Money Talks: How to Use Public Speaking to Attract New Clients

When Robert Middleton moved his marketing consulting practice, Action Plan Marketing, to Palo Alto, California several years ago, he started his business from scratch. He had left his well-established client base several miles away and now had to find strategies to generate new clients.

Because Middleton had always spoken to promote his business, he turned to public speaking with a vengeance. He researched local organizations whose members comprised professional business owners, his target clientele. He called chambers of commerce, business groups and others likely to be interested in his three-hour marketing workshop.

Within a few months, Middleton had spoken at over a dozen organizations, establishing his reputation as a marketing expert for professional service firms. He quickly became a known entity, having personally introduced his business and credentials to hundreds of prospects.

Better yet, Middleton's speaking strategy helped him land all the business he could handle in a relatively short time period.

Over the course of sixteen talks, he averaged one new client each time. Today, the seminars he conducts at business groups and, increasingly, teleconferences promoted through his web site (www.actionplan.com) generate more than 50 percent of his business.

Speaking Is Selling

Many business people never consider standing in the front of their buying public to share professional wisdom. If you're one of them, you're missing the boat.

Speaking is a marketing strategy you can immediately embrace to get in front of potential customers. Speaking puts you within handshaking distance of your best prospects, many times helping you close sales before you leave the room.

By speaking regularly you can end the uncertainty of knowing where your next client will come from. Speaking can help you reach dozens, and sometimes hundreds of your best prospects every time. Speakers report that speaking regularly continuously fills their prospect pipelines, ensuring a steady stream of new clients and customers.

Speaking is effective because it showcases your knowledge before groups of people who eagerly show up to hear it. Your prospects may tune out advertising, but they'll pay attention to your talk because it presents your knowledge in polished form to people who think it will help them.

Speaking gives you tremendous visibility and credibility that increases over time. Whenever you are in the front of a room, you get noticed. People will remember who you are and what your business does. The more people see you speak and see your business name, the more successful people think you are.

Speaking gives prospects a taste of what you offer in a non-threatening environment. When they are in a room full of people, they feel comfortable. There's safety in numbers. They do not feel the sales pressure of a one-on-one meeting. It's also low risk, as chances are, they didn't pay as much to hear you speak, as it would cost to hire you.

People hire caterers because they see them doing a cooking class. They learn about business coaches when they give a presentation at a Chamber of Commerce hire professional therapists after hearing them speak at civic groups.

The trick is talking about what you know and helping listeners solve problems. Choose topics based on your business that solve common problems related to your prospects. Give them a taste of what you can offer and prospects will eventually want more.

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