Tons of speakers want to get more speaking engagements but they let little things slip through the cracks and this decreases the profit they make from their speaking business.
Have you ever seen an inefficient business?
There was a flight attendant who made a recommendation to the airline she worked for and this tiny recommendation saved them millions. What was it?
On the flights, they gave first class passengers two olives with their drinks…she suggested just giving them one.
It was so simple, but the airline cut their costs by millions.
What does this have to do with building your speaking business?
There’s one question that professional speakers aren’t asking clients and it’s costing them a lot of money. And not only that, but several speakers are asking a this question but they’re asking it all wrong.
So what’s the question?
How did you hear about me? (the wrong version)
As a speaker, you need to know where your leads are coming from so you can do more marketing in that area. So the natural thing to ask is, “How did you hear about me?”
I’ve been asking that question for years without realizing how wrong it is. But what’s the problem with that question?
If you do any online marketing and you ask someone how they heard about you then they will say, “We found you on the internet.” Now think about it…how did their answer help you? They found you on the internet but what did they type in? Did they find you on Youtube or a Google search? Did they find you through a blog post?
Do you see the problem with that?
When clients answer the question of “How did you find me…” they either say they were recommended to you by someone, and that’s easy to find out…or if you do online marketing then they say they found you on the internet, which isn’t helpful.
So what’s a better question to ask?
How did you find me on the internet? (the better version)
Think about that question for a second and what is assumes.
Lets say the client was recommended to you. How would they answer that question? They would say, “Oh no, we didn’t find you on the internet, John recommended you.” Great, you now have the same information you would have gotten if you asked the “How did you hear about me” question.
But lets say the client found you on the internet and you asked that question. Now they answer the question differently because you asked a better question. Now they say something like, “Oh we did a google search.” And you can say, “What did you type in?” Or they will say, “We found you on Youtube” Or “We’ve been following your blog” etc etc etc.
Do you see the difference?
By presupposing your client found you on the internet, they’re going to give you more information about how they found you. And if they didn’t find you on the internet then they will correct your assumption by saying something like, “Oh we didn’t find you on the internet, we found you through….”
It’s a small change but it makes all the difference if you want to build your speaking business.
You must always figure out how a client found you so you know where your marketing should go. If your clients are finding you through a Google search then you focus on that. If your clients are finding you through Youtube then you create more videos and use video ads.
The more you know about your lead generation, the more speaking gigs you can get. But if you don’t know where your leads are coming from then you’re going to spend your time on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blog posts, Google, etc…without knowing which is best. If you know Youtube is the best, you should spend 90% of your time on Youtube. If you know Twitter is the best, spend your time on Twitter. Figure out what’s the best and use it to get speaking gigs.
But always remember…
If you want a better answers, ask better questions.
