âThe purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.â â Peter Drucker
I am taking a âdetourâ in this newsletter to talk about a vital part of a speaking business. If you have a speaking business or have ever thought about starting a speaking business, this newsletter is for you.
Do you know what the letters âCRMâ stands for? CRM stands for customer relationship management. If you have a speaking business, you have a myriad of leads, contacts and opportunities in which to keep track. Managing these with pencil and paper, spreadsheets, and/or through a myriad of unintegrated tools on your phone, tablet, or computer is a nightmare! Enter the CRM tool.
âFrustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success.â Bo Bennett
Can you give me a little advice?
I am constructing a digital course called âThe Influencing Speaker.â The course covers the full process of how to prepare your best presentation, deliver it with comfort and ease, and how to follow-up with your audience after your presentation.
The course focus is on your needs as a speaker. This course will be about you, not me.
To that end, can you give me a little advice on what you would like to see in âThe Influencing Speakerâ course?
âBetter to trust the man who is frequently in error than the one who is never in doubt.â â Eric Sevareid
Trust is the foundation of your personal and professional relationships. If you violate that trust, your relationship with the other person will be severely damaged, maybe irreparably.
You may not have realized it, but you have a relationship with your audience based on their trust in you. How does your audience place its trust in you?
They trust your presentation will be as advertised. They trust you will present information they can use to improve their personal and professional lives. They trust you will look out for their best interest in your presentation.
âIf you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.â â Benjamin Franklin
Stephen Covey in his book, âFirst Things First,â says human beings have four needs: to live, to learn, to love, to leave a legacy.
Deep down inside of you, you have a need to leave a legacy. You want to know there is something you can give to this world to make it a better place now and continue to do so when you are gone.
What is your speaking legacy? Is it to give encouragement to the young person who wants to be a doctor but sees no way to afford college tuition. Is it to give hope to the single mother who has more month at the end of her money? Is it simply to instill in others anything is possible if they have the persistence to never stop pursuing their goals.
How to Become a Professional Speaker From:
âGood communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.â â Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Have you ever thought about striking out on your own as you toil away at your nine to five job. I bet you have!
If you are an amateur speaker in your local Toastmasters Club or other speaking organization, you may have thought about becoming a professional speaker.
Starting a professional speaking business is not like the Fields of Dreams movie â build it (your presentation) and they will come. They always come in the movies.