker, a tier two speaker, or a tier three speaker, we've got to know that first. Okay, that part is really important. And I'm going to break this all down through each of the tiers.
But I feel like, if you can take that quiz burst, the rest of this episode is going to make a lot more sense to you. So a tier one speaker, just for reference, in recap, or if you're like, Jess, I'm not going to take that quiz, I get it, I get it, I'd probably wait to a tier one speaker is focused on increasing brand awareness. So this is you if you are saying, I'm using speaking right now, because I want to build authority. I want to be seen as the go to person in my industry. And I really want to get my name out there. If you are actively speaking as a tier one speaker, but you feel like you're not getting an ROI. You're saying just, I'm out here?
Still, nobody knows my name. I my industry's best kept secret. I don't have any new leads rolling in. nobody's talking about me. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. It's crickets. Here's what I want you to check on tier one speakers. If you're not getting the ROI you expected. Check on your speaking topics. What are the things that you're saying yes to when an opportunity comes across your desk when somebody asked you to join them on their podcast or speak at their summit? Or be a speaker at their upcoming conference? Are you just speaking on whatever topic they throw your way? Or do you have clear signature topics ready to go that you can share with these organizers, topics that really position you as the go to expert in your area of expertise. This is where most of us leave money on the table and don't see an ROI. Because if we are speaking on things outside of that subject matter, that we're not helping ourselves become the go to RV.
If you don't know how to select your topics, we have an episode I believe it's 150. on how to select them your right speaking topics for your business. Again, I'll link this in the show notes for you. But Episode 150 walks you through exactly how to figure out what topics you should be speaking on. Because if you really want to be seen as the go to expert on a topic, you should only be speaking on that topic, Period. End of sentence hard stop. If you need some extra support with figuring out what those topics are. We have a really, really, really like I'm proud of this thing, a really good workbook inside of our speak to scale vault. And if you use the code podcast, at speak to skill vault calm, you get a special discount on the workbooks and the whole vault, which is just an entire library of all of our best resources in the right order. So you know exactly what to do and how to do it to start getting traction with speaking. So let's say you're tier one speaker, I want to make sure you're speaking on the right topics. This is where most of us missed the mark and start losing money with speaking instead of making money. On the flip side, let's say you're a tier two speaker, which means you're focused on conversions, specific conversions, whether that's making sales, getting more inquiries, adding subscribers to your list, getting new followers, the conversions are limitless.
But there is something that you can clearly measure, after speaking opportunity to see if it worked for you or not. So if you are already actively speaking as a tier two speaker, but you're not seeing the conversions you hoped for, there are three very specific things I want you to look at. Okay. So let's say you're speaking from the very first thing, is your audience. Are you speaking in front of groups of people that that conversion was designed for? So let's say that you have the most incredible online course, that shows somebody how to know I'm making an example of on the fly, it's not a good idea. But let's say you have an incredible online course, that helps realtors, Master social media, right?
Social media, in their area to be the go to realtor, because Real Estate's hot right now, but you as a tier two speaker have been saying yes to social media presentations, in all different industries. So maybe you're going and you're speaking to stay at home moms group about social media, they're expecting social media safety, and you're selling them a real estate social media course. It does not matter how good your presentation is, how good your conversion strategy is, how good your offer is, if we don't put it in front of the people that it was designed for, it's never gonna convert. So if you're a tier two speaker, and you're not seeing the conversions you hoped for, I want you to be really honest with yourself. And with me, are you speaking at events where your ideal audience is there in the ideal audience for that conversion you're looking for? If you're saying, Yeah, I am just I got this, I listened to the show, I already know that. Right? You're already speaking in front of your targeted audience. So let's say you are speaking in front of realtors, you've been speaking in front of realtors, you have this incredible course. And you're wondering why it's not working?
Well, we got to take a look at your talk. Because if you're talking to the right people, and you have an incredible offer for them, I'm willing to bet that in that presentation, you maybe did not do a good job of building the case for why this is something they should actually do. When we are asking people to invest in something, or to take an action, or to do something uncomfortable or new or scary, we have to really take the time to build a case for why that matters, show them the differences can make the potential and help them overcome any objections they may have.
