June 2010 - Behind The Podium

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Behind News and Information for the Speaking Community by SpeakerMatch

What’s Inside

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Tip of the Month

PODIUM

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A great application teaser can really set you apart. Visit speakermatch.com/tips for some examples.

NewsYou Should Know

Planners are Seeking LOCAL Speakers

It’s no surprise that meeting planners want to save money and get the most they can for their budget. So when they begin a search for speakers, they think local. We’ve got some great local tools to help both speakers and meeting planners.

Did you know that we have local pages to highlight you even more? Our pages at speakermatch.com/local have listings by city and state optimized for search engines. If you prefer to work locally, adding your city to the new META TAG area of your profile will also improve your chances of being found. We’re currently looking into getting speaker profiles listed in Google Places (for local searches).

If you know you’re going to be speaking in another city, don’t forget to search for other events in that area before you go. You can let the meeting planner know you’ll be in the area and won’t incur travel expenses, which might make you an even bigger draw.

~ BC

Vol. 1, Issue 11 • June 2010 • $24.95

“So the only way to influence the other fellow is to talk about what he wants and show him how to get it.”

-Dale Carnegie

“Send me an e-mail, text, tweet, note via LinkedIn or message on Facebook,” are common sayings in the digital age. Your ability to persuade and influence others with your ideas, goals and passion is one of the most important skills to master.

While you may have the greatest product, service, book, speech or idea, if you can’t connect with others quickly, you’re in trouble. And three big challenges that we all must deal with as it relates to face-to-face communications in the Internet age are:

Y Shortened attention spans.

Y Heavy reliance on digital communication versus talking or meeting with each other.

Y Standing out and being memorable.

Success to me is pursuing your passion or inner genius and finding a way to get paid for it. If you have great ideas and end up broke, not only does your idea serve few, if anyone, it also handicaps you at the same time. The pursuit of success is never a solo journey. Your ability to persuade others is a central building block, but even more important is the ability to attract quality people along the way.

In the last 12 months, the key distinction that I’ve learned and spent much more time on is the ability to network your way to people versus cold marketing. Yes, a flash of the obvious for some of you, but let me explain in greater detail.

The cost of cold marketing continues to escalate and reaching people is even more challenging. I’m not saying to stop your prospecting efforts. I still use and teach clients many proven direct response lead generation and follow-up strategies; however, I am suggesting that

An Impressive 15-Second Commercial Can be Your Most Influential Networking Ally

By Tony Rubleski

Behind the Podium is Online! www.behindthepodium.com

Letter from the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Oh No, Not Dr. X! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Upcoming Teleseminars . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Maximize Your Prospecting Efforts with Networking Know-How . . . . . . 4Overcoming the 6 Most Common Obstacles to Your Success . . . . . . . . . . 56 Quick and Easy Ways to Sharpen Your Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Why Other Industries are the Best Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Getting the Most From Your Established Connections . . . . . . . . . . 8LinkedIn Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Use Your Scooby Ears to Create Solid Business Relationships Through Problem Solving . . . . . . . . . 10

2News and Information for the Speaking Community by SpeakerMatch

Letter from the Editor

Building a Stellar Reputation Through Networking and Associations Involves Listening to the Marketplace and Being Open to Change

Bryan Caplovitz

The June issue of Behind the Podium continues the theme of Building a Stellar Reputation Through Networking and Associations. In Maximize Your Prospecting Efforts with Networking Know-How, Nancy Juetten offers some timeless advice on the importance of being prepared. A handy reference, this article deserves a spot in your briefcase as a quick checklist to be used before any event.

Listening to the marketplace and being open to change go hand-in-hand with building a top-notch reputation, and this month’s LinkedIn discussion poses the timely question, “What are the key factors that distinguish people who fight change every step of the way from those who are more open and accepting of it?” The discussion features some compelling comments and insights regarding the characteristics of those who are more willing to shake up the status quo.

Dan Kennedy’s piece Help! I Can’t Get Out of the Box I Put Myself In! also provides a lesson in change and innovative thinking by reiterating the value of borrowing ideas from other industries and applying them in new ways to grow your business.

Finally, Dave Sheffield takes a lesson from Scooby-Doo on the importance of listening to your target market. In his article Use Your Scooby Ears to Create Solid Business Relationships, Dave confirms the fundamental importance of understanding the current marketplace and positioning yourself as the go-to problem solver.

