Turning Your Audience into Clients: How to Generate Leads from Your Speaking Engagements
Today’s post is by Anne Scarlett contributor to RainToday
I couldn’t believe my ears when my client Patrick recently declared: “I never get leads—much less real projects—from my speaking engagements.” What?!? It seemed impossible. How could any speaker, carefully chosen from a pool of formidable competitors, not glean quality new business opportunities as a result of his/her presentation at a conference or seminar?
Now take note, Patrick offers technical content to intrigue an audience. He has an acceptable delivery style—nothing that should detract from lead generation. The problem was that his presentation itself was just a single touch. And one touch is often not enough to generate new business.
Speaking Engagements are Big Opportunities
As a professional, you likely have some marketing responsibilities, including speaking, When done well, quality presentations followed by multiple touches will go a long way towards increasing your firm’s visibility and positioning you as an industry expert.
And there’s more: Great speakers are treated like superstars! Attendees line up to speak with them personally—to sing praises, to describe their company’s issues, or to acknowledge helpful takeaways. At a minimum, they all want to trade business cards and stay in touch. This appreciation is personally gratifying, but gratification alone won’t affect your firm’s bottom line.
Executing a range of steps before, during, and after the presentation will provide you with high returns from your speaking engagements.
Before the Presentation:
- Ask for—and review—the attendee list in advance. You deserve to know who will be in your audience; perhaps there will be prospects or existing clients. This knowledge gives you a chance to further focus your content.
- Send attendees an email or snail mail in advance to describe the learning points from your presentation. As well, invite them to submit advance questions for Q&A.
- If you have in-person access to attendees before your session (i.e. you are just one of many speakers during a multi-day conference) then drum up interest while networking. Get folks excited about your presentation topic; take informal polls to get their feedback on what they’d most like to learn. Not only will you get them psyched to see you (and have them spread the word with other attendees), but you’ll also be able to reference those casual dialogues during your presentation, portraying yourself as “in tune” with the audience.
- Look at the speaker roster. Make direct contact with other speakers who may want to attend your session. This is a great chance to build a new network—potentially abundant with referral sources, prospective clients, and peer-to-peer support.
- Get fully acquainted with event/conference hosts. They are excellent references for future speaking opportunities. Incidentally, they also select keynote speakers! So be accommodating, and submit your presentation elements on time: presentation brief, picture, handout materials, and travel preferences. Make it easy for them to work with you, then “wow” them with your popular presentation and positive attitude. You will surely be invited back again, and/or recommended for speaking engagements with fellow chapters or other organizations.
During the Presentation:
- Offer to send the presentation (in PDF format only) to attendees via email upon request. I recently saw a speaker actually build her presentation on-site by facilitating a brainstorming session with the audience. She had created a version of what is sometimes called “open space technology,” where the attendees themselves are in charge of content and direction of the meeting. Instead of distributing handouts prior to her presentation (for note taking), she made a trade with the audience: business cards in exchange for an electronic copy of the “final” collaborative presentation.
- Facilitate moments when the audience can learn from one another during Q&A. Let’s face it: As speakers we are positioned as the “expert,” but there are a lot of intelligent minds right there in the audience with their own valuable perspectives.In addition to fielding the usual array of questions from your audience, you should also encourage attendees to share their own insights with the entire group. This will ensure a multi-faceted experience, and it will also enable attendees to further become acquainted with one another’s talents. It’s warm, it’s fuzzy, and it strengthens their memory of your session.
- If Q&A is going strong (and why wouldn’t it, with you as an engaging, dynamic presenter?), then offer an open invitation to meet in a nearby location (lobby, business center, coffee shop) to continue the conversation during the next scheduled conference break. Set yourself up in that area, and see who shows up! It’s a great chance to offer more value and to serve as a source of connectivity.
- Remain visible during the entire event to allow shyer folks to approach you with their comments. Some people feel much more comfortable asking their questions and holding discussions in a private, one-on-one setting.
- If your presentation is out-of-town, suggest to attendees that if they have pressing matters requiring your expertise, you’d be glad to hold a one-on-one meeting with their firm prior to your departure. They may take you up on your offer to talk while you’re still in town. With a little finesse and good timing on your side, this meeting could serve as your kick-off to a new business relationship!
After the Presentation:
The last thing I want to do at the end of a long conference day is to spend hours following up on leads and contacts. But I discovered if I don’t do it within a 48-hour period, the “high” dissipates. My energies get refocused on other things, and—poof!—the hot leads and new contacts get downgraded to warm at best. Some essential steps include:
- Send personalized emails and/or handwritten notes as appropriate to the hottest contacts.
- Categorize contacts: short-term opportunity, long term opportunity, networking resource, business partner, etc.
- Record those categorized contacts in your database.
- Insert next steps and due dates into your calendar.
Make Multiple Touches
Many of these tips require flexibility in terms of both your presentation content and how—and with whom—you specifically spend your “free” time at the conference. Remember, you are selected as a speaker because you have something worthy to share. You are an expert, and you know your material. Remaining flexible will help exceed audience expectations, and it will strengthen your long-term impact when you touch ‘em, and then later touch ‘em yet again.
Anne Scarlett, President of Scarlett Consulting, provides marketing advisory services to the architecture/engineering/construction industry. She is a frequent public speaker and contributing author to multiple industry publications including CE News. The Scarlett Consulting difference? Clients receive hands-on attention. Find out more by calling 773-251-8132 or visiting www.annescarlett.com.
