The Difference Between Good and Great

Every year American Idol shows us the differences between singers who are good, and singers who can
really go the distance.

Greatness.

(Yes, a few slip through the cracks and Pia was a great example of that… but I bet she’ll go by way of Jennifer Hudson).

There are millions of people who can sing who never get a recording contract or become famous. The same goes for speaking.

Our industry pie will always contain a large percentage of people who are making a living vs. a small percentage of people who are getting wealthy.

Which category do you want to be in?

If you’d like to create more wealth with your speaking – give some thought to how you can take your presentation from good to great.

Now you might say, “my presentation is just fine, I just need more marketing”. That might be true, but I would also lay odds on the fact that most speakers need to push it harder to get better….to be truly great.

Masters of any industry continually refine and re-engineer. And that’s what we need to do.

1. Study other artists (singers, comedians, film, TV and Broadway actors).

2. Find a coach or mentor (someone who will push you)

3. Don’t buy in to your audience hype. “You’re the best speaker I’ve ever seen” should boost your confidence but doesn’t mean you are finished. When you’re getting 2-3 spin offs from every engagement, then you might be able to relax.

4. Focus. The majority of people try to do too much in a speech when often less is more. Developing a call back or through line that allows people to easily understand what you shared with them will help. AND, they can easily share it with others (spin off).

So keep working hard on it and when you marry a great speech with good marketing, you will move into the next level of wealth.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

PS: A really good example of focus was Joe Calloway’s Let it Go speech several years ago in Phoenix. We dissected that speech (plus you get to watch the full speech). We still have a few hard copies left, check out the Diary of a Killer Keynote DVD. http://speakerlauncher.com/tools.html

Lessons from Charlie & The King

Have you ever been nervous about speaking in front of a group? (Just ask Charlie Sheen how he felt in Detroit).

The fact is, on many lists the fear of public speaking is well before fear of heights and even fear of death.

At the opposite end from Charlie’s train wreck, The King’s Speech is a beautiful story about someone stepping into their full power. And truly, if you know your subject matter, power and confidence can carry you through.

Even seasoned professional speakers can lose their mojo at times.

Certainly a rough engagement or an unfavorable review can shake your confidence.  Heck, the economy shook some of the most successful speakers to their core just a year or two ago!

Perhaps you’ve got the “speech of your career” coming up in front of the largest, most important group to date. What’s a person to do when dealing with nerves?

1. PREPARATION. I read an article that said “the more you prepare the worse you will do”. I disagree. When you know your material inside and out you are positioning yourself for success. What you really want is to have it so ingrained that it comes out sounding more like a conversation than a speech. And for the seasoned pro who may have lost their mojo, preparing new material will help re-ignite the flame that may have gone out during the storm. There is nothing more powerful than fully immersing yourself in new content.

2. GET BACK ON THE HORSE.  When you’ve had a setback, the key is to get back up. No matter what you think about Charlie Sheen, after bombing in Detroit, he got back on the stage in Chicago and that took some serious guts.  Ask any professional speaker and they will tell you about the time they bombed.  We’ve all had a bad speech and it takes some courage to take the stage again, but you must.

3. BREATHE. My former boss, Olympian Vince Poscente always talked about the power of oxygen getting to the brain when getting ready to go into a high stakes race/speech/meeting. Taking 10 deep breaths helps you relax, but also keeps the brain working at high efficiency.

4. STEP UP. Tony Robbins used to do a powerful piece in his weekend events where he would challenge his audiences to “step up”. We repeated it so often during the weekend that the term “step up” still has a powerful effect on me. Stepping up means being your most powerful. The best version of you. A thought leader.

And in The King’s Speech that’s exactly what needed to occur for King George VI to get through his first war time broadcast. It was a goose bump moment. If you haven’t seen the movie, I believe it’s a “must see” for all speaking professionals.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

How do You Handle the Haters?

