IT’S YOUR BUSINESS
Advice for enterprising speakers
NSA founder Cavett Robert, CSP, CPAE, compared the speaking market to a pie. Despite the recession nibbling off a chunk of the flaky,
fruit-filled possibilities, there is still a
lot of pie to be had. But many speakers
are wasting it.
With great effort, they find a place
with wonderful pie. They have their fill
and leave, knowing they won’t return
for a few years and forgetting they
could share the goodies with very little
effort and perhaps find another slice in
the process.
After every speaking engagement,
I ask the client, “May I help you find
your speakers for next year?” They
always light up, happily anticipat-
ing trusted advice. Then, I ask a few
simple questions:
• Do you prefer male or female?
• What’s your budget?
• What is your ideal content-to-entertainment ratio?
As a result, I never leave the event
without giving one to three referrals.
Recently, I started copying my recommended speaker(s) on my emails,
unless the planners are very private or
overwhelmed.
Look at the exciting math if all
speakers did this after every event:
750 NSA members who primar-
ily keynote (starting there) 30 gigs
per year
- 30% bureau engagements
- 20% corporate events we can
repeat and consequently won’t refer
This practice also can be executed
Who Wants Pie?
with a
bureau. After
a bureau event,
I’ll ask the bureau
if it’s all right to give
the client a few ideas for next year,
really emphasizing that the engagement
would be booked through the bureau. I
show my list to the bureau for approval
and then I involve the client. So, adding
50 percent of our bureau work ( 4. 5 gigs
per year), adds up to 3,375, totaling
14,625 leads.
Can’t Take a Booking?
Every time I decline work because I’m
booked or the fee’s too low, I perform
the same routine. Helping the planner
find an excellent substitute keeps the
relationship alive and builds rapport.
When the fee is low, I tee up driving-distance colleagues or aspiring speakers,
happy to speak anywhere, anytime. You
can always find someone to refer. So,
if the average keynoter declines five
events per year, that’s 3,750 more and
cha-ching: 18,375 leads!
Consultants and trainers are trickier.
They can repeat over and over. But
they can both contribute and benefit.
Keeping each other in mind for non-
competing topics twice per year adds
3,000 leads — totaling 21,375. If every
keynote speaker listened for training
and consulting topics that our clients
need, we
could refer
them, too. Three
leads per year to the
trainers and consultants put us
at 23,625.
Juliet Funt is a keynote speaker who helps audiences redefine what’s important in the age of “never enough.” She is the author of the
upcoming book, White Space®: The Missing
Ingredient in Your Technicolor Life. She can
be reached at Juliet@julietfunt.com
