FOUR SPECIAL TOOLS
THAT GET SPEAKERS
BOOKED FIRST
BOOKS
REPORTS / E-BOOKS / HALF-BOOKS
BOOKLETS
TIP SHEETS
Gordon Burgett
© 2011 Copyright by Gordon Burgett at Smashwords
For content information, contact
Communication Unlimited
P.O. Box 845
Novato, CA 94948
(800) 563-1454
ISBN 978-1-4881-0700-7
Table of Contents
Introduction
PART ONE
Making Yourself the Obvious Booking Choice
PART TWO
Four Special Tools That Get Speakers Booked First
SECTION ONE: Books
SECTION TWO: Reports, E-Books, and Half-Books
SECTION THREE: Booklets
SECTION FOUR: Tip Sheets
Conclusion
About the Author
Related Products and Services
Appendix: Two Sample Tip Sheets
Introduction
For most of the people in the United States—in fact, the entire world—the worst part about speaking in public is having to speak at all!
A survey of global fears (*) ranked public speaking the number one fear, ahead of death, then spiders and darkness.
But for those of us who are professional speakers, we love the speaking part. We just hate the marketing we must do to get in front of the gatherings.
So let’s make that marketing faster, cheaper, and much more efficient so we can get on with it and do the talking. Let’s make ourselves so desired, so obviously the choice for the top spots, that eventually we can simply announce our availability, when, what we speak about—and then just wait for hordes of pleading booking supplicants.
Fat chance!
* This is a global fears top ten:
1.
Fear of public speaking (Glossophobia)
2. Fear of death
(Necrophobia)
3. Fear of spiders (Arachnophobia)
4.
Fear of darkness (Achluophobia, Scotophobia or Myctophobia)
5.
Fear of heights (Acrophobia)
6. Fear of people or social
situations (Sociophobia)
7. Fear of flying (Aerophobia)
8.
Fear of open spaces (Agoraphobia)
9. Fear of thunder and
lightning (Brontophobia)
10. Fear of confined spaces
(Claustrophobia)
Source: www.speech-topic-help.com
Still, we can move to the front of the line much of the time if we simply make ourselves, our expertise, and our offering(s) so desirable and available that we can’t be ignored or summarily denied. That’s what I’ll write about here. Four special tools you can add to your speaker’s selling kit.
Of course, a stellar speaking record, reliability, a message form-fit to the listeners’ needs, and established expertise in the field are also among the best reasons for our being selected. And being and staying on the “short list” of those that others want to hear shortens the path too.
About the “stellar speaking record, reliability…” and so on, I can’t tell you how to do all of that. But I can share how-to information about the four tools that can make a big difference in your getting that first big nod for a plumb speech or keynote, and mostly will keep you visible and in the running for more “big jobs” long into the future.
The trick, once you are qualified and have the experiential track record, is to keep yourself so professionally obvious that the gatekeeper—or booker or programmer; the person who is instrumental in selecting the finalists for the sponsoring group, association, or firm—must seriously consider you every time. How you stay in their radar is by keeping yourself and your uniqueness professionally visible.
How can you do that? By consistently using one, some, or all of the four insider tools I will describe in detail on these pages.
You’ve heard of every one of them. There’s no magic here, no whirling neon gizmos to make you jump out of the crowd.
What can you create and add to your marketing tools that will position you at or near the top of your field? A book, a report (or an e-book or half-book), a booklet, or a tip sheet.
PART ONE
Making yourself the obvious booking choice
The whole idea is to move yourself to the head of the line. Competition for paid gigs in the professional speaking world is tough. Getting booked is limited to a few approaches, and one of the dangers of being too aggressive is that you can quickly wear out your welcome. So you need tools that quietly make you the obvious best booking choice by keeping your name and presence always in view for the right reasons—without ever jeopardizing your welcome.
The reasons why you should be booked to speak, really one reason in different forms and sizes, is that you have a message that must be heard. You know things that others need to know, and you’ve done the extra lifting by courageously putting the essence of your message in plain view, in print.
Most successful professional speakers share similar traits:
* they are eager to fill their calendar with as many speeches, keynotes, workshops, seminars, breakout sessions, and other bookings as they can squeeze into a year;
* they want to invest as little time and cost as possible getting those presentations confirmed;
* they want to expand each confirmation with as much additional income as possible while they are at that gathering, like MC work, breakout consulting, contact with regional bookers, and so on…;
* they want to sell as much product at or through the presentation as possible, either pre-purchased by the booker or through some back-of-the-room sales mechanism;
* they’d like to have continual after-the-session product or services sales, and
* they’d like to have every booking lead to more bookings.
