Is your diary full of gaps?  Would you like to have more bookings but you’re not quite sure where to start? If you do this every single day you’ll have more than enough business in a few months’ time.  Explained in the video.  If you need a bit of help getting started, join us on our next Practical Prospecting Day on the 9th March.  Full details here.

If you've found this useful you might find this week’s podcast interview, From Working the Room to Working the Zoom with Will Kintish, very helpful too - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/.

Will Kintish was a Chartered Accountant for over 30 years.  For the last 20 years, he has been showing us how to be more effective and confident networkers when attending physical events.

Since Covid he has been teaching us how to do the same online.

He is the author of the best-selling book “Business Networking -The Survival Guide”.

Will shares how networking has changed since the Pandemic, but how it is still possible to successfully network online as well as face to face.  He also shares the key skills needed to network and what mistakes people tend to make when networking.

I might have mentioned in the past that I spent over 23 years working in Speaker Bureaus including running my own bureau for 14 of those years, so when it comes to the benefits of working with them I can definitely shed some light and share my experience. For most speakers a Speaker Bureau really can enhance and grow your speaking business.  Here's why:

If you've found this useful you might find this week’s podcast interview, How to work with Speaker Bureaus with me, Maria Franzoni, very helpful too - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/.

As a speaker, at some point you will consider working with Speaker Bureaus to help you grow your fees and your business. Speaker Bureaus can not only get you higher fees, but they can also get you booked by the right clients and take the admin off your shoulders. When the relationship works your business will really fly.

Maria Franzoni shares her top tips and tools for working effectively with Speaker Bureaus.

If you are looking to join a Speaker Bureau and be listed with them or you are looking to get bookings from a Bureau that you are already listed with, do check out our Speaker Bureau Seminar.

One of the biggest challenges you face as a speaker is to stand out and be remembered.  There are a lot of speakers out there who may well be talking about the same topics you talk about. So how do you stand out?   What is unique about you? 

If you've found this podcast useful you might find this week’s podcast interview, Stand out as a Speaker and Be More Giraffe with Elliot Kay useful - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/.

For the last decade, Elliot Kay has worked with Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, MD’s & Investors in order to help them stand out when they are delivering talks and speeches, pitching or looking to win business through delivering speaking.

His unique and effective structures, impactful delivery training, and teaching “language that lands” has helped to hone their messaging, perfect their stories, and thus enable them to win more business.

He has spoken globally at conferences, events, in front of teams, leaders, and managers on how to pitch and win new business. As well as speaking he has worked with some of the leading companies and corporations and entrepreneurs on customer service, how to get into the media and how to successfully pitch on top-rated television programs such as “Dragons Den” and “MasterChef the Professionals”.

Elliot shares what it takes to stand out in the speaking industry, to Be more Giraffe, why this is so important for a speaker and how you can achieve this.

Let's talk visibility.  Being visible and seen by potential bookers is vital to get you the speaking gigs you really want to be getting in 2022.  For many speakers it's their biggest challenge.  If it's something that you are struggling with today's video might help.

If you've found this podcast useful you might find this week’s podcast interview, What Speakers can learn from Influencers with Gordon Glenister, very helpful too - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/.

Gordon Glenister is a membership and influencer marketing expert.

Having led an industry body for 11 years in the promotional product sector, he launched his own consultancy to help trade associations and professional bodies with their strategy.

Little did he know he would stumble on the influencer marketing sector.

Since the launch of the Branded Content Marketing Association Influence division, Gordon has written a 300-page book on influencer marketing strategy, started his global influence podcast, interviewed some amazing brands and thought leaders and keynoted at conferences.

He is also the founder of the top 100 most influential people index and Membership World a community of CE0s within the membership sector.

Gordon shares the role of an influencer and how to be really successful as one, how speakers can resonate with their audiences online better, how speakers can measure the effectiveness of your influence and the benefits of live streaming.

Do you make your audience think differently?   The speeches that tend to be paid the most and make you immensely bookable are those that make the audience think differently and offer relatable takeaways.   Turn yourself from a speaking expert into a visionary. How do you do that? I share my thoughts below on how you can achieve this.

If you've found this podcast useful you might find this week’s podcast interview, Build better business relationships with video messaging with Ethan Beute, very helpful too - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/.

Ethan is Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, a platform to build better business relationships with video messaging.

He is also host of The Customer Experience Podcast, and co-author of Rehumanize Your Business and of Human-Centered Communication.

Ethan shares the role of video in today’s day-to-day, how digital pollution is affecting speakers and why we need to be human-centered in our digital communication.

When was the last time you re-evaluated your speaking topic?  Have you ever changed it or do you find the thought of it just too daunting? Listening to what is going on in the market, what your clients and target audience need and then tweaking or changing your speaking topic could set you up for a successful speaking business.

