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Over the last two years, we’ve been sharing the systems we discover that have allowed speakers to do things they previously thought were impossible: -Predict revenue from keynotes we haven’t…

One of the reasons I love this industry is that it's so easy to level the playing field. If we want to get more gigs or compete with speakers who…

We’ve spent a lot of time showing speakers how to find, qualify and reach out to folks who can hire them to speak. Unfortunately, even after all that work, prospects…

There’s a term in gambling called ‘stacking the deck.’ It’s when a player arranges playing cards in such a way as to guarantee themselves a winning hand, even when playing…

In today’s world, audiences are looking for more from their speakers than just great stories or insightful points – they’re expecting to be taken on a journey that they get…

If you’re looking for something to set you apart from other speakers, no matter how long you’ve been speaking, whether you have best-selling books or an international brand, there’s one…

One of the biggest myths in the professional speaking industry is the idea that you have to ‘niche to get rich’, also stated as ‘the riches are in the niches.’…

  There’s a famous saying in sales, that salespeople should always be reciting their ABCs -  ‘Always Be Closing’. Unfortunately, it leaves off the precursor to any sale – and…

Every organization has a slightly different way of hiring a speaker, because every organization is unique and has unique challenges they need solved. However, something that is becoming more common…

When we have too many things we could be doing to get in front of people who can hire us to speak, it’s easy to do none of them. How…

Taking initiative on your speaking business means taking the initiative on your revenue. That looks like researching prospects, reaching out to them and starting conversations rather than waiting for them…

I was monitoring an online thread in a professional speaking group recently, and someone asked,  “What are everyone’s payment terms?” That’s a smart question. The responses, however, weren’t. More than…

If you’re taking the initiative on your speaking business and your sales, you’re going to run into objections. Objections in why someone should hire you, why they should pay you…

In the world of sales, there’s a coveted title called ‘rainmaker.’ These are the folks who make it rain sales, but there’s more to it than that. They’re the people…

For many speakers, they approach reaching out to people with the mentality that they have to earn their way onto the stage. They have to earn their way into a…

Most speakers are dedicated to ensuring folks know their name, thinking that’s going to be the secret to getting on more stages. By doing this, they miss one of the…

  People buy from people, and when we’re dealing with folks organizing the types of events that bring in speakers, we need to understand that everyone has a lot going…

It’s scary to pick up the phone and speak to a stranger who didn’t expect your call. But what if it could be you who was qualifying them? What if…

For more than a year, we’ve been focused on sales systems for speakers, because we’ve learned that unless we’re running a good business, we won’t have many chances to share…

Setting keynote fees has always been a tricky issue for speakers, because what we offer – expertise communicated professionally – is a service. To add to the difficulty in setting…

If you’ve taken the monumental step of researching places to speak and reaching out to folks who may be able to hire you, you could still unwittingly set your speaking…

While we’ve focused almost exclusively on sales systems in past podcasts and articles, the sheer amount of things we could be doing in sales – let alone in other areas…

Whether a speaker is just getting their business started or has been in business for decades, there will come a time when they’ll have to consider speaking for free. This…

If you’ve been following our work at Speaker Sales Systems over the last year, then you know we advocate taking the initiative on our speaking businesses – and that means…

For professional speakers, the toughest part of a sales process is often not getting a conversation, or even talking about fees. Instead, the toughest part for many speakers is what…

Speakers are great at using their career milestones when asked ‘what do you do?’ or ‘why should I hire you?’ They’ll rattle off things like number of speeches given, number…

Speakers are beginning to realize that if they’re not filling their calendars with conversations with people who can say ‘Yes’, they’re guaranteeing their speaking calendars remain empty as well. There…

Speakers who wait for the phone to ring and inbound inquiries to show up in their email accounts were living in a glass house - a house that was just…

When someone decides to be a professional speaker, they rarely have experience running their own business, and ever fewer have insight into the business model of professional speaking. This means…

As more and more speakers move to virtual presentations, the most common (and difficult) question that comes up is: What should my ‘virtual fee’ be? The answers to that question…

When we look at the most critical step of the sales process professional speakers engage in, there isn’t one – but there usually is only one document during the sales…

Many speakers are moving their live events to virtual platforms, and unfortunately are making the same mistakes (and some new ones) in using their systems to generate sales. Virtual platforms…

If you are a professional speaker who understands that in order for your business to be in your hands, then you’re a speaker who’s conducting outreach. Whether that looks like…

In the world of sales, there’s an old saying that a salesperson should constantly be practicing their ‘ABCs’ – as in, ‘Always Be Closing.’ That might work in industries where…

Whether we are running a speaking business in a COVID-19 world where events are shut down, or whether we’re running a business when events are actively looking for speakers to…

During the industry-wide shutdown of the events we planned on, speakers are falling into two main camps: 1. Those who are hunkering down, retracting and weathering out the storm while…

For speakers, there’s no lack of things they can do to build their businesses, and the options can get overwhelming: Create and practice the keynote. Build the online course. Write…

Stop Selling Your Keynote Speech If you’re reading this, you may never be a ‘celebrity speaker’ (unless you’re Bill Clinton - and if you are, what’s up, my man??). Yet,…

