Several things have popped up in my personal life
lately that have left me a tad stressed.
I won’t bore you with all of the gory details, but
let’s just say that having a 15-month old move in
with you, renovating a basement and purchasing a
property for a handicapped family member all at
the same time can be enough to drive anyone to
drink.
One of my clients, Michelle May, MD shared a
analogy with me that has been extremely helpful.
She said that when things get hectic in her
business (and life) her goal is to ‘move the ball
forward’ every day. Like on the football field,
the players may not be going for a touchdown on
every single play, but they are attempting to
advance the ball.
Sounded good to me. And I think it might be useful
for you in your business as well. Because let’s
face it, we do sometimes tend to focus on the lost
yardage, rather than a gains.
So here’s a strategy that you might apply when
your business (and life) starts to feel
overwhelming:
1. Stop. Assess what’s going on around you and
make a list of all of the things that need
resolving. If your list is huge, you may need to
choose 3 things at a time to work on.
2. Visualize a positive outcome. Write down what
you want to happen as if it’s already taken place
imagining the most perfect outcomes possible. I
find this helpful on two levels because it gets me
focused on what I do want to have happen and it
gets the worry outside of my head and on paper.
3. Put a sign or post-it note on your desk that
will remind you to ‘move the ball forward’ every
day. This means taking action. Do something,
anything to make progress on your chosen task.
4. Assess. At the end of each day check in and
see how you did. Most people tend to beat
themselves up over what they didn’t get done
rather than recognize how much they moved the ball
forward. A gain is a gain.
I find that even in the throws of major change, if
I can advance the ball even a few yards, I feel
better at the end of the day. Dealing with
disability challenges, wheelchair travel and
government health care and can be a serious head
ache. But each phone call, each application form
completed, each e-mail with a question answered
is a win. And right now, I’ll take all of the
wins I can get.
In fact, if you have a win this week and would
like to share it with me - write me an e-mail with
‘I moved the ball forward’ in the subject line.
Let’s support each other and we can all win the
game of life and business!
ps: You’ve been asking, and now it’s finally here!
Digital recordings are now available from our
teleclasses. And the Joe Calloway teleclass on
Recession Proof Your Speaking is the first
available. For details on the MP3 or WAV, click
here.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/AudioTools.html
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With all of the competition style reality t.v., we
hear a lot about ‘the triple threat’. That’s
someone, for instance, who is an actor, a singer
and a dancer all rolled into one.
Or, in the case of the Olympics, USA’s Michael
Phelps might be considered the ‘triple threat’ of
the swimming world.
Well I believe the speaking industry has people
who are triple threats as well.
These people will grow their businesses more
easily than most and will thrive. Those are people
who speak well, sell well and stick well (to their
lane).
Let’s see how you stack up:
Speak Well: When you go to a speaking engagement,
does it often result in more business? Would you
consider yourself to be a killer keynoter? (I’ll
stick to keynotes for the purpose of this tip but
feel free to improvise based on your business
model).
I just returned from NSA in New York and I saw a
keynoter who I thought had the ’speak well’ piece
nailed. Marshall Goldsmith was genuine, polished
(but not too), conversational, funny and highly
thought provoking with fresh material. I gave him
a 10.
On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your
speaking skills?
If you rated them low, then you may want to put
something on your ‘to do’ list that will help move
your skills up a level. There’s no better form of
marketing than a great speech.
Sell Well: I’ve often had clients tell me ‘I
can’t sell my way out of a paper bag’. They have
a mental barrier that selling isn’t their thing
and it gets in the way of building a booming
business.
Take someone like Jeffrey Gitomer for instance.
Now, obviously, he’s a sales expert so he has a
jump on all of us. Do you think when he’s on the
phone with a client, he’s thinking to himself
‘there’s no way this client will have the budget
to bring me in’. Heck no! He’s confident that
he’s got what they need and if they want him badly
enough, they’ll find the money!
On a scale from 1 to 10, how strong are your sales
skills? Are you closing business?
Many speakers think ‘oh I’ll just hire someone
else to sell me’. But who is going to train them
in the techniques that result in closed business?
Often, it’s the blind leading the blind. I would
guess that 70% of these relationships fail due to
poor training.