Hope the summer brings not only more business your way, but also more fun.

Sincerely,

It’s 3:30 p.m. on a Friday and I am on a new client call with a very interesting author. Let’s call her Dr. X. She is a medical doctor who just published a book on confidence, empowerment, and fear of change, career transition, peace of mind, mental health and dealing with emotions. Wow, is she perfect or what?

Our heads are spinning today with the nation facing a 10 percent unemployment rate. The latest polls say most Americans think the economy is on the brink of collapse, and 25 percent of homes are worth less than the purchase price, no one’s business model is working anymore, emotions are running high, people are angry, afraid and going broke.

America needs a powerful, intelligent and educated voice to share a new perspective on dealing with the tremendous pressure and the feeling that our hopes and dreams are slipping away. America also needs to know how to accept, adapt and deal with our reality so we can move forward and still achieve our unlimited potential, and unleash the greatness that lives in our hearts despite the circumstances that face us today.

Did I envision Dr. X to be that voice?

Yes — and in a big way.

The plan was to Start Dr. X out with radio bookings on the high listenership radio shows in the Top 35 markets and on the regionally and nationally syndicated shows. Get her talking about the issues facing our nation with an emphasis on the everyday people and what we are thinking and feeling — people just like you and me. Let’s get her live and on the air speaking to over 10 million people.

Can she help? Can she change lives? Absolutely!

Did I forget to mention her medical specialty is neuroscience? That is, she understands how the mind processes information and more importantly, how our minds process change, are afraid of change

but have the potential to embrace it and come to a whole new way of thinking?

She understands neurologically how our minds can set us free. Wow!

Here is a top credentialed expert with educated insight on how people think, and she has written a book on the exact issues we are facing personally and professionally at a time when Americans need this message the most.

Is this the perfect storm? It is!

Here’s the strategy: She is a new expert with no media experience, so our first stop is to develop her voice and expand her social relevancy. Even she does not understand her power right now as she tells me she just happened to instinctively write this book. But as fortune would have it for her, her message is especially needed and relevant right now.

We want to work quickly. Our 24/7 news division would feed her stories that relate to her expertise and help her create her commentary. Our media trainer would work one-on-one with her helping her learn the skill set she would need to embrace and empower her listeners.

Our media trainer would follow her every step of the way and be available 24/7 to listen to her interviews, guiding her to be better, stronger, and to have more impact.

We would start her on some smaller shows to get her footing and then off to the biggies — the shows that reach upwards of 500,000 listeners per quarter hour with some reaching over one million listeners. Then we go after the major nationally syndicated radio shows with big names where she will be reaching mega millions of listeners. We’ll work fast too, because time is of the essence.

Our radio is guaranteed deliverable, that is, we promise to book her on the major shows in the top markets or she can get her money back — we do not book

By National Media Strategist Annie Jennings

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Oh No, Not Dr. X!

3www.speakermatch.com

June 17Thursday, 12 p.m. CSTTitle: STOP speaking for freeGUEST: Lee Salz, Founder of Business Expert Webinars

July 1Thursday, 12 p.m. CSTTitle: How to sell without being salesy on stages and teleseminarsGUEST: Lisa Sasevich

July 29Thursday, 12 p.m. CSTTitle: TBA, GUEST: Dan Janal, Founder of PR Leads

SpeakerMatch Teleseminar Agenda

Behind the Podium (ISSN 1949-5544) is published 12 times a year as a resource for emerging professional speakers, business leaders, technical gurus, educators, and other subject-matter experts. Editor Bryan Caplovitz welcomes your input. Please e-mail any comments or suggestions to Bryan at [email protected].

Panel of ExpertsPatricia Fripp, Executive Speech Coach,

Sales Trainer and Professional Speaker

Annie Jennings, Media Strategist and National Publicist

Nancy Juetten, Publicist and WriterDan Kennedy, Professional Speaker,

Consultant, and CoachMary McKay, Speaker Marketing SpecialistTony Rubleski, Author, President of Mind

Capture GroupDave Sheffield, Author and Professional

SpeakerVickie Sullivan, President of Sullivan Speaker

ServicesBehind the Podium publishes the opinions

of experts and authorities from many fields; however, the use of those opinions is no substitute for accounting, legal, investment, or other professional services. Material may not be reproduced in part or in whole in any form whatsoever without the written permission of SpeakerMatch. SpeakerMatch is the world’s largest source for speaking opportunities.

