Table of Contents

 Using This E-Book ………………………………………………………..  1

Acknowledgements ….……………………….…………………………...  2

Foreword ………………………………………………………………….  4

Introduction ……………………………………………………………….  6

About the Authors ………………………………………………………..   8

Table of Contents ………………………………………………………… 10

 1 – The Speaking Business ………………………………………………. 17

 2 – What Makes You a Professional Speaker? …………………………  26

 3 – The Business of Speaking ……………………………………………. 31

4 – How the Economy Affects the Speaking Business ………………….  45

5 – The Speaker’s Office ………………………………………………… 50

6 – Types of Speakers ……………………………………………………. 63

7 – Types of Presentations ……………………………………………….. 71

8 – Accessories and Props ………………………………………………..  78

9 – Pricing Your Presentation …………………………………………...    80

10 – Practice and Free Speeches ………………………………………...  90

11 – What a Decision Maker Expects from a Speaker ………………...   93

12 – Working with Speakers Bureaus …………………………………..   99

13 – How Speakers Bureaus Rate Speakers ……………………………  116

14 – Sales and Marketing: Prospects and Clients ………………………  120

15 – Marketing to Speakers Bureaus …………………………………… 137

16 – Creating Effective Marketing Material ……………………………  146

17 – Important Factors to Consider When Accepting a Booking ……..     164

18 – Travel Arrangements ……………………………………………….  170

19 – Payments and Travel Expenses …………………………………….  174

20 – Your Booking Contract ……………………………………………..   177

21 – Creating Products …………………………………………………...  187

22 – Check Lists ………………………………………………………….. 194

23 – Best Practices of Professional Speakers …………………………… 195

24 – The Speaker’s Life ………………………………………………….  215

25 – Summary …………………………………………………………….  224

Glossary …………………………………………………………………..  228

 Comments ………………………………………………………………...  237

 Supplement A – NSA and Chapters …………………………………….    238

 Supplement B – Marketing Checklist …………………………………..   243

 Supplement C – Sample Contract ……………………………………….   248

 Supplement D – Questionnaire ………………………………………….   249

 Supplement E – Customizer – Speech …………………………………..   250

 Supplement F – Customizer – Training …………………………………    254

 Supplement G – Packing List ……………………………………………   258

 Supplement H – Travel Expense ………………………………………...  260

 Supplement I – Speaker Evaluation …………………………………….   261

 Supplement J – Proposal – Get Along – Conflict ………………………    262

 

Chapter 1

The Speaking Business

 

 

There is a definite art to the speaking business and it also involves true focus and discipline. It is a glorious, wonderful, and unique business. But anyone who ever tells you that becoming a speaker is easy...well, check their bank account and their level of experience. This e-book is structured to give newer speakers an insight into what is needed to become a thriving professional speaker and  to also provide a tremendous amount of practical, useable information. In addition, this e-book suggests some reminders and extra possibilities for the more seasoned speaker to help them increase their income.

Once you understand the various elements involved, we pull it all together in Chapter 24, The Speaker's Life. IF YOU ARE A READER WHO LOVES TO SKIP AROUND, DO NOT MISS READING THAT CHAPTER! In Chapter 24, we dive into the details of bringing this information into one cohesive message so you can lay a solid foundation to become a successful professional speaker (emphasis on successful!). We do not pull any punches. Instead, we reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly of the real business of speaking. It is a colorful and rewarding business, both emotionally and financially. However, first and foremost, it is a business and you need to run your speaking business as a business! And that, dear speaker, is the secret to long-term success!

The speaking business has been estimated to be a 1ฝ -billion dollar business. While it is a relatively large business, the money is not equally distributed among speakers. If you are just beginning, it is probably best not to quit your present day job until you have proven to yourself that you can make it.

That being said, most speakers’ successes are due to reasons other than simply their knowledge and presentation skills. Over the years we have been in business, we have had a lot of really talented and not so talented speakers come to us and simply say,

“I’m a great speaker. A lot of people who have heard me say how great I am. I want you to book me through your bureau!”