You look over in the middle of your speech and notice someone who has their arms folded and a major scowl on their face.

What do you do?

I call these “haters”. But that word is probably a bit harsh, but “mildly to moderate dislikers” doesn’t have the same ring to it, now does it?

About 6 times a year I speak to groups of professional speakers. You’d be hard pressed to find a more warm and generous audience. But awhile back one of my audience members was sending me some pretty negative vibes. And when she challenged something I was saying, I felt daggers coming from her tongue and a particularly nasty tone.

(Perhaps I’ve exaggerated this in my mind, since it’s so rare something like this happens).

I responded with my counter argument, and we moved on, but it was hard not to notice her sour look for the rest of the hour.

When you write a book, a blog or give a speech, you are opening yourself up to a certain level of criticism – I guess that’s why more people don’t do it, eh?

So what can we do?

1. Develop a thick skin. I have a feeling that time and experience is the best way to develop this. (Would love to hear your techniques, please comment below, I know you trainers and bloggers have a million stories.)

2. If you get a negative evaluation, look for a lesson in the criticism, if there is none, move on. Let it go.

3. Focus on the percentage (usually 95%) of the people that did like your work. Not everyone will like you, and that’s okay.

4. And my lesson with the woman a few weeks ago – don’t assume that you know what the person is thinking. Rosita Perez, one of the legends of our industry, had a great story about a woman scowling at her and it turned out Rosita looked like her ex husband’s new wife!

See you soon Wealthy Speakers,

PS: I’ve had a wait list going for my group coaching, so I just added a new Club starting in April, check it out.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/ClubHybrid.html

Marketing with a Bow & Arrow

How focused is your outbound marketing?

Many of my clients are moving into the FIRE mode because they have already completed READY and AIM.

Here are some tips on FIRING.

FOCUS IS KEY Your goal is to choose anywhere from 1 to 3 industries on which to focus your outbound efforts. You might ultimately decide that you can only market to one industry effectively, that would be fine. This focus will allow you to monitor your results and make strategic adjustments.

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHO TO TARGET? Go back through your speaking clients and see who you’ve loved working with and which audiences loved you. eg., you spoke to a large group of realtors and you were a huge hit. You might make real estate one of your target markets.

I HAVE MY TARGET MARKETS, THEN WHAT? The next step is to infiltrate. Become known to this group as an expert. How? I find that writing is one of the most effective ways. Develop articles and place them in all of your target industry publications.

Note: there is a big difference between being an advertiser and an industry expert. Go for the article, rather than the paid ad and you will be positioning more effectively. A good way to find the people in your target market is through their associations, here’s a good search tool. http://www.asaecenter.org/Community/Directories/ AssociationSearch.cfm

You can flood the market with your expertise in many different ways:

1. use social media to build your fan base within the industry
2. run industry specific teleclasses, webinars or podcasts
3. do a postcard campaign (snail mail is bound to make a comeback!)
4. pull people in to your fan base with a strong carrot. For more on this check out this blog post http://www.speakerlauncher.com/blog/?s=carrot

By using a focused and consistent outbound marketing approach, you will see results that lead to bookings.

If you’d like to share something that has worked for you? Post your comment here below.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

PS: Want to hang out with me on Social Media?

Here are my links: Twitter: http://twitter.com/janeatkinson

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Jane.Speaker.Launcher

LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/speakerlauncher

Photographer: graur razvan ionut, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Two Announcements & A Bonus

BONUS: The 2011 Update to The Wealthy Speaker is now available!

It includes up-to-date information about technology, social media and the new trends in booking speeches.

Here’s the link to pick up your update at no cost:

http://speakerlauncher.com/2011update.html

(Note: Even if you purchased your book on Amazon or Kindle or iBooks, I wanted you to have the update as well. And if you don’t have your copy of The Wealthy Speaker yet, you can still have the update – maybe it will encourage you to invest $17).

http://speakerlauncher.com/2011update.html

Also, there are 2 new coaching clubs starting next month.