My advice? Become a sales guru yourself and if
you must hire, find someone to help with
administration.
Now the third strength could be any one of a
number of things. But when thinking about what
could make or break a speaker’s career, I truly
believe (no surprise) that focusing on a ‘lane’ or
sticking to an expertise is the key.
If someone speaks well and sells well but is all
over the place in their focus (which would then
translate to their marketing) they are sunk.
Remember that old saying… a confused buyer
never buys.
On a scale from 1 to 10, how strong are you when
it comes to being clear and sticking to your
lane/expertise?
(For a step-by-step process for picking a lane,
read Chapter 3 in The Wealthy Speaker).
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/tools.html
In an industry where a large percentage of
speakers struggle to have a thriving business, you
must consider sharpening the ‘triple threat’ tools
in order to build a long term highly profitable
business.
Happy sharpening!!
PS: To assist you with tool #1 - Speak Well,
we’ll have guest expert and triple threat Joe
Calloway on our next teleclass called ‘Recession
Proof Your Speaking’. Join us on September 11 at
2pm Eastern. More details are here.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.html
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In a recent conversation with a client, we were
discussing the idea of positioning as an expert
vs. a speaker.
Because my client is a business author, I
suggested he think about business authors that he
admires when making decisions about his business.
He said he admired James Collins, author of ‘Good
to Great’.
‘Okay perfect’, I said.
He suggested a little later in the conversation
the idea of him personalizing each demo video that
went out, with a little message from him for each client.
‘Not a bad idea’ I said, ‘do you think that Jim
Collins would do that?’
‘Well, probably not’.
Later we were discussing the merits of putting
your photo on your business card.
I said ‘would Jim Collins put his photo on his
business card’?
‘Probably not…. point taken’.
When establishing yourself as an expert, think
about an expert that you admire and ask yourself
what they would do in the same situation.
I stopped short of asking my client to wear a WWJD
bracelet. He got the point - loud and clear.
Happy expert-cution!
ps: We have another JC coming to share his
expertise with us this September.
You won’t want to miss our next teleclass:
Recession Proof Your Speaking with guest expert
Joe Calloway.
Joe is a role model for many speakers and we’ll be
talking about how to make yourself the first
choice for clients.
Here are the details:
Date: September 11, 2008
Time: 2pm - 3pm Eastern
Sign up:
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.html
pps: PRE-TELECLASS HOMEWORK: If you haven’t
already seen Joe Calloway in action, you may want
to check out the ‘Diary of a Killer Keynote’ DVD
that includes a full speech by Joe. There is
special pricing for clients and Wealthy Speaker
purchasers - check it out.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/killerkeynoteDVD.html
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A few months ago, I wrote an eTip about supporting
your empire with everything you do… from focus,
to developing speeches, writing, products, etc.
When analyzed, it often turns out that our
activities are not moving us towards our financial
goals.
Here’s that tip again in case you missed it:
http://tinyurl.com/5hn3lf
But before you build your empire, you’ve got to
clear the land.
So what does that mean?
Making space (or room) in your business for your
new empire is the key to building something
profitable and long term.
It’s impossible to move forward, while hanging on
to the past.
- Some of you may need to stop speaking at low
fees. Especially those who work for low paying
seminar companies which are calendar eaters.
- Perhaps you’ll need to pick a lane and drop
some of the programs that you’ve been doing that
don’t serve the empire. When you create a new
business using all of your old materials, you’re
really not moving forward. Let ‘em go!
Remember Greg’s story from The Wealthy Speaker
(page 36)? He narrowed from several training
topics to being an expert on leadership. His
company became much more profitable yet he worked
less. Now that’s building an empire!
- I imagine that many of you have alot of ‘busy’
stuff in your schedule - things that take time
but don’t necessarily create revenue. Farm them
out or drop them!
- Get over your need to have a calendar that looks
full, and start concentrating on high pay off
revenue activities. That might mean increasing
your fee if you have been hesitating.
So the question is….
What do you need to let go of to clear the land
and make room for your empire?
Take action….
Make a list of all of the activities that eat up
your time and then get to work making it shorter!
I hope you will take action today to start
clearing the land!
Happy empire building!