And they want to be the highlighter at the next convention or key meeting. which means that the gatekeeper has to pick them, work with them, hear them, and like them.
The extra selling tools described here can make a big difference.
As long as I’m making (unrequested) assumptions, let me add a few more that are also appropriate to your effectively using our suggested booking tools. (I apologize if some of these assumptions may be premature.)
* You’re a professional speaker able to win accolades with your oratorical excellence;
* You know the topic about which you speak, and your advice, the examples you share, and the clarity and logic you display make the listeners grateful to hear your words—and eager to hear more;
* You have clearly identified your primary audience, know where they work or gather, and have chosen the programs or meetings where your subject would be best received, and
* You have identified the gatekeepers who hire the potential speakers there, you have contacted those gatekeepers sufficiently in advance, and your sales tools are sharp, impressive, and ample.
How do I know which tools would work for you?
I’ve been just such a creature (a professional speaker) for at least 30 years, and during that time I’ve given over 2,000 paid presentations, mostly seminars (most of them lasting four hours), but also many keynotes, key presentations, and workshops or breakout sessions. For 25+ years I was also (and still am) a member of the National Speakers Association. I’ve spoken to their chapters some 25 times—and to the national gatherings five times. I also co-wrote a book called Speaking for Money. I was privileged to work directly with top speakers for decades (including an earlier N.S.A. President, Mike Frank, with whom I co-authored the book), and to see first-hand what they did to be among the consistently chosen few.
What I shared with them was that every one of my 2,000+ presentations, like theirs, had to be “sold” to a gatekeeper.
For me, the tools that made the booking difference perhaps 90% of the time was a book or a booklet that explained the book’s message.
Many of my colleagues were much more effective with videos, often supplemented with reports (that we would call DVDs or e-books today). A few moved directly from seminars and breakout sessions (at conferences) to being top speakers.
First, you need some kind of “speaker’s packet.”
How can the gatekeeper give your speaking request justice without having more information about who you are and your speaking qualifications and experience?
When I began speaking we told all in a “speaker’s packet.” It was all on paper, artfully crammed into a glossy folder that had a catch phrase and photo on the front and a business card slipped into die-cuts inside. The packet was carried by hand to personal interviews, or it was mailed the quickest way possible… What a pain, and expensive too.
Now you have everything that the gatekeeper needs at your website just a link away, spiffy looking, in color, updated whenever you wish.
The “one-page” then was the headliner: it told all on one page, about your topic or title, you, what others thought, where you had spoken, a recent (less than a decade-old) photo—whatever you could sensibly inject, printed on one or both sides…
Then came the inserts: a bio page (sometimes in different lengths for catalog insertion), testimonials (best if they were on the writer’s letterhead), a list of where you had spoken (and sometimes when), another list of your publications (books, articles, reports), and an introduction (sometimes several of different lengths). Busier speakers had more inserts (like scores of testimonials) that they mixed and matched to each market they addressed, i.e. if you were wanting to speak to insurance brokers, in went the insurance testimonials.
Along came videos, so the gatekeeper could see you in action (or inaction). Some were all-in-one, others were snippets of many presentations, sometimes there were many videos, again mixed and matched.
Today, the same can be done with podcasts or audio shorts, displayed on your website or arranged, linkably, by client or purpose: you might be telling a joke, explaining a concept, or sharing your signature story.
All of that, or an equivalent, is still needed just to play the game. Mercifully, the cost has gone way down, there is no mailing, and the gatekeeper can review each item when they wish, print out what is to shared, and request what is missing, like a workbook used at another program or names of specific references, and so on.
On these pages I’m suggesting that by adding some of the four tools described you can make your sales kit so exceptional that may well move you to the head of the booking line.
Why might any or all of the four tools make a huge, immediate difference? Because each item goes to the heart of your expertise and program. The gatekeeper sees that you and it are well-structured, articulate, and organized (even fun and excited)—precisely what they are looking for in a speaker!
As important, you went the extra, huge step to create a good-looking book, report, booklet, or tip sheet to better share your information. It shows that you know your stuff and made it available for the gatekeeper’s ease and judgment.
Best yet, unless swarms of speakers read this report and get quickly converted (an idea I love), you may be just one of a few in line with such these extra selling tools.
Then, what are these magical tools that can make the difference?
