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!

Have you picked your low hanging fruit?

While talking to a client the other day, we were brainstorming on how to “shake the trees” and see what she has not already capitalized on with her current client base.

Funny, she had at least 3 ideas of people she could follow up with about her new keynote, a training opportunity and product sales.

Where are your low hanging fruit?

Are there clients that you should have re-connected with?

When entering into a relationship with a speaking client, do you have a long term goal in mind?

One client has this type of sales stream:

• Someone reads his book
• Calls to book a speech for their group
• Group purchases books for entire audience
• Engagement leads to consulting contracts
• Consulting contracts include training and coaching
• Training sessions result in more product purchased
• And the whole thing goes round for each new client

Look at what picking one piece of low hanging fruit might produce!

Are you making the most of each connection with a client? Or are you ending the relationship once you leave the stage.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers.

PS: Club Quick Start is beginning another cycle (Cycle V) in September. If you are a new speaker, interested in following a strategic path to launching your business, check this out http://www.speakerlauncher.com/quickstart.html

Seasoned speakers: Interested in seeing another Club Catapult? http://www.speakerlauncher.com/clubcatapult.html (add yourself to the wait list)

What’s the New Normal in Speaking?

While traveling to Kansas City this past week, I noticed a new normal in air travel.

We pay extra for checked bags, we pay extra for carry on, we pay extra for aisle seats, we pay extra for snacks.

The new normal in air travel is “we might give you a cheap ticket but we’ll squeeze you everywhere else”.

In hotels it’s the opposite. Before, some hotels were nice and modern. Now many, if not most, boast awesome beds and sheets, flat screen tv’s and upgraded rooms. More and more have free wireless.

The new normal in hotels is that you have to be updated just to be average.

So what’s the new normal in speaking?

Before: Standing on a stage with good presentation skills and an engaging style was enough.

Now: Today’s audiences demand fresh, relevant content and WIIFM. If you haven’t taken the time to make it about them, you’ll lose them.

Before: Fees were on the rise and client’s pockets were deep.

Now: Clients are nervous about spending. You must demonstrate return on investment and value. And even then, you might still need to negotiate to win the business. (see my article “The Fee Factor” in Speaker Magazine for more on this). http://speakerlauncher.com/about.html

Before: Being great was a bonus for the client.

Now: If you’re not great, your audience will Tweet their boredom while sitting right in front of you. You need to combine solid content with powerful, engaging stories.

The new normal in speaking is that we have to stay sharp, we have to be unique, and our content must be moulded to the needs of our audience.

How do you measure up to the new normal?

Feel free to comment below…..

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

Firing Clients: Is it worth it?

I’m lucky to be in a business where I get paid before I do the work. There’s no waiting 30 or 60 days to receive a check. It’s all arranged up front before coaching is provided.

But this summer I had a new client who really couldn’t afford me and delayed payment for weeks after our initial session. After alot of rig-a- marole, when the payment did arrive, it was short.

This didn’t feel great to me.

A day later another new client package arrived by Fedex. This client had started the day before. He overnighted his book, the signed agreement and full payment.

Now this felt perfect.

Although I felt bad for my cash strapped customer, I am clear that two qualities of my perfect clients are: 1. That they pay gladly and 2. That they pay on time.

In fact, I have a long list of qualities of a perfect customer/coaching client. They include things like being fun to work with, taking action after each call, and not getting easily distracted (this is a tough one for most speakers).

I hope that you will strive to surround yourself with perfect clients as well. Here are a few questions to help you get the ball rolling:

1. What are the qualities of your perfect customer?
2. Who are the clients that you love to work with? And why?
3. Who are the clients that cause you the most work for the least reward?
4. Who do you need to let go of? Or fire?
5. If you should have done it a long time ago, what are you waiting for?

Now you might say that this is a pretty tricky economy to be speaking so loosely about firing clients. And you’re right.

But let me ask you this….if you are not willing to let imperfect clients go, how will you make space for clients who are perfect?

