Want to Get Clients Right Away? “Speak” Your Way to Success!

When you’re starting a new business or re-branding an existing one, there’s always the question of which marketing techniques you put your energy into first. Because you are offering something new, you need to begin to fill your pipeline right away.

There are many effective ways to do this, but some are a slower build than others, for example on-line marketing. On-line marketing is a great way to build a large business long term, as well as to take advantage of the world market.

But it’s not great for getting clients right away. Here’s why: your ideal clients will only hire you once they feel as though they like you, know you, and trust you. It’s actually called “the like/know/trust factor” in the marketing world.

It takes a while using on-line marketing techniques to build that like/know/trust factor enough to get clients. When you want clients right away, you need to use marketing strategies that build it as quickly as possible.

That’s where speaking comes in. There is absolutely nothing that builds the LKT factor more quickly than meeting your ideal clients face-to-face. And beyond that, it builds even faster when you have the opportunity to offer value and showcase your expertise for 30-60 minutes, as in a speaking opportunity.

In other words, face-to-face networking is great, but speaking is better!

Many people have a fear of speaking in front of others. In fact, it’s been proven to be the #1 fear in the world. Dying is the #2 fear. Which means people would rather die than speak in front of a group!

Here’s the 3-part formula to overcoming that fear: courage, preparation and practice: Have the courage to do it in spite of your fear, be 100% prepared for your talk, and then just do it . . . and keep doing it.

If you follow that formula, your fear will gradually subside and then almost complete disappear after a number of speaking engagements.

Here’s another comforting thought: many speaking opportunities are in front of groups of about 10-30 people. You don’t have to start in front of a large group. You can work your way up as you gain confidence and master your fear.

If you feel as though you need an “in-between” strategy to break through your fear, try Toastmasters. Just a word of caution about Toastmasters: Their focus is on speaking well, not on speaking to sell your services.

Speaking to get clients is a whole different ballgame, so be sure and learn how to deliver a speech that will actually get you clients. I’ve included several tips on that below.

Ok. You’ve mustered your courage, you’re committed to practicing, now: how do you prepare? Here are 5 tips to help you be ready to stand up and speak your way to success:

1. Decide exactly what action you want your audience to take at the end of your speech (e.g. your “upsell”), and then reverse engineer your speech so it creates a desire in them to take that action.
2. “Seed” your talk throughout with the benefits of taking that action.
3. Don’t write your speech word for word and memorize it. If you forget where you are, it’s very difficult to recover. Instead, create an outline with notes on index cards that “prompt” you to speak around a topic. Memorize the topic, then simply speak about it in whatever words come to you.
4. Practice your speech over and over again in front of your dog, your mirror, or an empty room, until you feel comfortable delivering it. Time it each time. Make sure it fits into the time frame you’ve been given for the talk.
5. Have the following ready for your contact person ahead of time: A speaking bio, a headshot of you, and promotional copy for your speech so they can promote it effectively.

Also, many groups request that you bring a question around your topic for their group to discuss before your presentation, so be sure and have that prepared as well.

These tips will get you well on your way to getting those ideal clients, quickly. If you have your market, niche and branding well defined, you’ll know exactly where to find them. In addition, a good place to start is www.meetup.com

Good luck with your speaking, and remember to have fun too!