There are four of them. Let’s take a first look here, then go into much fuller detail about each later
* Ideally, a book would be the first tool you’d create because once it was published and distributed to your field, those in it (usually through an association or firm) would ask you to come and speak about what it says. It alone could do the job you want. To do that, the book must say something different on its pages, something unique or fresh, or something old now updated. Perhaps a new slant or angle that sets you apart from the rest.
It will also have to be well written and look professional. You must be articulate, maybe even passionate (for a reason). And if you can include humor, memorable stories (or examples), an easy-to-follow system or process, or at least a message that’s easily shared with colleagues, so much the better…
Does all of that scare you?
Well, you don’t actually have to write the whole book first. (But I would because I think it’s by far the strongest tool of the four.
* You can start with the smallest item, the tip sheet—it’s just one page long. What does Dan Poynter say in his Self-Publishing Manual? Before you write a book, figure out what should be on its pages, then write the back cover. Build the selling copy around the promises that your book makes--and the reasons why the reader should buy a copy immediately!
Aren’t those the very same things you want to put in front of the gatekeeper so you get chosen for the key speech? What promises can you make that will keep listeners pinned to their chairs as you verbally make the solutions come true? How can the audience quickly do what you say? And what are you saying that is different enough to bring the crowd eagerly to your presentation—then to their feet, delighted that they came?
In fact, they are probably there to hear you speak precisely because you do have a book in print that they want to hear more about!
So, as part of creating your book, you can start with a tip sheet about it. And while you’re at it, why not also develop a tip sheet for the book-based speech you want to give?
Don’t fear that I have the cart before the horse. That you can’t do any of this because you still don’t know what the book will be about, and even less the selling points of the speech about the book!
Just get busy building the outline for your book (and, by extension, for your speech). Do the research. Find out what those in your field or niche want to know about but can’t. Ask them what book they would eagerly buy but still doesn’t exist. Figure out how in a book you can make their lives richer, more creative, funnier, more fulfilling—pick the adjective(s) that describe what they want, then help make them happen in print and through the microphone. You’re going to have to do this anyway if you’re serious about writing that killer book or giving a knock-out speech. So start backwards.
* define the destination, where you and the listeners will end up (where you all want to be),
* figure out how to get there,
* lay out a logical path,
* unearth the stepping stones (the facts, stories, and tools) you will need,
* list all the benefits the readers will receive by taking the verbal trip,
* write a 100-word description that tells what this dream and your book are about, and
* give the book a title full of promise that you can help them make come true.
I’m not proposing that all you do is create a one-page tip sheet, send it to all of the gatekeepers, and from that alone you create an empire. (As I said, it’s much easier if you’d write the book first, which puts the flesh on the tip sheet’s promissory bones.) But a tip sheet is a great way to start since it can be modified as your topic takes form. You can continually update it so it always stays in sync and current with your speech and your other marketing tools as your idea takes substance and your booking takes hold. What do you do with the tip sheet? Keep it in the booker’s hands, a one-page herald of you now—or of your book and speech to come.
* Or leap to the next tool if the book still overwhelms you as your primary marketing tool. Why not create a booklet, a 12-, 18-, or 24-page synopsis of the book in progress? The booklet’s contents have to stand on their own, read well, and make sense. Your booklet’s prose gives flesh to the promissory pledge in the tip sheet. And booklets are easy to produce (and reproduce) in volume and send by the dozen so the booker can give one each to the other decision-makers, to read and be convinced.
The booklet is really the tip sheet grown up, with enough copy for the reader to grasp where your new message is headed and the paths you will take to get there.
In other words, you can create a booklet first, condense it into a tip sheet, and write the whole book once you know where you are headed and how you’ll get there. The booklet is the book boiled down to its core.
* Or maybe you’d prefer to create a sort of half book, or a third of a book, and call it a report or an e-book (like this), in which you tease the gatekeeper with an important section of a whole book (or the promise of a whole book) so that person can see how you write (and presumably speak) in full form. In a partial or segmented book one can trace an idea as it’s developed, with complete stories, logic or the process unrolled, and some humor and artwork also on display. Yet, if part of a book is all you present, you run the risk that the gatekeeper will laud the submission but then suggest that when the whole book is completed, and has caught fire with the listeners, they would be eager to book your speech.
We’re back to that book again!
I hope my bias didn’t force us back. But the book still seems the best and most comprehensive of the tools to propel you into top-level presentations.
