Advice for enterprising speakers
How to Sell Your
Speaking Services
What’s the secret of success? I preach to my clients that their No. 1 concern must be positioning. You hear this word constantly, but what does it mean? And what
can great positioning do? In a word,
everything!
Know who you are and what you do.
Be crystal clear about it. You need to create
a positioning statement for your business. It promotes you by concept and the
outcome of working with you. It makes
introducing yourself easy.
To illustrate, I consult and speak,
and I have positioning statements that
relate to each which are short, sweet
and to the point:
For my consulting business: “I work
with professional speakers who want to
book more business, make more money
and avoid making costly mistakes.”
For the speaking part of my business:
“I work with organizations who want to
fast forward their selling skills in order to
increase success and profi tability.”
The first part of each statement speaks
to the concept of working with me, the
last part relates to the outcome. A good
positioning statement really works and
you need to create one for yourself. Each
part of your statement can stand alone and
be meaningful; however, the statement
is most meaningful when it is used in its
entirety. So, where do you use your positioning statement? In a word, everywhere!
Once you develop your positioning
statement, repeat it. Leave yourself a voice
mail message saying it. See how it sounds
to you, and solicit
feedback from others.
Your positioning statement should
be prominently displayed on all of your
promotional material,
including your website
and all social media
accounts. A great positioning statement can really put social media into
overdrive. Display your statement in the
signature on an email.
After you develop and adopt a great
positioning statement, what’s next?
s
y i
o
DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Who are your
clients and prospects? What motivates
them in the marketplace? What challenges do they face? What needs do you
fill in the marketplace? Make sure you
clearly address them.
phone call that isn’t returned is feedback.
It tells you that your positioning with this
client or prospect needs some help. Use all
feedback to improve your positioning.
THINK SMALL. Don’t try to be all things
to all people. It just doesn’t work. The
narrower your market, the better your
chances are of getting business. Be an
expert in the field.
DON’T GIVE UP. Create a plan and stick
to it. Deliver on what you promise.
Deliver end results and deliver personality. The best marketing you can do for
your business is doing a great job with
your current clients.
When you take the time to carve out
a positioning strategy in your market,
your business will grow. Isn’t that what
it’s all about?
PROMOTE YOURSELF AND YOUR
SERVICE. Be creative. What distinguishes
you from your competition? Be specific.
Be memorable. Tell your story. Tell it over
and over. Talk about it. Write about it.
TUNE INTO YOUR CLIENTS. Every time
you come into contact with a client or
prospect, you are getting feedback about
your market position. Hopefully, it’s positive feedback; however, it isn’t always. A
Lois Creamer works with professional speakers who want o book more business, make more money and avoid making costly mistakes in their speaking
practice. Creamer’s clients include the super-stars of speaking, like Jack Canfi eld, CSP, CPAE,
and Jeffrey Gitomer, CSP, CPAE, and the
superstars of tomorrow. She can be reached at
www.bookmorebusiness.com, lois@bookmore-business.com or (314) 822-8225.