PS: In building my own empire, I have resolved to
let go of giving my time away for free. When I
look back at my 2007-08 calendar, my 30 minute
sample coaching sessions have eaten up a large
chunk of my time. So I’ve developed a new
plan! Check it out here:
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/coaching.html
If you’re interested in coaching with me, I’ll
honor my previous rate card until June 30, 2008.
(those rates are no longer posted, but can be
quoted to you in person). Drop me a line!
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Quite often I’ll google speaker websites to
check out the competition for my clients. In
today’s competitive climate, it shocks me to
see that many speakers still start out their
home page saying things like ‘John Doe is the
best speaker you’ve ever heard. Hire John
for your next meeting’.
Yeah right!
As the economy tightens, do you think that
John Doe is the type of speaker that client’s
desire? I have my doubts.
The marketing flip flip is about putting
the outcomes to the client first, and the
speaker (as the solution to their problem)
second.
Unless you are a celebrity or bestselling
author, your website should probably not be
about you.
It should be about the service and solution
that you offer. The exception to this would
be speakers like The Passing Zone. They are
jugglers and are mostly hired at meetings to
entertain. They might also be better known
than the average speaker, due to a stint on
America’s Got Talent last year.
http://www.PassingZone.com
Take a speaker like Toni Newman for instance.
She’s an innovation expert. Her website is
about innovation first, Toni second.
http://www.toninewman.com - check it out
you’ll see what I mean.
Here are a few questions to help you evaluate
your marketing:
1. When arriving at your website, does the
client know what you will do for them
(outcomes) within the first 30 seconds?
2. Is the first 1/3 of your home page about
them and their needs rather than you?
3. Are you positioned as an expert and a
problem solver? Or as a ’speaker’?
If you answered ‘no’ to any of these
questions consider doing a marketing flip
flop to switch the order of your home page
copy to be more client and outcome oriented.
It won’t take you too long to do this, and I
believe it will have an impact. Try it, and
write me back to let me know how it goes.
Happy marketing,
ps: need help with your flip flop? I have 4
spaces left for 30 minute sample coaching
sessions in May. If you’ve read The
Wealthy Speaker, then you qualify for a free
session. Get in touch with me at
jane@speakerlauncher.com to schedule your
time. Or if needed, click here to pick up
your copy of The Wealthy Speaker
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/tools.html
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How memorable is your message?
When you have a powerful line or phrase that
you say throughout your speech you are
accomplishing 3 goals:
1. You are giving the audience something to
remember you by.
2. You are making an idea stick. (The Heath
brothers book ‘Made to Stick’ illustrates
this idea brilliantly).
3. You are giving the audience something
with ‘repeat-ability’.
Now what’s this got to do with t-shirts?
Well, ideally a great phrase or tag line
within your speech will look great on a
t-shirt. Ergo, it passes the t-shirt test.
Let’s take Joe Calloway’s ‘Let it Go’ speech
from NSA a few years back. Joe said at the
beginning….’although people say you should
have 3 points in a speech, I’m only going to
give you 1 idea’. His idea was about letting
things go in your business in order to move
to the next level.
The phrase ‘let it go’ seemed to take on a
life of it’s own and was repeated for years.
This speech stuck! (That’s why I interviewed
Joe to discuss why it worked in my Diary of a
Killer Keynote DVD)
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/killerkeynoteDVD.html
Here are a few questions to help you consider
your powerful phrase:
Is there one thing that you say in your
speech that people will remember for sure?
Would it look good (ie: be short enough and
succinct enough) to have impact on a t-shirt?
When people walk out of the room after a
speech by you, are they able to convey to
another person exactly what they learned?
Does it pass the boardroom test? Would
people repeat your phrase to one another in a
staff meeting?
Sharing one idea or point that sticks is far
more powerful than sharing 10 that don’t.
I hope this will help you design your
powerful phrase and incorporate it into your
speech.
Happy speaking!
ps: If you want to see that Calloway speech
I mentioned, it is included in full on the
Killer Keynote DVD. Check it out….
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/killerkeynoteDVD.html
(you may need to cut and paste this link).
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Last week, I had quite a freaky thing happen.