Behind the Podium is published monthly, by SpeakerMatch, 4807 Spicewood Springs Road, Building 1, Suite 1120, Austin, TX 78759-7944. $149/yr, $24.95/issue (US funds). Periodicals postage pending at Austin, TX and additional mailing offices. Behind the Podium is a trademark of Simply Speaking, Inc. Copyright © 2010 by Simply Speaking, Inc. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SpeakerMatch Subscription Department, 4807 Spicewood Springs Road, Building 1, Suite 1120, Austin, TX 78759-7944.

Subscription information: Direct subscription inquiries, payments and address changes to SpeakerMatch Subscription Department, Behind the Podium, 4807 Spicewood Springs Road, Building 1, Suite 1120, Austin, TX 78759-7944. To resolve service problems, call (866) 372-8768 or visit our Web site at www.speakermatch.com. On occasion we make our subscribers’ names available to companies with products or services in which you may be interested. If you do not want to be included in these mailings, please notify us in writing.

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pretend shows. She is buying the #1 radio campaign and we better deliver it or else.

At the same time we are on the hunt for major print magazine and influential Internet media to help define her as an expert whose voice is imperative right now. At the same time, we land a few local TV shows to get her ready for the big time TV shows.

Next, we book her on major national shows. Is she ready? Of course! See how we developed her quickly so she would walk onto any TV set in the world with confidence and do a great job?

One more thing, she only has to pay our publicity fee for any TV, print and/or Internet, if, and only if, we get the bookings for her. We also guarantee the booking too, as what good is taping a TV show if it does not air? No airing, no fee. No booking, no fee.

OK we are good to go!

BUT NO: She says that this was her first phone call to a publicist. She says she has to talk to the others.

OH NO: Here come the glitzy proposals packed with all the things the others will try to do for her. They will list reams of media that they will try to go after. Her eyes will start to glisten with all of the millions of people she will possibly reach. They will fill her with visions of grandeur and the illusion of success.

OH NO: Here comes the $10,000 per month for five months with no deliverables.

OH NO: Here comes the waste of a powerful, compassionate, intelligent voice with the potential to impact our country at the precise moment that we need her.

Will I hear from her again? I don’t know. Why?

Once the others get a hold of her, they will tell her things that will never

materialize. Then, she’ll be assigned to an intern, newbie publicist or someone who is not used to working with an expert of this magnitude, who does not know how to move her out to the media fast with a message that gets her booked instantly across the country (but yet these people are still paid regardless of whether or not there are any media placements).

There will be no 24/7 news division, there will be no one with the Blink Factor (we instantly know why our clients are good even sometimes before they do) expanding her expertise, there will be no teaching her how to be socially relevant, there will be no team of expert publicists, media trainers and segment developers wrapping their resources around her with the precise goal of booking the biggest shows in America, fast.

If anyone could help me now it would be my very own clients. I said, “If you do nothing else, listen to our real stories of our clients’ experience with us. These are real authors and experts that were once just like you — deciding who to sign up with. They will tell you how it worked out for them.”

Did we keep our promises? Did we lead them to their dreams of what they always knew they could accomplish if they could just get the chance? Did we open the doors to their unlimited potential?

Yes, we did.

ANNIE JENNINGS PR: Annie Jennings CEO & FOUNDER of the National PR firm, Annie Jennings PR (www.anniejenningspr.com) promotes authors & experts to the most prestigious media in America. Her commitment to excellence has forever changed publicity as she has created the most advanced publicity tools and strategies used in PR today. Annie’s mission is to help everyone share their messages all over the world for the betterment of all.

Oh No, Not Dr. X! continued from page 2

“We’re social! Find “SpeakerMatch” on any of your favorite networking sites”

4News and Information for the Speaking Community by SpeakerMatch

By Nancy Jutten

The Wall Street Journal has declared 2010 as “the age of going solo.” A slowly recovering economy and a tough market for employment have created opportunity and necessity for independent professionals, speakers, and consultants to boldly declare their expertise and ask for the engagements they want.