Club Quick start begins on March 16th, 2011 and has 8 spots available for speakers who are NEW to the industry. If you’d like to take advantage of group coaching, check out this link:

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/quickstart.html

Club Catapult begins on March 8th, 2011 for more SEASONED SPEAKERS. We have 5 spots available in this group.

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/clubcatapult.html

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

Are you Consciously Competent?

Conscious Competence.

Say that 10 times fast!

In our world of speaking, it’s very easy to start the business without alot of strategy. In fact, alot of people fall into our career by accident.

Is that you?

But at some point, usually a year or two down the road, you realize that there are things that aren’t working.

Perhaps:

Your website is up but it isn’t generating bookings.

You give a good speech, but it’s not getting you as much spin off as it should.

Your positioning is slightly off and it’s hard for you to articulate exactly what you do to help people.

If any of these sound like you, it may be time to take it….

FROM UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE (ie: you’re doing pretty well but it’s without a strong strategy in place)

TO CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE (ie: you’re doing well because you planned to do well. You have strong positioning and a well crafted presentation).

For 2011 what will you to do move from Unconscious Competence to Conscious Competence?

Feel free to declare your move towards Conscious Competence by commenting below:

See you soon Wealthy Speakers.

PS: Need some help making the move? You might want to consider spending some time with me! If you’ll drop me a line to jane@speakerlauncher.com with a paragraph that describes your problem, I can point you in the right direction.

Has Technology Got Us All Scrooged Up?

There’s a new show on Oprah’s network called “Kidnapped by the Kids”.

The show selects parents who are so engrossed in their work that their kids have to kidnap them to get their attention. Wow, how would you like to have that wake up call?

Even though I don’t have kids at home (I’m a proud step Mom and G-ma), I tried a little experiment this year where from December 15th to January 3rd, I did not check my work e-mail or any social media.

I spent some of my free time working at the 10,000 foot level of my business. i.e.: Working “on” my business (big picture), rather than “in” my business.

And I spent some of the time writing. (Stay tuned on the new book details). I also took a good, healthy break.

You would be surprised at how few issues came up in nearly 3 weeks. (I know speakers have to be responsive to clients, so I’m not recommending this for everyone).

The technology pendulum has swung all the way in one direction towards our being “connected” to everything and everyone.

I believe that people are going to start questioning how much of their day gets eaten up with time-consuming (but not urgent) tasks.

I suspect the pendulum will swing all the way back to “no connection” and then will settle somewhere in the middle.

Here’s your 2011 Technology Check-in:

1. What’s the optimum amount of time for you to spend on e-mail each day? What needs to change to accommodate your goals?

2. Same question for social media?

3. What other time wasters need to be removed or scaled back on your daily to do list?

If you’d like to share your list or predictions for the future, please post a comment below….

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

PS: Would you like to start 2011 with a strong strategy?

Check out our two new group coaching clubs starting in March.

New Speakers click here: http://www.speakerlauncher.com/quickstart.html

Seasoned speakers click here: http://www.speakerlauncher.com/clubcatapult.html

The Speaker’s Best Gift: Presence

After returning home from one of the best CAPS (Canadian Association of Professional Speakers) meetings I have ever attended, I am evaluating my behavior.

More specifically, my PRESENCE at the event.

Not, “was the event worthwhile?” It was indeed.

Not, “was I seen as an expert?” That was on track.

But, was I actually “present”?

Being consciously present while interacting with your fans or customers, especially in a crowded room, takes some practice.

I’m going to give myself 6 out of 10.

Why?

There was one emerging speaker who approached me at the very end of the last evening’s gala. I was leaving the event, (exhausted after 3 days and 3 presentations) nearly at the elevator when she breathlessly approached, “Jane, do you have a minute?”