I was on a tiny snorkeling boat off the coast
of Maui, Hawaii with about 30 other tourists.
I had just pulled myself out of the water
after seeing a giant sea turtle (very cool by
the way). A woman approached me and said,
‘is your name Jane?’ ‘Yes’, I replied with a
question mark on my face. ‘Oh my gosh, she
said, ‘you’re the speaker coach, I’ve read
your book!’
It was quite an experience to run into
someone who knew me in such a remote place.
But I guess, after 16 years in one industry,
attending conferences, writing articles and
speaking, I’m making in-roads as a marketing
expert. Just as Sam Horn is known as the book
expert and Tom Antion is known as the
technology guy.
So how well are you known in your target
markets for what you do? And what can you do
to become more well known? Here are a few
ideas:
1. Pick a lane and be focused. I’ve talked
about this alot, so I won’t expand too much.
Just keep asking yourself, ‘will what I’m
doing right now help me be known for [my one
topic] in 5 years?’
2. Set yourself apart from industry folks so
that you can get paid. One of my clients was
well known in the dental industry which
supposedly didn’t pay their internal speakers
well. But low and behold, when he started to
branch outside the industry, they wanted him
more and have found a way to pay his going
rates. If you’re good enough, you can ignore
it when they say ‘our industry doesn’t pay
well’. If not, quit banging your head and
find some new markets.
3. Write articles to establish your
expertise. This is a great, and easy, way to
build credibility within your target. Make
sure your bi-line at the end funnels people
towards your website.
BTW: If you haven’t seen it, my article in
Speaker Magazine on fee negotiation is here:
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/about.html
(click The Fee Factor link on the left)
4. Write books. A book may not need to be
industry specific in order to further your
cause. If you are an expert in sales, you
might target the real estate industry. The
book might contain real estate examples, but
doesn’t necessarily need to be specifically
written for them.
5. Position. When you purchase a booth at an
event, you are there in a sales role. But
when you speak at an event, or are on a
panel, you are positioning as an expert.
Note: you may speak for free at your
industries’ biggest events, but if doing
freebies leads you to more freebies, then
you’ll need to rethink your strategy.
I hope this will help you think about your
target markets and how you might become more
famous within them!
Happy targeting!
ps: My next teleclass is going to be hot!
Writing and book guru Sam Horn will join us
on March 25th at 2pm Eastern with ‘I Can’t
Believe I Wrote The Whole Thing!’ Space is
limited so click here for details.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.html
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I remember one of my speaker buddies telling
me that he was no longer a speaker, he was a
writer. I thought, ‘cool’.
Most speakers have to write continuously in
order to keep their material fresh. But then
there are many who write articles and books
in order to continue to advance their
expertise.
Here are a few questions that will help you
move forward with writing - if that is
something that you’ve been wanting to do:
If there has been something holding you back
from writing, how will you move past it?
For most of us, fear that we will suck at it
is probably the reason we don’t take action.
That, and finding the time. But I have found
that the more you write, the better you
become and it’s easier to make time for the
things you enjoy.
Scheduling time in your planner to write is
the best first step you can take. I
typically alot 2-3 hours per writing session
- after that my brain is fried.
What is one way that you can begin writing on
a smaller scale?
For instance putting out tips, ezines or blog
entries can help condition you for tackling a
bigger project like a book.
Where will you write?
You might think that writing in your office
is a good way to go, but the experts say that
you should find another place all together.
Somewhere that you won’t have household
chores, e-mail or phones to distract you.
Many of you write well on airplanes. My
preference is a Starbucks that is located in
a bookstore - that way I’m surrounded by
books. I put on my headphones, crank up
Alisha Keys, and move into my own funky world
of writing.
Who will be your editor?
Behind every great writer is a great editor.
They edit, organize flow, hold you
accountable and push you to write better.
They see things that you don’t. Find someone
who knows what they are doing and be open.
Being too attached to your material can stunt
the process.
What will your ‘finish’ date for your project
be?
Setting a goal is the first and most
important step. People with no end dates in
mind can work and re-work books for much
longer than necessary, sometimes years! Set
that date!
That’s just a few ideas to get you started,
we’ll also talk about writing during our
next teleclass in March (stay tuned for a
date).