Face-to-face networking is an effective way to connect with potential decision makers and influencers, escape the isolation of working alone, and foster new friendships.

With a little planning, you can make the most of your networking efforts and build a reputation for yourself as a seasoned professional.

Prep Work that Pays Off • Choose a fabulous signature

outfit to wear that helps you put

your best image forward. Social Media Strategist Mari Smith is known as “the lady in blue” because she often wears teal jackets and accessories to set herself apart in a crowd in a memorable, magnificent way.

• Connect with purpose. Set a specific goal about what you want to accomplish at the networking event or industry conference. For example, are you seeking one perfect prospect with whom you can do business? Are you seeking an introduction to a decision maker who can recommend you as a next keynote speaker for the next industry event? Are you seeking a referral to help you solve a particular challenge you are experiencing in your business? Or, are you attending with the intention of contributing to others’ success? When you attend with the last goal in mind, it’s amazing how well you are remembered, and how magic often follows.

• Be prepared. Study the agenda and guest list, if either are available,

and make plans to meet influential attendees and speakers. If you have a proposal or idea, carry it with you. If the opportunity arises, be prepared to give it immediately or the magic of timing may be lost.

• Create special business cards. These cards should include your photo in which you look your professional best. The photo helps set your card apart from others because there is a face with the name. Your business card should also feature your contact information, including links to Twitter or Facebook, a link to your website or blog, and a statement about the greatest value you offer. Author and Speaker Andrea Sittig-Rolf says, “Make your oddity your commodity.”

• Get organized. Consider using Ziploc bags to sort business cards into categories like “potential customer” and “potential referral partner.” Never enter anyone’s e-mail into your ezine or newsletter list without permission.

Showing Your Savvy Side • Be engaging. When meeting

someone for the first time, make yourself memorable by asking something such as, “What is the best thing that has happened to you in your business this week?” This is a great way to start a conversation, instead of simply exchanging information.

• Give everyone your full attention. This means keeping your cell phone tucked away.

• Be a giver or a connector.

When you focus on being helpful to others, the rewards will come later in unexpected ways. When you are generous with your ideas and extended network, people will notice and respect you for your kindness. People tend to do business with people they respect, trust, and like.

Follow up after the event. Whether you take the time to pen a note on quality stationery, send an e-mail, or make a phone call, do something to advance the relationships that took root at the event. Nothing good happens without action, and timely follow up is the differentiator that will serve you well no matter what you do to make your way in the world.

Nancy S. Juetten is a newspaper columnist, speaker, DIY publicity trainer, and the author of the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide. Contact Nancy at [email protected] or visit the DIY Publicity Blog at www.mainstreetmediasavvy.com.

Networking Know-HowMaximize Your Prospecting Efforts with

Puzzle on page 11

5www.speakermatch.com

Overcoming the 6 Most Common Obstacles to Your Success A Common Response and Solution Approach Helps You Clear the Hurdles

By Mary McKay

Part Two in a two-part series. See our May issue for Part One of this article.

How effective are you in overcoming obstacles in securing paid speaking engagements?

In Part One, we discussed the first three obstacles: Lack of confidence in making contact with prospective buyers in your target market, lack of relevant information, and ignorance about how to secure paid speaking engagements.

Let’s now identify the remaining three obstacles that you face, look at the common responses, and talk about proven solutions for getting more bookings.

Obstacle 4: Wanting to be a celebrity instead of a problem solver.

Common response: Create a website that’s all about you. Don’t create an opt-in strategy to stay in touch with people who are looking for solutions to challenges, because it’s not about you helping them, it’s about them knowing who you are. Refuse to identify a target market where you can actually help individuals and organizations. From the stage, talk about yourself, your achievements, your wealth and your success in business. Arrive late, don’t mingle and leave early. Oh, and blame the economy, time, money and others for not understanding your brilliance.

Solutions: Take at least 98 percent responsibility for your results. After that, become a problem solver. Applause is intoxicating, but don’t be seduced into thinking it’s all about you. The moment you forget that you were booked to serve others, you aren’t client attractive.

Example: If your expertise is in customer service, penetrate the market in which you first gained credibility. You can generate profits for a lifetime by knowing your target market so that you become the leading expert in your field. Celebrity status pales in comparison to that. Solving problems is one way someone who is not

published can shift from being a concurrent session speaker to a keynote speaker.