Some are not so blatant and end their short dissertation by asking, “…so what do I have to do to have you book me?”

In order to answer these types of questions, this book was created. It contains just about everything you need to succeed in the business of speaking, both on your own and with speakers bureaus. This book does not contain information on the presentation skills aspect of speaking. We’ll be focusing on the business side of the speaking business.

This book assumes that your presentation skills are already very good. If otherwise, we can provide resources to improve your presentation skills. Go to the following web address: http://www.goldstars.com/products/presentation_skills.html.

Statistics on the Speaking Profession

The National Speakers Association is the largest association of speakers in the world with thousands of members. The following is a collection of statistics about their members in 2007 based on a survey about 2006. It is reprinted here with their permission. We understand that these statistics will change over time, so take this as a general overview.

Age:

20%     below 45

74%     between 45 and 65

52                average age of member

 

Sex:

            53%     male

            47%     female

 

Education:

            Most    college degrees

            30%     masters degree

            14%     doctorate degree

 

Years Professional Speaking:

            1.2%    Less than 1 year

            3.4%    1-2 years

            14.1%  3-5 years

            20.3%  6-10 years

            38.1%  11-20 years

            22.8%  21 or more years

 

Publishing:

            70%     have published a book

            51%     exclusively self-published

            17%     exclusively used a commercial publisher

            31%     both self-published and used commercial publisher

 

Types of Engagements (in order of frequency):

Seminar

Training

Breakout session

Keynote

Consulting

Coaching

Facilitating

Retreat

Entertainment

Virtual teleseminars

Virtual webinars

 

Keynote Fees:

            1.4%    $500 or less

            2.0%    $501 - $1,000

            9.4%    $1,001 - $2,000

            47.4%  $2,001 - $5,000

            34.7%  $5,001 - $10,000

            5.2%    more than $10,000

            $5,000 average fee

 

Income:

            14.8%  less then $25,000

            10.6%  $25,000 - $50,000

            12.4%  $50,001 - $75,000

            12.8%  $75,001 - $100,000

            23.8%  $100,001 - $200,000

            15.8%  $200,001 - $500,000

            9.9%    more than $500,001

            $177,000  average income

 

Business Operation:

            82.4%  home office

            15.9%  outside home leased office space

            1.7%    outside home virtual/shared office space

 

Outsourced Services:

73.2%  Printing

72.9%  Website Work

70.0%  Graphic Design

51.9%  CD Production

46.8%  Accounting

26.3%  PR/Marketing

21.5%  Administrative

17.1%  Travel Arrangements

14.3%  Writing

8.6%    Product Sales & Distribution

8.4%    Sales of Speaking Services

7.0%    Research... to be continued...

 

Chapter 3

The Business of Speaking

 

 

Starting a Business

You should not think of yourself as being a speaker who happens to be in business. We cannot stress this enough. You are a business, a part of which includes the speeches and training that you deliver. And you are an expert who speaks as part of his business.

Why is this important? The speaking part of the business can easily go to your head. It is such a high-energy, exciting, turn-on experience. You get up on a platform in front of an audience, give your speech, and then receive accolades and standing ovations. In time, you may start to think that whatever you do is acceptable. After all, your audiences love you. However, in the business world, you need to run the business like a business. If you do not, then your business is going to hurt as problems begin to mount.

SECRET: Speaking is only the final delivery of the goods. The business encompasses telephone reception, marketing, sales, proposals, contracts, invoicing, logistics, program preparation, travel arrangements, travel, product development, product sales, product fulfillment, bookkeeping, and dozens of other tasks that are required. All these are critical to your success as a speaker.

Know Every Job

This is your business. As such, it is important that you know how to do every job, or at least be aware of the core elements related to your business tasks. Even if you are immediately successful or can hire people because you have a lot of financial resources, you need to know how to do everything—or at least to know how things are being done. You see, if you do not know everything, you will not know how to tell people to run a particular program or how to solve a tough situation. You will not know if they are doing a good job or not.