Happy Writing!
ps: My adventure in writing has taken me
down an entirely new path. Although I will
continue to coach speakers, I have nearly
completed my next book which is a total
departure. It’s called ‘99 Frogs: A Three
Step Process to Finding Your Perfect Mate’.
I would love to have you share a story for
this book. For details go
to www.99Frogs.com
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The year 2008 is nearly upon us and it is an
opportunity for us to evaluate and
strategize.
One of the mantras that my clients create
during our work together is ’support the
empire’.
Sounds like something straight out of Star
Wars, doesn’t it?
But really what it means is supporting the
lane that you’ve chosen with every new idea,
product or speech that you develop. You may
not consider your business an empire, but I
think it’s a great word to help us all think
bigger.
I can’t tell you how often I’m talking to a
client who has an idea for a new product or
speech that has absolutely nothing to do with
the growth of their business. It takes them
off focus and usually does not get the
attention it needs to get off the ground.
I use an umbrella for a visual of the empire.
Here’s a sample so that you can see how it
looks:
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/umbrella.html
At the top of your umbrella on the outside,
write a label that best describes your lane
or your expertise. This is the title of your
empire and should be very broad.
Some examples might be sales, leadership,
teams, attitude, etc.
Next step, while keeping an eye on the
empire, in the middle of the umbrella, write
down the topics that you deliver that support
the empire.
You may drop some topics in this exercise,
the fewer the better because clients don’t
believe that you are an expert in 10
completely different topics anyway. For
example on the sales front you might have:
Sales leadership, closing skills, and
negotiating topics.
Finally, falling underneath the umbrella,
like rain would drip off the sides, write
down your distribution channels (revenue
streams). Again with the sales example, you
might list keynotes, workshops & training,
coaching, consulting, and teleclasses as your
product mix.
When you’re finished, you should be able
to see anything that doesn’t fit and remove
it.
And moving into 2008, when you have an idea
for a new product or revenue stream, you can
look at your umbrella and ask yourself this
key question:
Is this idea going to support the empire??
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/umbrella.html
Happy holidays everyone! Until 2008.
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| Thank you to everyone who submitted a Fresh Idea. Since there were so many, we had to narrow them down. Our top 2 selections are noted, and we’ve put several others on the page in hopes that they might spur on some new ideas for you!We would ask that if you are going to use an idea, to please put your OWN spin on it to allow the original to remain as such.Thanks go out to Joe Calloway, Toni Newman and Kris Young for their help in choosing the winners.
Jane |
Fresh Idea Winner #1
Keeping The Audience Engaged - Dan Norman |
I have an idea that I used in a presentation to a large sales organization at a Fortune 100 company. There were more than 1,000 sales representatives there from retail sales, inside telemarketing and outside sales. I had known that I was going to be the last Speaker before lunch, so I knew that I needed to do something to keep their attention. I figured out a way to keep them involved, make it fun and to have them wondering what was coming next. The title of my presentation was Ten Sales Fundamentals to Assure Success! My opening PowerPoint slide had 16 images on it. (See attached) One image represented my opening, ten of the images pertained to the ten sales fundamentals, one was for a closing summary and three of them pertained to very funny stories about being in sales. You could click on each of the images to open the parts of the presentation as described above.After being introduced, I stepped up on stage and without telling the audience what the images represented I simply picked one, the logging truck, and clicked on it to reveal my opening. Following that I asked the audience to pick an image. Hands went up and there were shouts right away. Why so many people are drawn to clowns, I’ll never know. Frankly, they scare the shorts off of me but that was the overwhelming first choice of the audience. (Incidentally, all of the cartoon characters on the slide are from my comic strip AWFUL WAFFLES ®, www.awfulwaffles.com.) From that point it was like an auction. Folks couldn’t wait to call out an image and see how in the heck it was going to relate to a Sales Success Fundamental. It really didn’t matter which one they chose as my presentation was built as 16 separate mini presentations that I could present in almost any order. The beauty of the approach, however, was that I could somewhat manage the order anyway as so many people were calling out different choices. I could simply pick the one I wanted from the choices which were being yelled out. I was lucky as not many people chose the drawing of the cook. Actually, I planned it that way as the cook was for my closing remarks and to announce lunch. I got the highest speaker ratings of the show and sales performance improved as a result of retention and practice of the Sales Fundamentals. In fact every once in a while I still get an e-mail saying, “Hey I used the Clown a lot this month and am over quota again.”Give credit where due:
The idea is actually similar to one used by a speaker I heard many years ago talking about creativity. Using an overhead projector, he had drawn little pictures that represented the things he was going to talk about in his presentation. He would draw an “X” through each one as he finished covering that topic. Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name, his company or how to locate him.