If you've found this podcast useful you might find this week’s podcast interview, Transforming our Speaking with Philipp Kristian, very helpful too - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/.

Philipp Kristian is pioneering human transformation for good. He’s a global TEDx speaker, voice of Gens Y to Z and author of RESET and The Trust Economy. He has been driving innovation and digital transformation for Fortune 500s in APAC and working with CEOs of Singapore’s most successful start-ups on reimagining entire industries.

He was a founding member of MetLife’s first global R&D hub, naming it lumenlab and setting a precedent for the industry.

He is deeply passionate about putting the human in transformation.

Philipp shares the definition of human transformation, why as a benevolent vigilante of trust he has now shifted his focus to human transformation, what the future looks like for human transformation and what his own transformation journey has been over the past year.

Content creation can feel overwhelming but if you are looking to grow your speaking business, content is essential. Before planning your content for 2022, I'd like to share some thoughts to help you make content creation easier.

If you've found this podcast useful you might find this week’s podcast interview Get out of the Content Creation Hell with Jen Liddy very helpful too - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/.

Jen Liddy left her teaching career to avoid a life doomed by grading 9th grade essays. In 2013, she made a terrifying leap into entrepreneurship & learned everything the hard way!

Now, as a Content Creation Specialist, she helps people create realistic, sustainable systems to get their content out there - helping them know exactly what to say, how to say it - in a way that’s personalised in their voice!  She helps personal brands get out of content marketing hell by teaching strategies that ease-ify, simplify, and actually make content FUN! As one client said, “she takes the ‘ugh’ out of content creation!”

Jen shares how important content really is for growing your business, the myths and misconceptions around content marketing, how to simplify content creation and what to consider every single time you create content.

I recently had a conversation with Roger Fisk, the communications expert accredited with the success of the two Obama Presidential campaigns. I asked him what was the secret behind the Obama success then and the continuing success and popularity 15 years later.  He shared three things that not only work in a Presidential campaign but as a speaker can be applied to your business too to be successful.

If you've found this podcast useful you might find this week’s podcast interview Social Media Engagement Advice from President Obama’s Lead Advance Associate, Roger Fisk very helpful too - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/.

Roger Fisk is a global communications expert widely credited with key behind the scenes roles in Barack Obama's two presidential campaigns. He served in both Administrations leading trade and diplomatic missions all over the world, and more recently has been putting those experiences to work for Fortune 100 companies, causes, brands and NGOs through his firm New Day Strategy. Roger provides analysis and commentary to Fox News, the BBC, Times of India, China Daily, SKY News, Bloomberg and others.

Roger shares tips and tools on the importance of culture in communicating your message, how to continue to build and sustain your speaking business, how to translate your message across various media and an update on the US events and conferences market.

Do you struggle to quote or say your fee without hesitating?  Are you comfortable enough to state your fee as a fact? I recently had David Newman as a guest on my podcast and he gave me inspiration for this podcast.  One of the exercises, taken from David's book, 'Do It! Speaking', is called Salt and Pepper your Fee which allows you to get comfortable with quoting your fee.  Have a listen as see if it helps you.

If you've found this video useful you might find this week’s podcast interview Do It! Speaking with David Newman very helpful too - https://speakingbusiness.libsyn.com/sb-david-newman.

David Newman is a Certified Speaking Professional and serves as Chair of the NSA Million Dollar Speakers Group. He is the author of the business bestsellers Do It! Marketing and Do It! Speaking: 77 Instant-action Ideas to Market, Monetize and Maximize Your Expertise. He is also the creator of the Do It! MBA mentoring program where he helps solo consultants market their smarts and make a bigger dent in the universe.

David shares his insights into what marketing means to him, the hardest part of building a successful speaking business, how to grow your speaking business and the importance of Thought Leadership in the industry.

Questions are a great way to get to know people better.  They are also a great way to persuade and influence people to work with you. I want to share with you three 'KILLER' questions that I think are really excellent for getting business, all of which I have personally used many times.

If you've found this useful you might find this week’s podcast interview What chocolate can teach you about sales with Alison Edgar MBE very helpful too - https://mfl.global/2021/11/23/alison-edgar/

Alison Edgar is known as ‘The Entrepreneur’s Godmother’ to Dragon’s Den and Apprentice Winners.  She’s written two best-selling books Secrets of Successful Sales and SMASH IT! The Art of Getting What YOU Want, which discuss why everything we do is a sale. She’s worked with some of the biggest names in business such as SkyBet, Discovery Channel and EasyJet teaching them her intrapreneurship methodology, helping them to encourage entrepreneurial thinking within their organisations and now she’s here to discuss the importance of sales.

Alison shares the link between sales and intrapreneurship, the key components to a sales process, how everything we do is a sale and why DISC and behaviours are so important in organisations especially in relation to sales.