Obstacle 5: Holding on to the past.

Common response: Think small. Try to do everything yourself. Become a control freak. Refuse to delegate tasks that others can easily do for you with little to no training. Refuse to outsource projects and activities to product suppliers, duplicators, distributors and affiliate managers. Criticize the efforts of others who try to help you. Stress out. Get sick. Blame the economy, time, money and others for your burn out and lack of production.

Solutions: Take at least 98 percent responsibility for your results. Hire virtual assistants for booking your travel, handling your social media, generating publicity, administrative tasks, Internet marketing, SEO, bill pay, ezines, accounting and almost any function necessary for speakers. Contact a professional fulfillment house and educate yourself about what needs to be done in chronological order when you create a new product. Delegate and outsource where you can.

Focus on your strengths and do what you love to do like writing, speaking and designing new products and services for your client base. Build your strengths, maximize your best creative thinking and delegate your weaknesses. Ask the pros to help you systematize all campaigns and marketing activities. Work on your mind-set.

Obstacle 6: Insufficient funds — yours and theirs.

Common response to your insufficient funds: Stay stuck. Give up. Whine. Fail to take advantage of hundreds of websites where free tips and strategies from information marketers and

coaches are offered to speakers. Refuse to ask for payment plans, barter opportunities or discounts. Blame the economy, time and others for your lack of money.

Common response to their insufficient funds: Reduce your fee to nothing, which de-values your expertise. Fail to generate new leads. Refuse to demonstrate your value to your target market and the high content of your presentations so that the prospect can see what’s in it for them; fail to articulate your USP; refuse to reach out to your customer base and sit back and wait for the phone to ring with invitations; postpone articulating your ultimate claim. Stay unwilling to gather third party endorsements and relevant facts about you and build that into your compelling marketing message. An unfortunate but common response is to give up on your dream to earn a living from speaking and rather than take responsibility for why you’re not booked, blame the economy, time and others for insufficient funds so that you can continue to tell your friends and family how the results would be different if you only had more money.

Solutions to your insufficient funds: Take at least 98 percent responsibility for your results. Reduce the perceived risks that the prospect has of working with you. The higher the risk, the less likely they will hire you to speak. Go to my website at www.TurnkeySpeaker.com and opt-in. If you do this, you will have access to weekly high content and relevant tips about positioning your expertise, marketing activities and systematizing the booking process in order to secure more paid speaking engagements. Learn to articulate your USP in one to two sentences because people responsible for

continued on page 11

If you’re only interested in overcoming obstacles, you do what’s convenient. If you’re committed to overcoming them, you do whatever it takes.

6News and Information for the Speaking Community by SpeakerMatch

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Whenever and whatever you’re pitching, dozens of factors will figure in the final decision of your prospects. And you will have the edge if you can establish a personal connection, both emotionally and intellectually so they like and trust you more than your competitors. How can you get your prospects to like you? Here how:

1. Focus and sincerity. If you appear nervous or unsure, you may seem devious or incompetent. If your sales presentation does not respond to their concerns and you just grind on with a prepared pitch, they will decide you don’t care about them and their problems. Look people right in the eyes and convince them that you stand 100 percent behind the ideas, products, or services that you want to sell them. Pick up on their concerns, and address them.

2. Divide and conquer. If you’re doing a sales presentation, shake hands with everyone as they enter the room. Connect with them so you see them as individuals and you will become more memorable to them. (People are usually shyer in groups of strangers than in one-on-one contacts.)

3. Use technology to enhance your sales presentation, not drown it. PowerPoint can keep you on track, but it can’t establish trust.

4. Keep it simple and memorable. When your prospects have a debriefing afterwards, you want them to remember what you said more than anything your competitors pitched to them. Break your talking points into snappy sound bites that are easy to write down and remember. Make them interesting and repeatable.

5. Steer clear of technical language and jargon. Rehearse your presentation in advance with your spouse or an intelligent 12-year-old across the dinner table. If there’s anything they don’t understand, it’s too complicated.

6. Share compelling stories. People are trained to resist a sales pitch, but no one can resist a good story. Let’s say you’re trying to get money to fund your software company. Tell a story about how the prospective investor’s life will change when you bring the product to market: “Imagine that a year from now you’ll come to work and use this software to do in five minutes what now takes you 45 minutes. I don’t know what that would do to your life, but in all our test markets or pilot programs, people tell us …” Then add more stories.