 |
Fresh Idea Winner #2
Piece of Cake Closed the Deal - Joy Baldridge |
Here is a marketing idea that I used and I did get the business…I had a prospective client who was impossible to reach. We were at the end of the sales process and I could not get her on the phone. She was based in Greensboro, NC where my sister-in-law lives. I called a local bakery and had them write in frosting on a huge sheet cake the following:Some decisions are hard to make
this one is a piece of cake!
Call me! Joy Baldridge
    203-359-9080 Kathy delivered it and I got the business! Which was a keynote at their national sales conference in Las Vegas and they have been a 15+ year client. |
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More Fresh Ideas – In no particular order
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Tap into the Crackberry’s - Make your Presentations More Interactive
- Scott Klososky, Technology Expert |
During your presentation, there are two things that you can do to run Q&A in a new method using technology. The first is to tell everyone at the beginning of the talk to turn on their phones. They think this is funny. Then put an email address on the screen for them to write down and tell them to email their questions during the talk. Then when you are ready, bring up the email client on your screen and run through them. It works very well in that you can normally answer many more questions and get more than if you do traditional Q&A. I use a Google gmail account I set up because it is easy to keep clean and I do not use it for anything else. You must be online of course so make sure you have an internet connection from stage.
The second way is edgier and cooler. There is a new website called http://wiffiti.com/
This lets you create a screen that people can text message to. The messages stay on the screen and just float around. Again, you must have an internet connection. The edgiest way would be to have the screen up the whole time and just deal with the questions as people send them in real time. This is something that you need try at home and test out with some friends, but can really add an interesting way to communicate with the audience while you speak. A variation is to use the Wiffiti screen to ask questions and do an ad hoc survey with people…
Editors Note: Last year, Scott Klososky purchased a cow for his audience from the platform which prompted the Fresh Idea Challenge. Thanks to Scott for making us all think! For more on the cow story - see article on Jane’s Blog
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| Headline Makes All the Difference - Eamon Murphy, Ric Isaac (Australia) |
| How the right headline in our press release got us over $200,000 worth of free publicity and made us $75,000 in 8 daysPress releases have been around for years but most are a total waste of time. Even worse are very expensive paid advertisements. Ric, my business partner, and I sent off numerous press releases to promote our self published book that we wrote to help advance our professional public speaking careers. But nobody wanted to know us, or asked us to speak or wanted to buy our book. We only sold 47 copies, mainly to sympathetic relatives and friends. It looked like we were going to lose the $6,000 that we had invested in the book and our speaking careers were going nowhere – except downwards very steeply. Then we thought of a completely fresh idea: an eye-grabbing, sexy headline.The results that we got from that one press release with the new headline totally blew us away. Our telephone and fax ran hot. We appeared many times on radio and television, our story was featured in numerous newspapers and magazines and we were inundated with requests to speak. And then we really hit gold: Australia’s leading current events program Today Tonight produced a feature story on the book and ran a promo on eight occasions in prime time television with an audience of millions - and it cost us not a single cent! The website featuring our book received so many hits that TV Channel 7 had to temporarily close it down. The first print run of 3,000 copies of our book sold out immediately. We reprinted our book which became an Australian number one bestseller giving us a profit of well over $75,000. Ric and I are now flat-out with our speaking engagements, media commitments and completing our second book on health and fitness. And, as a completely unexpected bonus, Ric, in his first year as a professional public speaker, has just received his first speaking engagement from Australia’s leading speaking bureau. All because of a great headline in a single press release!
And the winning headline is…..
Don’t Diet?
