Over the years I’ve discovered speaking engagements to be an incredibly powerful marketing tool. One day about four years ago one of my competitors here in Atlanta said, “Sarah, you’re everywhere. You’re speaking at every professional venue in Atlanta.” I took that as a compliment. I was gaining huge visibility and converting my audience participants into clients. I was beginning to uplevel my status here in Atlanta – one speaking gig at a time. So even though this competitor was in the business five years longer than I was – we both knew my business was beginning to soar.

What about you? Have you pursued speaking engagements as a way to showcase your expertise, build your professional reputation within the industry and last but not least – build credibility and trust with your prospects? If not, you’re missing out on the fastest path to getting clients.

As you begin to advance in your speaking skills, you can begin to command paid speaking fees. However, there are times when giving a free presentation makes great marketing sense. While you should be smart about where you speak for free – don’t be fooled that you won’t make any income.

In order to decide if a particular speaking engagement will be worth your while you need to get crystal clear on your criteria. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s my time worth? When you’re speaking you’re not working with clients so factor in the potential lost income.
• How far am I willing to travel? If you have to commute two hours for a 20-minute presentation it may not be worth your while.
• Will my ideal clients and decision makers be in attendance? It’s so frustrating to waste hours preparing and delivering a presentation to the wrong audience. Make sure ahead of time that your target market is in the room.
• How many people do I want in the room? If only four or five people show up you could begin to undervalue yourself and leave frustrated that you took this speaking engagement.
• Will I be given enough time and opportunity to promote my business? The longer you have to present, the higher potential you have of converting new business. Of course you don’t want to be selling the entire time, but you do want to have enough time to tell your audience what to do if they want to learn more.

What I have found is that if I am speaking to the right target audience, strategically negotiate for what I want and have the opportunity to tell people how they can work with me – I can leave a room with more in new client services than I can command in a one hour speaking fee. So if the speaking engagement meets your criteria, go for it! Don’t be penny wise and pound-foolish!

When you design your talk make sure to be strategic. Think backwards by considering what you want to gain in the end as a result of giving this talk. (This week’s Predictable Results™ Assignment will help you create a presentation that will really wow your ideal clientele.) Finally, make sure that in every speaking engagement you give people an offer or tell them how they can work with you. If you don’t you’re actually doing them a disservice because they may really need your help.

If you don’t have enough clients in your business today, you really should invest the time and effort into speaking. Whether you speak for a fee or for free, you can get some amazing results.

As a pioneering and visionary innovator, Sarah is a certified professional image consultant and brand strategist, speaker, trainer and author. Her company, Illustra Business Coaching, provides leading-edge business building strategies for small business owners & entrepreneurs who wish to take their company to the next level.

Illustra Business Coaching
Copyright © 2012, Sarah Hathorn, AICI CIP, CPBS
1-800-267-3245, [email protected]
This article may be reproduced only in it’s entirety, including the above bio.