On a recent episode of Living Forward TV, I spoke about an easy and elegant way to market your business: engaging in meaningful and genuine conversations, instead of trying to sell or collect business cards.
When you connect with people on a deeper level, before you ever even talk about business, you create rapport and credibility and a way for them to truly get to know YOU, and to like you, and trust you.
And when people like you and trust you, they are much more likely to want to do business with you and to refer business to you.
In today’s article, I want to take this a step further. I want you to think about how you can create that same feeling, and comfort, in a way that impacts more people in a shorter amount of time.
Move from the middle of the room to the front of the room.
By being at the FRONT of the room as the featured speaker of an event, is in my opinion, THE fastest way to gain credibility & market your business, without a sales pitch!
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not changing what I talked about on Living Forward TV, the importance of quality one on one conversations is of utmost importance in building your tribe and creating that connection.
But… when you speak you become the expert. And when you are the expert, people seek you out to hire you.
A trip down memory lane…
When I first started my business, like most new entrepreneurs, my biggest challenge, and the main focus was getting clients and cash in the door. I was out networking several times a week, meeting as many people as I could.
And yet, I was struggling to attract my perfect clients, and to be completely vulnerable with you, it was heartbreaking to me, as an expert in my field, to watch others with less experience, knowledge and expertise easily enroll clients.
Perspective
In looking back now, I can take a 30,000-foot view and look at it with some perspective and reason, and I can clearly see why that was:
- While I may have had more experience in my field, they actually had been at it longer as an entrepreneur and therefore were established, with a brand, a name, a reputation.
- I was virtually unknown to my ideal client base. Most of my contacts were from my corporate days and while I certainly had credibility there, those were not my ideal clients.
- I made a lot of rookie mistakes when networking that really showed my lack of confidence as business owner and therefore undermined my credibility (a topic for another article)
- I was SO focused on getting clients in the door and money in the bank, that I wasn’t focusing on relationships.
Eventually, I started to enroll clients, however, it was SLOW, very slow. I knew I needed a better way to build my list, to get in front of people, to establish my credibility and to attract the people that I was meant to build relationships with.
Get Speaking – Get Clients!
Having seen so many different programs and products on crafting signature talks and attracting clients through speaking, I started to wonder if this would work for my business.
I didn’t need much convincing, every time I went to an event, I noticed that it didn’t matter what the topic was, the speaker, just by being at the front of the room, had instant credibility and those in the room, often wanted more, and were always seeking them out to talk to them!
This seemed like a much better way to build relationships and trust, than meeting people one cheesy elevator pitch at a time.
And it really was, it completely changed my business forever. My first talk added 50 people to my list, landed me with 30 discovery sessions and over 16K in revenue. I have never looked back, I have since built my business on speaking.
It’s the same for you
It doesn’t matter what business you are in, if you are the center of your brand, speaking is the best way to establish your expert status, elevate your brand, and become a celebrity and go-to authority in your niche.
Even if you have been in business a while, and are looking for your next step and next place to focus your marketing efforts speaking is the way to do it.
And just like we spoke about on Living Forward TV, you don’t need to worry about complicated marketing funnels, expensive advertising, or anything else that is complicated and costs a lot of money.
Speaking is another form of conversation. It’s a way to connect with your tribe, to show your expertise, to build trust and rapport, and to build quality relationships with the people you are meant to serve.
When you speak regularly, a waiting list of discovery sessions is inevitable. The clients will come to you. If you aren’t out there speaking already, my only question for you is
Why not?
Happy Bookings
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