Doctors know that you have a much better chance of being cured of cancer than of permanently losing weight. |
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A New Twist on an Old Idea (Evaluations) - Darla Arni
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A few years ago I started asking attendees to fill out my own evaluation in addition to the general one provided at conferences. It started out as one page, which was fine, but often didn’t get filled out because they didn’t want to take the time. So, the last couple of years I have started printing it as a postcard on heavy card stock. I designed it myself, printed it myself and included a big graphic Thank You across the bottom. I get an astounding percentage of responses, I ask simple questions that they can quickly respond to and include a portion for them to fill out if they would like to subscribe to my E-newsletter. Because I print them myself I can easily customize the questions for each group. I put them on the table ahead of time, often while they are entering the room so it also gives me a chance to interact, tell them what it is, and become a real person to them before they see me at the front of the room. What do I get from this little postcard?-Great personal quotes in their own words to use in marketing.
-More people subscribing to my newsletter and in my database
-After each job, I compile the responses and send it to the client afterwards so they can see for themselves what people took the time to say and what the audience thought of my presentation. At the top of the page I make a point to tell the client I have made no corrections or additions to the comments. The feedback has been great!
-I use these same compiled responses (in small doses) in packets to new clients along with testimonial letters.
-It helps me to see where the audience is coming from and how they view me.This simple item with it’s uncensored, honest responses has been great feedback without being a pain for attendees. |
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Getting Dressed on Stage - Silvana Clark
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| My main speech is called “Taming The Marketing Jungle”. I begin my speech wearing a form fitting dress and explaining to the audience that I had to leave my house in a hurry and accidentally forgot the safari-type out fit I usually wear. Then I say, “I heard from… (The groups’ CEO or association president) That you were always prepared to meet any problem that comes up in the workplace. So is there anyone here that possible brought an extra safari blouse with them today?” Lo and behold, someone waves a blouse and offers to let me use it. People are looking surprised. I put it on and ask for a safari skirt. Someone gives me one and now the room knows the items are planted, but it’s still fun. I get boots and a pith helmet from the audience and everyone is laughing because they are “in ” on the joke, plus their members were involved. This always breaks the ice, plus they kid their own members about bringing an extra safari hat to the conference. |
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Locking in Your Language with the Audience - Randy Park
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My presentations are about helping organizations identify and tackle the unrecognized obstacles that prevent their long term success. Typically they are unrecognized because of the thinking of the people in the organization. Both problems and opportunities are “filtered” by people’s past experiences and education. The filtering is the unconscious assumptions we all make. In order to illustrate the filtering, I use slides with my Thinking for Results model and provide everyone in the audience with coloured filter glasses. (These are similar to the old 3d glasses, but with lenses that are either both red or both blue.) The glasses, the slides, and the model illustrate how the unconscious part of our brains blocks information before we start processing it consciously.
The combination of the filter glasses, the slides, and my presentation provides a visual, auditory, and kinesthetic experience that people remember and use. I get comments such as
“We have regularly been hearing the word ‘filters’ in conversations in and about the office. Your talk has definitely opened up the minds of many and has had a lasting effect.”