By the end of that presentation, we don't just want to shove a bunch of information down their throat, right, that doesn't leave them better than we found them. We want to take them on a transformation on a little bit of a journey that is going to show them what could be possible. And then make our offer, make our online course or whatever it may be for you the clear next step, it's not about pushing products, it's about helping our audience, take the right next step for them. So if your presentation isn't setting up, for them to want to use social media to grow as a realtor, then you're not going to see those conversions you're hoping for. Now let's say that you're a tier three speaker, and you're not bringing in the fees you hoped for.
So a tier three speaker is somebody who's doing more professional speaking, your traditional motivational speaker, somebody who keynotes at all things, you know, somebody who is being paid upfront for their time, they're not worried about making conversions afterwards. And they already have the credibility to boot. If you're doing that if you're actively speaking, but you're not commanding the speaker fees, you were hoping there's three things I want you to start looking at one, your marketing materials, do you look the part of a high end speaker, because there are plenty of people out there who are willing to speak on that same topic for free for free 99. So when somebody who is booking you is looking at your materials, your social platforms, your speaker, website, your demo, reels everything. How can you stand out? How can you position yourself as a high value speaker, those are essential. The next thing I would really challenge you to ask yourself is are you consistently putting yourself out there?
Are you showing up serving your audience, building relationships, gathering referrals, asking for opportunities, because as lovely as it is to get a flood of incoming requests, if we're not staying Top of Mind, there's no way that's going to happen. So check your marketing materials, check the activities you are doing, and really take some time to evaluate your sales process, your booking process. Because if you're just like firing off emails to people saying, hey, it costs X amount of dollars to bring me in to speak, you should bring me in to speak. I can see a lot of those emails would not get responded to. But instead, what I want you to do what we teach inside of the speaking strategy Academy is to really consider yourself a high end boutique service, your speaking presentation as a high end boutique service. And that kind of service requires a beautiful sales process, an intimate sales process, where you're getting on the phone with people, you're listening to their needs. you're designing something that meets them where they are in exceeds their expectation. And that doesn't happen in a wham bam Thank you ma'am email.
So up level that process and if you want to command a high price tag for your presentation, you better be ready to deliver a transformation and you need to make Sure all of that experience starts from the first impression. So it doesn't matter if you're a tier one speaker, a tier two speaker or a tier three speaker, if you feel like you're doing all the things, but you're not seeing the return on your investment, whether that's time or money, you're investing one of those I know for sure. It's okay. There's always room to improve our speaking strategy and dial it in, this isn't a box to check off and say, Oh, I'm a speaker, I'm done. We want to constantly be working to refine and uplevel, how we show up what we deliver and the results that we get. So let me recap, in case you just went and took that quiz, his friend. So if you feel like you're not seeing those results, and you are a tier one speaker, you are looking to build your credibility, double check your speaking topic, okay? Make sure you're only speaking on your subject matter. If you're a tier two speaker, and you want to get more conversions, new clients more sales, make sure you're speaking in front of the right audience, and that your presentation is priming them to take the next step. If you're a tier three speaker, looking to make this full stream of revenue, make sure you are positioned as a high end speaker, you're taking consistent action,
and you're treating your onboarding process, like a boutique service, high end, high touch, listen, you're doing a great job. Okay? if nobody's told you that, if when you're not seeing the results you hope for I know it can be really discouraging. So I just want to remind you one more time, that I'm so proud of you for taking action. And I'm even more proud of you for showing up today. listening to this episode, and really wanting to improve like you're not here to just skate by, you're here to take it to the next level. And if you need support and taking it to the next level, and optimizing your speaking strategy, we've got tons of resources to help you get started or up level inside of this speak to scale vault. So head on over to speak to scale vault calm, and use the code podcast for a very special discount code. stop spinning your wheels with speaking, you're taking those steps, you're doing a great job. Let's just make sure that it's working for you. Because you don't have to go broke, trying to leave people better than you found them. You can both create an incredible impact for your audience, and an income for yourself. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of The speak to scale podcast. It would mean the world to us if you could just take a second and head on over to iTunes and leave us a review. Your support of this show allows us to continue creating this content for you each and every week. And we appreciate your reviews and you sharing about the show more than you know. As always, I will be over here cheering you on friend. I'll see you next week for another episode of The speak to scale podcast.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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