Take a lesson from Hollywood. Give your stories interesting characters and dialogue, plus a dramatic lesson that

your prospects can relate to. Don’t say, “Certain companies have used our software.” Don’t even say, “IBM has used our software.” Instead, say, “Joe Smith at IBM said to me, ‘If we don’t increase sales turnover by 20 percent, we won’t make our projections.’ We guaranteed them they could if they used our software. Six months later, Joe called and said, ‘You guys saved us.’”

If you are pitching a product that hasn’t been built yet, build a story about what it will be like for someone using it.

A simple truth — when prospects relate to you, like you, and trust you, you’re way ahead of your competition. Use power pitching as the means to a prosperous end.

Contact Patricia Fripp, Executive Speech Coach, Sales Presentation Skills Trainer by phone at (415) 753-6556 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Also visit www.fripp.com.

Points for Sharpening Your Personal Edge Through Power Pitching6By Patricia Fripp

A simple truth — when prospects

relate to you, like you, and trust you,

you’re way ahead of your competition.

Use power pitching as the means to a

prosperous end.

Across1. “Welcome” site4. ___ Today7. “___ la la!”8. Heirloom location10. Bruin legend Bobby11. Bridget Fonda, to Jane12. Colossus14. Highest points17. A pen for livestock in southern Africa18. Norse goddess of love21. Kind of feeling23. Billiards bounce24. “Fantasy Island” prop25. Number cruncher, for short26. Feminine suffix

Down1. Jersey call2. Blood carrier3. Thunderflies4. Colorado Indian5. As written6. Trick taker, often8. Type of word play9. Skin problem13. ___ Rose15. American symbol16. Veers18. TV monitor?19. Bad-mouth20. Baseball stat22. “___ the season ...”

High Finance Crossword

Answer on page 11 The title is a clue to the shaded diagonal word.

7www.speakermatch.com

¡†

The fast food industry got the idea for drive-in windows from banks. I guess there was a McDonald’s executive sitting at the bank drive-through one day who thought, “I don’t think we can fit the milkshakes in these tubes, but …” Netjets, the leader in fractional jet ownership, now owned by Warren Buffet, owes its birth to the vacation time-share industry. The microwave in your kitchen was not originally intended to go there; its original manufacturer, Litton, believed no consumer would buy it and built them only for restaurants. When was the last time you heard of Litton?

What does this tell you? It tells you that successful businesses live or die by cross-industry ‘borrowing’ of ideas, and that inspiration more often than not comes from outside the box than from within. Ordinary businesses stay ordinary — their owners eking out only ordinary incomes (and working too hard for them) as long as they mentally stay in their own tiny backyard. Breakthroughs come from bringing fresh ideas found outside one’s own business and applying them in new ways.

You choose to limit or expand your income by the way you reject or embrace ideas found far from your present modus operandi and industry norms.

The vast majority of these ordinary businesspeople with ordinary incomes and ordinary complaints have this in common:

They get their hands on powerful information like what’s in this publication and waste their time and energy in the non-creative activity of finding all the ways it can’t and doesn’t apply to them.

Some people have such teeny, tiny, calcified, crippled imaginations they can only appreciate an example precisely matched to them. They think “Oh, that won’t work for me because her place sells pizza and I sell Chinese food, and hers is in a medium-sized city and I’m in a small town, and it rains a lot where she is but it’s sunny here; you have to show me an example from a Chinese restaurant in a small town where it’s hot and dry.”

Fools stay stuck in the very limiting “But My Business Is Different” box, thereby negating the value of 99 percent of every successful strategy, example, model they see or that is presented to them.

My client list is, fortunately, chock full of people who think in very opposite ways. They get rich by finding the non-obvious opportunities. Living creatively. Adapting tried-and-true winning strategies from somewhere else to where they are. They attack each issue of my newsletter, each book I suggest to them, with yellow HI-LITER and bias for action instead of a closed mind. They are willing, even eager to

“re-imagine” their businesses while others have Bilbo Baggins’s (The Hobbit) attitude — not interested in adventures — they make you late for dinner. The limited space here does not permit my telling you such client stories, but I invite you to take a peek at www.In12Months.com, free of charge.