This becomes critical as you become more successful and have to hire more people to support you. Regardless of their knowledge or skill level, you will have to show them how you want them to do every single job. Otherwise, they will do it their way, which may not be what you want or what the client or IRS will accept.

Becoming a Professional Speaker

SECRET: As soon as you consider yourself a professional speaker and have been paid for a speech, you are running a business. As a business, you need to have a business plan. You also need a marketing plan. It could be a simple plan or something very elaborate. In either case, you need to create these two plans.

Of course, there are many speakers who have succeeded without these plans. In our opinion, they have taken the more difficult road to success. You see, these two plans will clearly outline how you will run your business and how you will market yourself.

These plans need to up updated every year. Each year, as changes occur, you will be faced with new opportunities and challenges. There will be new technologies to consider, changes in the economy, and new ideas which you have discovered. These need to be taken into account to help evolve your business. Create some metrics to measure the success of your business over time. If your business is not improving, it is probably on a downward journey.

Some Additional Thoughts

Choosing the path of a speaker often implies a particular lifestyle. As technology further influences the meetings industry, a great many things may change. But for now, the lifestyle of a speaker implies a great deal of travel. You need to ask yourself some hard questions if you are new to the speaking world:

 

Chapter 12

Working with Speakers Bureaus

 

 

Many speakers misunderstand the role of the speakers bureau in their “portfolio.” We like to say that speakers bureaus to a speaker are normally like icing on the cake. It normally should not the primary goal of a speaker, to focus an inordinate amount of time and effort on marketing to speakers bureaus. Consider the bookings from a bureau as extra income, but not as your main source of income. We know that sounds funny, coming from a speakers bureau. However, the main point is to help you establish a balance in how you view bureaus and their roles (if any) in your business life. It works both ways, too. A bureau needs qualified speakers, because speakers are the “product,” so to speak.

SECRET: It is paramount that you understand the protocols in working with bureaus, if you wish to be successful in establishing a solid relationship with them.

That being said, speakers bureaus are a fantastic source of additional business you would not have had. Bureaus may give you an entr้e into industries or companies you may never had dreamed could be a match or grand opportunities that you might never have considered or obtained on your own. For a select few speakers, usually very accomplished ones, bureaus are their main source of bookings. Bureaus have helped launch some speakers into new directions and to help speakers to travel (or to cruise!) to terrific locations worldwide, because of their reach and relationships. One of the best advantages is getting business you would not have had, at a relatively low marketing cost – the cost of the commission to that bureau. And for that commission, the bureau will handle not only the marketing aspect, but normally also the agreement and collections elements of a booking transaction.

Sometimes, there can be a strained or stressful relationship, perhaps some antagonism, between speakers and speakers bureaus. This saddens us when we observe this. We want to tell you that this does not have to be the case.  We have incredible solid friendships with many speakers, as do numerous other bureaus. Our observations are that this misperception usually comes from false expectations or misunderstandings about how bureaus operate. We have heard occasionally these types of complaints from speakers:

“Why don’t you book me?” or the similar version, “Why don’t you book me more often?”

“Why don’t you list me on your website?”

“I am already working with that client. You cannot book me for them.”

“What’s the purpose of bureau-friendly materials? We all know prospects and clients can use search engines if they want to find us.”

Let us put some of these misconceptions to rest now. You see, a speakers bureau is marketing you with no promise of any reward until they have booked you. If you hire a marketing person, you will be paying for their services, whether they book you or not. Mark Victor Hansen once said that the commission a speakers bureau charges is cheap. In his organization at an earlier time in his career, marketing costs could be up to nearly half of his income.