It also provokes the strongest and loudest objections from speakers. So let’s take a moment and address them.
1. It takes forever to write a book that will get me top-level speaking.
That’s about right. Not forever, of course, but it does require time and lots of energy to crank out a book that makes a difference.
Of course, you can increase your booking chances elsewhere (or anywhere) as you write.
Something surprising happens as the book takes form: the writer gets exposed to lots of new information. They get a look into other leaders’ minds, in person and through their writing. They see new processes, paths, links, relationships. They get current on their topic, and they even get a glimpse at where their field will go in the future. They make new friends and hear things they otherwise would miss or ignore. In other words, despite themselves, the book writer gets smarter, they listen better, they ask sharper questions—and their speaking in the meantime can get better too.
2. None (or very few) of the top speakers write a book first.
Not true, in part because many top speakers began as writers and they used their skill (often with articles), plus extra oral oil, to first get through the speaking door. But, by the time the best-known speakers reach mid-career, those in print far outnumber those who aren’t.
3. Writing a book is an endless bout with detail.
Even worse (if there is worse), the book also has to be good, correct, and clear. Right again, but you don’t have to write every word, or even many of the words. It’s fair game to hire writing and publishing help. As long as the ideas and the concepts are yours, using professional writing aides may be a wise choice—the book might be better sorted out, easier to read, and in print in your lifetime!
Still, what you can’t avoid is that once the book appears in print with your by-line, you are responsible for what it says—and how it says it. And if you are giving speeches about it, you must speak its tongue: the same theme, the same stories coming out the same way, all with the same degree of articulation.
4. A big, final objection: books cost a lot of money to publish and take forever to see light.
When I published my first book, in 1981, that was true. Even then you usually had to publish it yourself, which meant that you also had to master the mysteries of publishing too. It might have cost $1,000—or $5,000—and it took seven weeks just to get the book on the press, plus weeks more to receive the printed copies. Most of the books (you needed a run of about 1,000 to get unit costs affordable) ended up unsold in your storeroom.
Do you believe in miracles?
It’s almost the reverse now! You can have your book published free and it can be completely printed and in hand in a week or 10 days. (In fact, if you want a digital copy to tide you over, that will be done in an hour or two.)
These days almost all the time one spends in book publishing involves getting the words down and ironed out in good form. Then you send that to a publisher for them to do their sleight of hand: you needn’t learn a new publishing science or trade.
Much of the reason that books are quick to produce comes from the use of computers and the P.O.D. process, which brought the run size down to double digits and the print time to days or weeks. With print-on-demand (P.O.D.). you can attach your files to a e-mail sent to a printer who will send you the number of copies you wish, bound, in a week—or, as I said, digitally in minutes or hours.
And if that’s not wondrous enough, you can have your book published by a firm that will also sell it commercially once it exists—and pay you a monthly royalty at the same time you are using the very same book to secure better selling gigs! (Or you can publish it yourself and sell it, or you can do both!)
Let me explain how that change took place.
A couple of years ago a half-dozen publishers appeared (I call them ancillary or open publishers) with a radically different business plan. They were seeking books that they would publish free (in digital format) or almost free (figure $25 per title) in bound paperback, and they would do that in minutes or days, respectively. Good-looking books, professional and impressive. Even more, they wanted to market the books—and pay you a royalty from 30-85% (figure 35% per bound book, more for e-books) of the list price, a price that you determined. They printed the books as the orders arrived, mailed the order, and paid you at the end of the month. No order taking, no inventory, and they did the promotion (though, alas, not much of it).
I’ll walk you through the submission process to these publishers when I focus on book production later.
Whether they also sell your book (or if you want them to) is secondary here. What you want now is a product to get you a speaking contract. But that the book is almost free and it can earn you royalty (it sells while you sleep, hands-free), that’s an unexpected boon! (Incidentally, passive profit is far more fun to spend than sweat profit!)
That might raise a minor question, Why would you want others selling the same book that you are simultaneously using as a marketing tool?
Don’t fret. If you see a conflict, you can publish it yourself, then sell it commercially when you feel more comfortable about it. But it helps to have the gatekeepers see that others are also eager to buy your knowledge.
So that’s what we are talking about in this e-book. I suggest that you select the most appropriate of the four promotional tools (one or several) so you can vastly increase the number (and value) of the contracts you obtain as a professional speaker.
The book will also give you a back-of-the-room, high quality product to sell--or the booker can order and buy the books, e-books, or booklets to have available to give to every listener hearing you as you speak.