She was a fan of The Wealthy Speaker and has been following my work. She came to Montreal BECAUSE I was speaking! I tried to be present, but I’m afraid I failed. (If you are reading this, please accept my apology).

I could have engaged more consciously. I could have inquired about her first convention experience or any number of things. Instead, I am certain that I was distracted.

How often do we let our “fans” down?

How often do we mentally check out before we’ve actually left the venue?

Next year, I will do better and I hope you will keep this in mind at your next speaking or networking event.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

PS: Today’s teleclass with Sam Horn should not be missed by anyone to wants to get their book out of their head and onto the paper. Join us! Wealthy Speaker purchasers and clients get in at no charge!

http://speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.html

Communication Styles: When to Shut the Pie Hole

Years ago when I worked in the speakers bureau, we complained that speakers would call and keep us on the line for 30 minutes – whether we had interest or not.

We had a (somewhat vulgar) term for this. “Show up and throw up.”

That’s when someone tries to tell you their entire life story in a voice mail or in the first 3 minutes of a phone call.

Since we’re talking to clients all of the time, I thought we’d discuss 4 different communication styles to help you improve your client dealings:

Style #1, The Chatter Box:

This is the person I was just referring to. They talk far more than they listen. They are anxious for you to know everything about them and want to tell it all to you, whether you show interest or not.

If this is you…

Know when to shut your pie hole (that means mouth). Give information slowly and wait for signals to proceed. If people are interested, they will ask you questions. Learn to listen (this takes practice).

Style #2, Sales Shy

You have a difficult time articulating the value you bring to the table and are, therefore, reluctant to pick up the phone to call on prospect.

If this is you…

First, get clear on your value. You have to know this in order to get booked. Then, rather than thinking of it as “selling,” treat it as a fact-finding mission. You are there to determine whether or not there is a fit between what you offer and what the client is needing. Asking good questions should take you there.

Style #3, Bottom Liner

This person is very direct, sometimes to the point of being rude. (I know because I move into my Bottom Liner style when dealing with Chatter Boxes).

If this is you…

Consider whether or not you are providing enough information to book the engagement. Share stories that decision makers can connect to – perhaps about your audiences or clients. Ask good open ended questions and listen patiently.

Style #4, The Born Sales Person

Many professional speakers are blessed with the gift of being likeable. You can communicate easily with clients, which gives you an edge in bookings.

If this is you…

Use this to your advantage, but don’t overstep. Be aware of your client’s limitations on time. Build the relationship, ask good questions, but always be keep your eye on the clock. I hope these styles will give you some ideas on how to communicate more effectively with your clients.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

Winners: Best Speaker Video Contest

A powerful performance is your #1 form of marketing. 

Capturing that on video will allow your clients to see your talent and the value of the content that you provide.

We had 59 entries for this contest!  It takes a certain amount of bravery just to post your video, so kudos to all the entrants!

To review the contest entries and criteria again, click here.  http://ow.ly/36ds6

THE WINNER OF THE BEST SPEAKER VIDEO CONTEST IS:

JOHN YOUNG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfbDgKHFfs0

What the judges appreciated about John’s video:  great energy, solid content, unique, relevant, high production quality, positions as an expert.

Congratulations John!

RUNNERS UP ARE:

Simon Bailey (commands the stage brilliantly)
http://www.youtube.com/brilliance777#p/a/u/0/veREsqHhUHg

Bill Stainton (Fun, unique, great energy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdUdKjzX2NY

Steve Shapiro (pulls us in)
http://www.vimeo.com/15265556

Michelle Ray (energy, audience engagement)
http://www.michelleray.com/demo.html

Kris Belcher (great funny stories, she’s real)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7UqrBYt4QY

Congratulations Runner’s Up!

And special thanks goes out to the panel, Joe Calloway and Robin Creasman, for their wisdom and expertise!

And, if you wonder why your video wasn’t selected, this post called “Video: You Might Lose Me If” might help. http://ow.ly/36WMI

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