Along these lines of thinking, there is an excellent compact book called “Working with Speakers Bureaus” by Bryan Townsend. Bryan is an experienced speaker who put together a great collection of what to expect from a speakers bureau, and what they expect from a speaker. It contains a great deal of information, including comments and insights from other professional speakers and other speakers bureaus. You can say that it is a bible of how to work with a speakers bureau. We would recommend that you get this book for yourself if you wish to work with bureaus, to get a quick insight into some protocols and expectations. If you would like to purchase a copy from us, please click the following: http://www.goldstars.com/products/005.html. We also would like to include the following very pertinent points here, from our point of view:

 

Chapter 14

Sales and Marketing: Prospects and Clients

 

 

You are a speaker in search of an audience. Marketing entails everything you do to get prospects to take an interest in you, to educate them so they understand what you offer, and to become interested in hiring you. This chapter will give you an overview and special tips in your quest to obtain paid speaking engagements for yourself.

Your Overall Strategy

As in any business, you need to create a Business Plan, and also a Marketing Plan. You will need to define what your purpose is and also how you will measure success in this business (by the amount you earn in a given period, or by reaching certain numbers of people, etc.). In the process of creating these plans, you will also need to identify what you are offering. You will then want to identify and target your market. Then you will need to figure out how to reach your universe of prospects (considering spinoff and repeat business, free presentations, newsletters, emails, blogs, websites, showcases, social networking, articles books, media appearances, etc.). Spend time on this and create a strong foundation for your speaking business.

If you are already speaking, skip the first section of this chapter and skip down to the Directories of Meeting Planners section.

If you are just starting out, it is best to start by giving free speeches. This gives you several things very quickly:

Finding Free Speaking Prospects

Begin with a list of civic groups, service clubs, and community groups. The following list includes a sampling of the groups you can market to:

In addition, Toastmasters is a nonprofit club for those who wish to improve their communication skills. It is not geared mainly to professional speakers. However, it is another forum where you can practice, and get feedback. There are may very successful professional speaker who belong to Toastmasters.

Evaluating Your Free Speech

We would recommend that you ask for an evaluation from the attendees when you give a free speech. It is a quick way to get some feedback and perhaps earn a few testimonials. A sample Speaker Evaluation Form for gauging a presentation is found in Supplement I at the back of this book. Please customize it for your own purpose.

SECRET: Some speakers and trainers receive practical experience speaking, teaching or training in the capacity of their current or former jobs. In these cases, these people may be able to bypass the “free” speech avenue. However, we still recommend giving these speeches whenever you are testing new material.

Finding Prospects

One of the most common and important questions we have heard from newer speakers is, “How do I find the groups who use speakers?” One simple way to find prospects early on in your speaking career is to look for newspaper articles that feature a speaker coming to... to be continued...

 

Chapter 15

Marketing to Speakers Bureaus

 

 

Attention new, relatively new and experienced speakers! Do not get discouraged if it becomes a little (or a lot) difficult to have a speakers bureau preview your video demo, accept your material and/or start recommending you to their clients. Remember, their database is already full of speakers, many of whom probably speak on the same topics as you do.

SECRET: Whatever bad experiences you may have had in the past, say like they say it in New York, “Fuhgeddaboudit!” Just do not give up. One day they may be clamoring for you as the next rising star. In fact, once you are in, they may be your greatest independent supporter.

What to Expect From a Speakers Bureau

There are hundreds of speakers bureaus located in America alone. If half of them would book you once a year, your career would be made. Unfortunately, that is probably not going to happen. In fact, attempting to be known by every speakers bureau is a waste of your energy, resources, and time. Instead, you should consider focusing on a few select speakers bureaus and build a relationship with them.

Do not expect a speakers bureau or a group of speakers bureaus to make your career. In general, a speakers bureau is usually only responsible for a small percentage of your bookings. The rest has to be done through your own efforts or through the efforts of any marketing person you may have hired. Normally, no one can sell you as well as you can sell yourself because you’re the one who really knows your material and what you can do!

As Andrea often tells speakers, “see bureau bookings as icing on the cake.” Of course, there are a few speakers that credit almost all their bookings through speakers bureaus. These, however, are the exception. It is your own efforts and any resulting referrals from your own efforts that will secure for you most of your bookings.