I believe that if you do the right thing, the Universe will support you.

ps:  Although I am currently on coaching sabbatical, I am doing these awesome ‘Focus 40′ sessions – they seem to be a hit! Check it out http://www.speakerlauncher.com/coaching.html

What’s Your “Book More Business” Strategy

I’ve been hearing some good news stories lately so I know that there is business out there!  This tip is designed to help you get out and get your share of the pie!

Here are some ideas to consider when planning your 12 month sales and marketing initiatives (because I know you HAVE a plan, right?)

1.  What expertise do you have that can help people through a difficult time?

Not all companies are in trouble right now, but the fall-out of this economy is wide reaching.  So how can you help?  How can you ease the pain? Bring those ideas forward in your marketing and that will help position you for success.

Read more

Does Your Preview Video Get You the Gig?

In some cases, the speaker booking process might
look something like this:

1.  The client decides they need a speaker.
2.  If they don’t already have someone in mind,
they shop around online based on the topic or call
a speaker’s bureau for suggestions.
3.  They view all of the speaker’s materials and
preview videos.
4.  They narrow their list and perhaps set up a
phone call with the 3 or so speakers who have made
the short list.
5.  Then they choose the speaker based on fee,
expertise, talent (as displayed on the video), and
the ability of the speaker to meet their needs.

In this scenario, a poor video could mean that you
don’t get past step 3.  You’re out before the
conference call which means you don’t even get
a shot at telling them how you would meet their
needs.

If your video keeps you in the running, then it’s
doing the job.

Does your video show how great you are?  If not,
you’ve got some work to do.

For those of you who own ‘The Wealthy Speaker’,
check out Chapter 4, for a full segment on video.
Here’s a link to the book if you need a copy:
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/tools.html

We recently did a teleclass with Robin Creasman
called Creating Your Rock Star Preview Video

To check out the MP3 of this class go to:
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/AudioTools.html

From 0 to 80 Gigs, Really?

A lot of people ask me if it’s really
possible to go from 0 to 80 engagements in
just a few years and the answer is ‘YES’!

How many people do it?  I’d put it around the
5% mark.

So what does it take to actually get there?

Well, I’m going to give you a formula, but we
also have an upcoming teleclass that will put
you together with someone who has done it
brilliantly in the past 3 years.

Consider these 3 questions when working
towards filling your calendar:

1.  Speech – How talented are you?

Without concrete platform skills, you will
not be able to succeed.  This business is NOT
all about marketing, it’s about speaking.
The people who happen to speak well AND
market well, come out at the top.

(I apologize if I’m beating this point to
death!)

2.  Strategy – How well do I ‘stay the
course’ and stick with my strategy?

If you’re the type of speaker who goes into
your office without any goal or list of
actions for moving your business forward
every day, then you are without strategy.

Develop your plan, know your plan, work your
plan and you will be more focused and less
likely to allow distractions to eat up your
entire day.

3.  Focus – When you are clear on what you
are selling, your clients have an easier time
buying. Without that focus, you have no place
to start and you’ll spin your wheels and
waste your precious marketing dollars.  If
you need help picking (or clarifying) your
lane, click here to check out your coaching
options:

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

4.  Consistency – How consistent is your
marketing?

When you develop and follow a marketing
calendar, you know that your prospects are
hearing from you on a regular basis.  This
keeps you top-of-mind for when the need for
your expertise arises.

Speech, strategy, focus and consistency are 4
keys to moving in the direction of 0 to 80
engagements per year.

And if you’d like to hear firsthand from
someone who has conquered the speaking
circuit in record time, join us for our next
teleclass:

Monday, November 26th at 2pm Eastern
Moving Quickly From 0 To 100 Gigs Per Year
With guest expert Steve Little.

Here’s the link to find out more
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.html

It’s Crazy Simple, But it Works

Sometimes we get so caught up in business
plans and websites and videos and blogs and
newsletters that we forget to do one of the
most basic marketing maneuvers.

Pick up the phone!!