One of the most successful marketing strategies of all time is called “gift with appointment.” Today, it brings new patients into dentists’ offices, affluent investors to financial advisors’ seminars, new homebuyers to developments and resort communities, and is in play in hundreds of fields, helping to create millions of sales appointments every week.

To the best of my knowledge, it came from a woman named Estee Lauder. And I wonder how many businesspeople ignored it because “Nothing having to do with selling lipsticks and perfumes could possibly apply to MY business. MY business is different.”

The Why People Fail articles are provided by Dan S. Kennedy, serial entrepreneur, from-scratch multi-millionaire, speaker, consultant, coach, author of 13 books including the No B.S. series (www.NoBSBooks.com), and editor of The No B.S. Marketing Letter.

We Have Arranged a Special FREE Gift From

Dan For YouYou will receive a two-month

free membership in the Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle.

You’ll get newsletters, audio CDs and more.

For more information go to www.speakermatch.com/dankennedy and

sign up now!

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is

trying to please everybody.

~ Bill Cosby

Help! I Can’t Get Out Of The Box I Put Myself In!Now Is The Time To Do Things Differently

8News and Information for the Speaking Community by SpeakerMatch

By Vickie Sullivan, Brand and Marketing Strategist for Experts

Unless you are Attila the Hun, there are folks out there who like you and know your work well enough that your credibility is not an issue.

The key question is: How do you turn that goodwill into new projects?

Here are my top 10 tips for acquiring new business with established clients and colleagues without appearing desperate.

1 Check your motivation. When times are tough, it’s tempting to talk to all of our friends and colleagues. That kind of indiscriminate networking creates a false sense of busyness. By staying in our comfort zone, we rationalize not doing the hard stuff, like “getting out there” and competing in a crowded market. So before approaching any champion, take a hard look in the mirror and ask yourself: Is there really a strategic fit here? If not, any approach will look like you’re desperate for business. You will appear weak and ready to work for less.

2 The closer you are, the more direct you can be. And there are some people who will expect nothing less. You can say something like, “Ya know, I’ve done a lot of thinking about the next level of my business, and I’m looking at new ideas and opportunities. Can I run a couple of things by you?” If you have a reputation for being direct and now start to hedge, your colleague will assume something is wrong. That feeling creates confusion and will be a barrier to closing the deal.

3 Accept reality. Don’t assume that if someone hired you before, that they can hire you now or in the future. Some buying decisions have moved up the food chain. Some budgets have been slashed and aren’t coming back. If that’s happened, your advocate might be embarrassed, so don’t expect a straight answer. Read between the lines, and offer to keep in touch. Be gracious, but don’t spend time where you won’t get a return.

4 Don’t be afraid to say no. With busy schedules, many advocates will first think of current systems to plug you in to. If that option isn’t a good fit, express gratitude and offer other ideas. Example: One of my client’s advocates offered to “certify” her on his system in order to collaborate on consulting projects. Bad branding move — that puts her in the “subordinate” position. Instead, she politely declined and suggested alternative ways to join forces. Moral of the story: An advocate’s first idea may not be his best.

5 Never begin your conversations with a pitch. Kicking off the conversation with a specific way to work together sets up a risky, dead-end conversation. Think about it: What’s the chance your advocate or colleague will say, “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that idea? Let’s start immediately!” If your colleague says “no,” then what do you do? Instead, have brainstorming conversations. Start with something like, “Look, we know we create great things together. We just don’t know what the next step can look like. Let’s just brainstorm for “x” minutes to explore some options. If there isn’t a way to join forces, then we can say we’ve tried and keep in touch.”

6 Never say, “I’ve been reinventing myself.” Or tell potential buyers that you’ve been to a branding expert. This is the biggest mistake my clients can make, so I remind them that I am their secret weapon. By admitting you got help, you imply that the previous reason why they hired/liked you was not working or was incorrect. You look scared, scattered, and in trouble. Instead, say, “I’ve studied the marketplace/this situation from a different angle, and I made some surprising discoveries. Can I run some observations by you and compare notes?” Then flesh out your new message and ideas.

7 Learn then link. The best way to join forces with advocates and colleagues is to help them on whatever they are working on now. Assisting on current projects avoids the “great idea, but we don’t have a budget for that” objection. Linking your work to the front-burner issues also takes advantage of urgency. Your solution has to have a context.