When to Call and When Not to Call – Your Friendly Speakers Bureau

To assess the most ideal approach, look on the bureau’s website to see if they have information on how to contact them. If there are instructions, you should follow them. If you do not like what you see, then you should not approach that particular bureau; do not challenge the bureau about their policies.

Unless someone at a speakers bureau has initiated a call to you, it is not advisable to just pick up the phone and call them. We have mentioned this point earlier in this book, but it is important enough to reiterate. If you do call, you will possibly be quickly put off and you may be offended. You should not expect to speak to a salesperson or to one of the principals of the business unless it is a smaller bureau. If you do get to talk to them, you may be disappointed if you are told that they do not have time for a conversation.

For example, Andrea and her sales team get a great deal of phone calls in the course of a day, many from speakers who wish to be listed with the bureau and also from speakers already listed with the bureau who wish to connect and to update them about their current work. As much as Andrea and the sales reps would like to accommodate everyone’s calls, if they did, they would have little time to market their services (and that includes the speakers!).

Of course, if the bureau calls you, that is another story. Then they expect you to return their call quickly. You see, they are often competing with others who are vying for the client’s attention with various proposals. Your lack of a speedy response may not only mean that the speakers bureau will not have a chance to book you, but they also might lose the booking altogether. It also reflects poorly on the bureau if they cannot respond with requested information within a reasonable period of time. So the rule is simple. Don’t call a speakers bureau, unsolicited, to market yourself. If they call you, then call them back as soon as possible. It sounds inequitable, but now you understand the logic behind this general rule of thumb.

By the same token, if a bureau asks for your marketing material or to update your information, please help them to do so as quickly as you possibly can. They often are in the middle of a proposal and need certain current information now. However, that does not imply that you should take over the conversation and begin an entire marketing discussion with them. Simply provide what they ask for, ask if they need anything else, and thank them for thinking of you.

What Happens at a Speakers Bureau

To help you further understand the behavior at speakers bureaus and to put the relationship between speakers and speakers bureaus into perspective, imagine yourself temporarily wearing the shoes of an owner of a speakers bureau business. The survival and ultimate success of your business depends on your salespeople being on the phone or on email, constantly communicating with and writing to prospects and client, in addition to reading incoming emails and generating agreements. In a nutshell, your salespeople have to find clients with current meeting needs, assess their specific speaker needs, search their vast database for the best speaker matches, then format that information and send it in proposal form to the client. It is rare that speakers bureaus are order takers. In most cases, when you wear the hat of a bureau, you are busy creating original proposals customized just to that client and offering the best speaker choices for them... to be continued...

 

Chapter 21

Creating Products

 

 

Repurposing Your Speech

An enormous amount of information can be shared on creating products. That is an understatement! We have listed here a few ideas to get you going and expand your thinking. This chapter alone will pay for this e-book perhaps thousands of times over its actual cost – if you act on just a few of these ideas.

Now we know that you are probably wondering where we are coming from when we discuss products, books, publishing, and product sales. Well, here are a few background points:

As a speaker, you may simply see yourself as a speaker, giving speeches. However, your speeches are really a gold mine. They can be used to create a tremendous product base, which can be used to reach more people and also increase your income. We call this repurposing your speech.

SECRET: This chapter will give you ideas and tips to truly achieve the title of this e-book, proven secrets to becoming a million dollar speaker. The business of speaking entails more than simply addressing a group of people. Think bigger! And reach more globally…who really is your market? It surely is not just the people in that one audience?

Turn your presentation material into multiple streams of income in addition to sharing your valuable information in numerous formats. You are an expert with useful information to share, whether it helps motivate people to perform better, gives specific tips, provides valuable information that they can apply for their own increased success…and the list goes on! We love this section. It is so exciting and the possibilities are truly endless. Here are a few things, some of which we have already discussed, that you can do to repurpose your speeches:

Click here to return to The Business of Speaking.