Mark LeBlanc, the President of the National
Speakers Association spoke in Toronto
recently about the importance of consistency
of our outbound client calls.

Mark talked about calling just 1 prospect every
day.  Now, you may want to set your goal a
little higher.  That’s cool.  But if you pick
up that phone at LEAST one time every day,
things will happen.

It is crazy simple.

Ask yourself a couple of questions just to
see how you are doing:

1.  How many times in the past 7 days did I
pick up the phone (outbound) regarding new
business?

2.  When I spoke with my prospects, was I
clear about how I could help them?  (This
goes back to picking your lane, if you are
not clear, then your calls will be
ineffective).  See Chapter 3 in ‘The Wealthy
Speaker’ if you need help with this.

3.  How many of my calls were effective?  Do
I need to work on my approach, or my target
audience?

4.  If I didn’t make any calls, why not?
If you are busy speaking, that might be a
great reason, but consider whether or not
you are keeping your pipeline full for
future business.

Sometimes we need a little nudge to ensure
that we’re doing the basics consistently.  I
know this one is not rocket science so all of
you will be picking up that phone – at least
once – tomorrow… won’t you?

Happy dialing!!!

ps:  For articles on effective sales
check out the “booking speeches” section.

Is your website getting you booked?

Recently I was working with a
speaker whose website was about 6
years old. It had evolved and
changed over the years and had a
ton of information and many
options for the visitor.

But even though he was getting
huge amounts of traffic, the
website wasn’t working. He wasn’t
getting booked for speeches or
selling product.

Why? His buyers were getting
confused. There were too many
options and as I once heard it said
‘a confused buyer never buys’.

Many of us have arrived at this
same place, myself included.
My old site wasn’t as streamlined
as I wanted so I started from
scratch and it seems to be working.

Is your site working the way you
want it to? Is it getting you booked?

If not, you might be confusing your
buyers and you should map out the
exact process and outcomes that you
desire.

Here are 3 quick checks for your
website:

1. Is it focused? Can your buyers
tell within 15 seconds what it is
you do? If you list more than 3
topics, I suspect they are confused.

2. Your ‘promise’ should be clear
letting your buyers know the value
and outcomes right up front.

3. Are you positioning as an
expert or a speaker? Remember
Brian Palmer’s quote from my book
‘The Wealthy Speaker’ he said
‘clients no longer want to hire
speakers, they want to hire smart
people who happen to speak’,

4. There should be a call to
action – what steps do you want
them to take?

As technology becomes more complex,
every once in a while, we need to
stop and regroup to ensure that
we’re not confusing our customers.

Happy booking!

ps: Watch for my brand new
product ‘Diary of a Killer Keynote:
How to Develop and Deliver a
Keynote that Blows Them Away’ with
Joe Calloway.

I believe this DVD will be one of
most helpful tools that I ever produced
and I can’t wait.

Are you turning your clients off with your voice message?

I’m in the middle of a move of home and
office, so here’s a quick, bite size,
tip for you….

I returned a call to a speaker last week
and got his voice mail. What I heard
was disturbing.

‘Thank you for calling me, Joe Speaker,
I can help make your meeting memorable
cause I’m a really great speaker…..
blah, blah, blah, blah.’

I had to listen to 3 minutes of a sales
pitch before leaving my message! Yuck!

My question to you is this, when you are
putting your outbound message on your
office voice mail, are you setting
yourself up as an expert, or a speaker?

What are your clients hearing?

Remember what Brian Palmer of National
Speakers Bureau said in ‘The Wealthy
Speaker’, ‘clients no longer want to
hire speakers, they want to hire smart
people who happen to speak’.

Everything you do should be focused on
the value you deliver to your clients.
How you do it and the delivery channel
(in this case speaking) is secondary.

Personally, I like a voice mail to be
short and sweet – I don’t have time to
listen to 3 minutes of hoopla – and
chances are your clients don’t either.

Happy weekend everyone!

ps: If you want to know more about
positioning as an expert, pick up your
copy of ‘The Wealthy Speaker’ today,
here’s the link.

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

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