This is my guiding principle, which I came up with after years of seeking to convince people to hire me to speak. I obtained more speaking engagements than I ever had before when I stopped trying to sell them and started selling my knowledge in as many different ways as possible. The idea is that more people can get what you know in the form of books, tapes, CDs, Apps, and videos than could ever pay to employ you to speak. Because the people who might hire you have already heard you and your message through your knowledge-based products, speaking engagements are considerably easier to come by.
A speakers bureau is a for-profit company that finds speakers for paying customers. A percentage of your gross fee is usually taken by the speakers bureau. The amount is normally between 15 and 30 percent, with a 25 percent average cost. Unless you are a true celebrity with hefty fees, it is difficult to get started with speakers bureaus. Keep in mind that they are paid on a pure commission basis, and the bigger your fee, the more money they make.
Furthermore, unless you have a track record, a speakers bureau will be
hesitant to put you in front of one of their clients because if you fail, they risk losing many more bookings from the same client. You must also provide the bureau with
promotional materials that do not include your contact information so that anyone who sees it contacts the bureau directly rather than you.
To attract clients, many
professionals speak or provide free public lectures. Attorneys, physicians, dentists, accountants, real estate agents, lawyers, home builders, and many other professionals hold seminars to advertise their businesses and get clients. You must not spend the entire lecture advertising oneself in order to do this properly. You must provide useful information to the attendees with the goal of presenting yourself or your firm as an authority. There's nothing wrong with showing people how difficult things are, even if they can do it themselves. However, it's not always a good idea. You may be a plumber, for example, delivering a session on how to rebuild your
bathroom.
You inform the participants every last detail about how to execute it, as well as the dangers that await them if they get it wrong. No one will object that you were simply making a sales pitch, but many may wonder aloud, "Perhaps this is too much for me to handle on my own. Perhaps I should engage this guy to either assist me or complete the task for me."
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