The model and associated understanding has applications in decision making, problem solving, communications, teamwork, change, and just about any area that people think. And the sight of a room full of people wearing cardboard glasses always loosens everyone up! |
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Visual Impact that the Audience Can’t Forget - Susanne Morrone
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| I’m a natural health consultant, author and “not as yet famous” speaker, but I do frequently speak to local community groups, occasionally at universities, to support groups, etc. At a recent lecture, I wanted to help the audience appreciate that what we put in and on our bodies impacts our health to a large degree. I decided to use a graphic visual. I cut the leg off a pair of pantyhose and filled a large paper bag with an assortment of commonly-eaten foods from the Standard American Diet. As I talked about all the over- processing, preservatives, chemical additives, sugar, salt, hydrogenated fat, pesticides, gmo’s , growth hormones, antibiotics and such, I was cramming the foods into this dangling leg of the pantyhose. “This is the typical American colon.” The point was made since the audience lined up after the presentation to find out how they could do a cleanse and have a personal consultation. The most wonderful feedback was a mom from the audience who came to see me about a month later. She said, “Darn you! My eight year old daughter was in the audience and took in everything you said. Now, when I start to put food in my mouth she cautions: “Mom, are you sure you want to put that in your colon?”This may not be what you are expecting in feedback, but at the very least I thought it would give you a chuckle. Thanks for your e-mails and I have enjoyed your Speaker Launcher CD’s which I listen to over and again for continual encouragement. |
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Customized Proposals (with video) for Speakers Bureaus - Nick Bontis
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On my interactive video website, I developed a section for speaking bureaus and meeting planners called “THE CUSTOMIZED PROPOSAL WIZARD”. While working on a potential lead, a bureau agent simply fills out a short on-line form that describes the theme of the event, industry, location, function, size of audience, etc. My website automatically generates a customized proposal for the agent which includes other similar clients I’ve worked with and their testimonials, plus the most appropriate presentation topic and outline for that event. The agent then simply “copy and pastes” the text into their email program and sends it off to the client as if they wrote it themselves.RESULTS
Agents are very busy people and clients demand attention. This whole process takes less than a minute and the results are “eye popping”. Once the lead is established, a customized video message is then sent to the potential client. Agents and clients are amazed at how quickly and customizable the service is. Since I launched this feature on my website a year ago, the volume of business I have secured continues to skyrocket and traffic on my site just passed 250,000 hits in the last year alone! |
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21 Day Challenge Bracelet - Patrick LeRoux
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| My idea is to give each participant at the end of my talk a red rubber band bracelet with the title of my presentation on it (I have them made in China). On the inside my website address is written. They have to wear it for 21 days as a reminder of their commitment (21 days is the amount of time to change a habit). The commitment has to be big. Going from your comfort to your commitment zone is my main message.Before I give them the bracelet, they write down their commitment on their hand-out. I also ask them to send their commitment to their boss within 48 hours via email. That way, they have to act on the ideas they have learned during the conference. It works very well since 80% of the time I am the closing keynote speaker. The ROI is big for my clients and it is a good way for the participants to remember me. When their friends or clients ask about the bracelet, I get free publicity. |
| Continually Reinvent Yourself - Dr. Gayle Carson |
| After years of working in leadership and customer service and being known as the “Wiz of Biz” which is still the handle I carry on my Entrepreneur Magazine “Women in Business” show, I wrote a book called “How to be an S.O.B.–A Spunky Old Broad Who Kicks Butt.” I am now known as Dr. Gayle, S.O.B. My tag line for radio interviews is “I’m a 69 year old 3 time cancer survivor who’s an Internet entrepreneur and a kick-boxing S.O.B. It is really positioning me in the female boomer market and creates a lot of buzz. I am having more fun, giving inspiration to women who thought it was too late, and therefore getting a lot of spin. The key to mention here is–you have to be continually re-inventing yourself or either you won’t survive and/or you and your audience will tire of hearing what you have to say. I also commissioned “Spunky Old Broad Day” which next year will be “Spunky Old Broad Month” and we got a lot of press and media coverage. |
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The Thumb Drive Video - Bob Parker
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| My newest marketing idea which I will receive and start using tomorrow, is I’ve put my promotional video on a USB 1Gb Drive in Quicktime format instead of a DVD (well, I have that also). The video takes up a small portion of the drive, and people can use it (with my Pit Crew Challenge logo on it) for carrying all their other files. I managed to source a great price on the 1Gb drives making this a unique ‘give-away’ and potentially passive type of promotion. You might discard or file away a promo DVD, but the USB drive - no way. Imagine someone carrying around my USB promotional drive in their briefcase wherever they go, and my supportive ‘fans’ can pass along the file quite easily during a conversation. Even better, this technology allows you to edit and customize the file for each person I’m giving it to. There are plenty of other ideas that I have to use these drives, and we’ll see what others can come up with as well. |
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Turn Your Audience Around - Pauline Fleming
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| I was presenting to a group of sales experts and wanted them to get outside their comfort zone. Informed them they needed to stop doing 8 things they always do.To do this, I suggested they would need to learn how to look at things from a 180 degree perspective shift. I then warned them they might not like me for the next action and I went to the other end of the room and asked them to turn their chairs around. Physically doing a 180 degree turn on the room for them to truly step into the learnings I was about to share.It received incredible positive feedback. |
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