In the midst of an industry-wide shut-down, what can speakers do to ensure their businesses survive and be ready to ramp back up when live events that need speakers finally…

Speakers’ very skillset is often the same thing that kills their sales. What is the very thing that gets speakers paid and also prevents them getting gigs? They talk too…

Email. Bane of our lives and lifeline. But for professional speakers, email may be doing more harm for our business than good. Why is that, how do we choose which…

There’s something that scares most people enough that it rates above ‘death’ as the #1 fear. And that’s presenting in front of other adults. Among those who can present in…

If you’ve taken the brave step to take control of your speaking business and are actually conducting outreach to folks who could hire you, congratulations. You’re in the top 1%…

At speaker sales systems, we’re all about systemizing success to increase our impact and income in the speaking business. But there’s something many speakers do along the way that destroys…

Because we’re all about sales, we’re all about sales conversations. And as it’s said, “the one who controls the questions controls the conversation.” There are a lot of great questions…

One of the most contentious issues among professional speakers is whether or not to customize their talks. Having discussed this with speakers in the past, I find we all tend…

While we’ve discussed the value of sticking around after a talk to generate more business, there’s something a lot of speakers could be doing to generate more revenue for their…

This week, we’re focusing on an important part of the selling process, and it’s what happens after the sale is made. If you offered your client something in the sales…

In the world of speaking, we’re asking event planners, executive directors, CEOs and business executives for thousands of dollars to solve specific problems they (and their people) face. Interestingly, we…

In part 1 of this series, we explored how important it is to stop seeing (and selling) yourself as a keynote speaker, author or consultant. Instead, we went over how…

We’ve shared it before, but it bears repeating: Stop selling speeches. Start selling solutions. We’ve covered why every professional speaker should stop selling speeches, but we’ve never dived into how…

The biggest challenge speakers have is not killing it on the stage in front of thousands. For many, it’s having a 1:1 conversation with someone that’s never heard of them,…

There’s a myth in the speaking world about how to state fees to prospects that is taught by many coaches, you’re likely using it, and it’s forcing you to make…

When it comes to running a speaking business, most speakers focus on the wrong questions: How to improve stories, concluding remarks, or stage presence – or the value of their…

It’s a fact – the best salespeople in the world, in any industry, don’t remain that way by resting on their laurels. One of the things we credit to our…

A method more and more organizations are using to select speakers is the 'RFP' (request for proposal) or 'call for speaker.' If you've ever taken time to submit one of…

A lot of speakers pride themselves on being able to be on an airplane an hour after they leave the stage and never think of that gig again. At Speaker…

There’s one thing that will make a meeting planner, executive director or CEO round-file a speaker, and one thing that prevents it. Unfortunately, it’s what speakers think they’re great at…

We’ve spoken many times about the value of omni-channel marketing. As a refresher, it’s the strategy of using electronic, print and other mediums to deliver your messaging through in order…

If you’re judging the success of your speaking business by how many gigs you’re booking, you’re destined to living in feast or famine. You’re also running the business model that…

There’s a time of year when it’s socially acceptable to watch movies about being killing one another – and we at Speaker Sales Systems find that strange because there’s a…

If you’ve been following this series, then you’re getting great idea for generating more sales in your speaking business. Where did these lessons come from? They came from the money…

It’s bound to happen at some point – someone that a speaker is trying to contact will stop talking to them. This happens for a variety of reasons. Here are…

We’re leading this week’s content with a heck of a promise – if you implement what you learn here, you’ll never lose a speaking sale again. To deliver on that…

Want to know the one question that will shut up many speakers (and most entrepreneurs)? “How much did you keep from that last gig?” Whoa. It’s easy to remember what…

Wait - No fees? How do you make money? Hold on a minute - because there's a lesson here that will make you so much more money. Why would we not…

If you’re a speaker and have money to spend, there are people happy to sell you a list of ‘prospects’ - or the search engines to do so. “Folks who…

Reaching out to folks is scary - no doubt about it. You're an interruption in their schedule. You're time they didn't plan on spending, and on an issue they didn't…

One of the biggest challenges speakers have when they begin using systems to generate sales is not managing systems - it's managing prospects. And that's because not all speaking prospects…

Maybe you’re still waiting for that TEDx logo on your website or the New York Times Bestseller.  That’s why you’re not making the high speaking fees you deserve, right? Wrong.…

What would it be like if you had an army of decision makers out there marketing for you? For most speakers, it takes decades to grow those relationships, and at…

Why Professional Speaking Is A Horrible Business Model Telling family members that we’re giving up steady pay to be professional speakers is always an anxiety-producing conversation. Why? Because professional speaking…

As speakers dedicated to building a real business, we know storytelling is only a small portion of our jobs. “How I climbed Mount Everest on a pogo stick with one…

Stop Selling Your Keynote Speech If you’re reading this, you may never be a ‘celebrity speaker’ (unless you’re Bill Clinton - and if you are, what’s up, my man??). Yet,…

If you are looking to grow your speaking business (and if you're not, you might have stumbled onto the wrong blog), then you should be looking at what million-dollar speakers…

If building a better speaking business is one of your goals, then you’re a marketer and a salesperson. As such, there’s a quote from legendary marketer and author Seth Godin…