How to Break Into a Speaking Market 1 John Beede interviews Benji Bruce How to Break Into a Speaking Market 2 Mentalist Mind reader Started getting asked to speak Began training speakers Never had a job Benji Bruce Why Can t Speakers Get Gigs? It s not the lack of knowing what to do. 3 1) It s psychological. Most speakers don t go all in. Don t make excuses about why you can t do this! Consider two mothers. One used an excuse and created a disabling belief. The other has a reason and therefore an empowering belief. Commit. Create an empowering circumstance.
Why Can t Speakers Get Gigs? 4 2) Speakers can t translate information. Just because you have the knowledge, doesn t mean you actually DO it! Make every life circumstance into an opportunity. Remember the Uber speaker! He got testimonials from passengers he d drive around town! Zig Ziglar sold pots and pans. Be proud of your humble beginnings. Take action on the knowledge that you have. Don t confuse the idea with the execution. Why Can t Speakers Get Gigs? 5 3) Speakers can t decide which business they re in. There s a difference between the keynote business and the seminar business. Seminar speakers sell products. Keynote speakers sell a speech. Those get positioned in completely different ways. If you want a keynote, make it engaging and entertaining. There are many facets of the speaking business. Why Can t Speakers Get Gigs? 6 4) Speakers want others to book gigs for them. This is just plain lazy! There s a difference between wanting others to book gigs for you because you re too busy and wanting others to book gigs for you because you re too lazy. Don t confuse the idea with the execution. Just because you know something that works doesn t mean you re doing the thing that works!
Why Can t Speakers Get Gigs? 7 It comes down to hustle. You must do what it takes every single day. Become the embodiment of the words you say! Live your message. Work smart and hard every day. What Actually Works? 8 1) Decide. What kind of speaker are you? Do you want to be a seminar speaker or a keynote speaker? The steps that follow are very different. Next, ask business-building questions. What s different about me? Finding your hook IS the point! This is how you make it impossible for other speakers to copy you. What Actually Works? 9 2) Get a mentor. Yes, people who say this want to sell their services. But it STILL helps you get to your destination faster! Put your ego aside and be willing to ask for direction and help, no matter the stage of your career. Skip the learning curve entirely and piggyback off of the success of another speaker. It s said that women are often better entrepreneurs because they re willing to ask for guidance at every level.
What Actually Works? 3) Be real. 10 Don t lie to yourself about where you are in your career, regardless of how long you ve been at it. Do you have awesome marketing materials? If not, get them! Speak at all possible events with the purpose of getting your marketing materials. Buy two cameras and speak for free, getting all the footage you possibly can! Do RFPs (request for proposals). Even pay to get on stages. Contact seminar speakers and get on their stages. Speak at community colleges. Position yourself like a celebrity. What Actually Works? 11 4) Create systems. Create processes. Be able to describe what you re doing to other people. Record the marketing emails that get replies. Record everything. That way, you can maximize your time and hire help. Enter employee mode and celebrity mode. Use a CRM like SalesForce, Insightly, Daylite, or similar. 12 How to Create Perceived Value It comes down to WHO YOU ARE. At a certain point, it s all about your celebrity. Regardless of your subject, you can only reach a certain income level after your marketing materials and deliverables are in place. Therefore, once your marketing systems are in place, focus on publicity and positioning yourself as a celebrity.
Go Straight Into Your Desired Market 13 You don t have to build your way up an audience ladder. Marketing to corporate, college, and youth markets are completely different monsters. Don t offend, regardless of your marketing. Be entertaining. It s all about how you make your audience feel. Engage in the first few seconds and market that you are engaging! TED Talks vs. Keynote Speeches 14 A TED talk is more like a seminar speech. A keynote is more about the entertainment value. A TED talk is about being persuasive with intellectual content. A keynote is more about the feeling behind the content and the experience. How to Get Meeting Planners Attention All Speaker Marketing Must Include Two Basic Elements 15 1. Building Event Database 2. Contact Event Planners Therefore, once the event is specified, contacting them is your primary concern. How you contact them is a secondary concern. Email and twitter contacts are Benji s preferred initial contact methods. Twitter: Follow their pages and begin replying to their tweets. Email: Hey, I saw your event, XYZ, I was wondering who hires the speakers - YourName. Don t include any signatures. You re trying not to make it look like spam. Use Streak, YesWare, or SideKick to quickly send emails with templates. After they respond, the second email is where you sell your speaker services. Also consider LinkedIn and Adwords, calls, physical mailings, amongst many others. It depends on where you are in your career.
16 Sell Your Experience Don t say, Here s what I talk about. Instead describe the experience that s going to happen after the audience has heard you. Study Steve Spangler, Brad Montgomery, Benji Bruce, John Beede. They all describe the experience, not the speech itself. Do the same. How Many Contacts Per Day? 17 1 Million. Grand Cardone: Call people until your fingers bleed. Benji Recommends: Just keep contacting! John Recommends: Create a sustainable daily quota. How to Convert Attention Into Paid Gigs 18 It all comes down to your marketing materials. After you send them to your website, there s nothing left for you to do. Your website IS what will convert your attention into paid gigs! That s why you must focus on getting your marketing materials at any and all cost. If you want to charge $10,000 bucks for a speech, you must look like a $10,000 dollar speaker.
What Immediate Actions Should Speakers Take? 19 Figure out where you actually in your career. Get your website up with testimonials. Finish your website by next week. Get a CRM. Add local events to your CRM. Market to those events, sending them to your website. For More Benji Bruce Trainings: 20 SpeakingLifestyle.com Has tons of info, including free blog posts and in-depth courses. How to Break Into a Speaking Market Interview, recording and video produced by John Beede with SpeakerCareer.com.