8 Trade war stories. Sometimes in the course of conversations you have an opportunity to compare notes on what you’ve done elsewhere. War stories are the tales we tell to share lessons learned. They are different than giving a business case. The latter gives the big picture; war stories are about the little things that happened on the way to victory. They illustrate how your ideas work in different situations. Have at least five stories that you can reel off at a moment’s notice. And don’t just talk about the results. Focus on the lesson learned.

9 Diagnose, but don’t solve the problem. This is the biggest mistake you can make with advocates. Because you have a relationship with them, it’s easy to jump in and help, especially when they are in trouble. If you do that, you’ll be friends for life but they will not hire you again. Why? Because you just let them know that you’ll help for free … forever. Instead, help by sorting out the issue. Give them clarity, and they will want your help again. If they ask for more, say something like, “Ya know, if we were to work together, I’d focus on ‘x’.” That shows the boundary and also sets up the value of continuing your relationship.

10 Talk shop. When you talk about issues facing work or the industry at large, you don’t look like you are in sales mode. What often happens is that you discover a way to join forces. This conversation is the best way to transcend logistics. If you focus on the solution, then there are various ways to make that happen.

continued on page 9

Garnering Good Business from Goodwill10 Tips for Making Each Established Connection Count

9www.speakermatch.com

Linked in ForumResisting change vs. embracing change. What are the key factors that distinguish people who fight change every step of the way from those who are more open and accepting of it?

There are certainly a number of factors that play into why someone does or does not embrace change. One that I’ve noticed is investment — how much does the individual have invested in the status quo? It’s easy to accept change if you have nothing to lose by trying something new.

~ April Hicks

Indeed, there are many factors that play into people’s propensity for change. As a coach, I specialize in helping people make the changes they want to make in their lives. Some of the most common factors my clients experience are:

1. Lack of clarity. When people aren’t crystal clear about the change they want to make (I want to feel less stressed, etc.), they get overwhelmed, don’t know where to begin and can’t take action. Others try to ‘go it alone’ and get discouraged and give up.

2. Fear plays a huge factor in one’s ability to embrace change.

3. While change may have significant benefits, whenever we make a change, we give something up, and that’s really hard for some people. (“When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Alexander Graham Bell)

And of course, when the change is something that is forced on us, we feel a lack of control and resist ‘being’ changed.

~ Cindy Loughran

In my experience, the clarity issue that Cindy points out is the biggest. To get people to embrace change, they have to thoroughly understand why there is a need to change; what change needs to take place; and the desired results and benefits of change.

Then to the extent possible, it needs to be personalized so each person (in an organizational context) understands what their role is in the overall change process so they can more easily become a stakeholder in the process.

One of my favorite quotes is from Peter Drucker: “The best way to predict the future is to create it”. But to create that future, we must understand the “what” & the “why”, which will then help us buy-in to the “how”.

~ Rick Balsiger

I would also add that in looking at the “fear of change” element, it is always helpful to look at the “end result” of fear. I often ask my clients, “What is the worst thing that could happen?” and this often dispels some of the blockage and converts the energy to a more positive, forward motion.

~ Wendy Scharfman

In my work training people to be mentors I address change on a number of levels because the issue is deeper than the differences between those who embrace change vs. those who resist it.

For example, if we are talking about making a personal change, like breaking a bad habit, I have found it is much easier to introduce a new, positive habit than it is to break a long-standing one.

The expectation of when mastery of the new habit will occur is usually the pitfall. It takes thousands of repetitions before a new habit or practice is mastered. Disuse causes the old habit or practice to weaken and ultimately disappear. There is no need to break the habit in this scenario.

But in a world where instant gratification is an expectation, a long learning curve can be discouraging. It becomes easier to abandon the new practice and resume the old easier habit or practice.

This is why the support of a mentor or coach makes change more possible and makes training more effective, producing higher productivity than training alone.

My own experience has shown me that what I resist, persists. So if I try to force a change because I don’t like the status quo, as soon as I push, everything that can get in the way of the change will get in the way. If I’m not prepared for that resistance, I get the perfect ingredients for a viscous circle and little or no change. Even if I am ready for it, I may shy away because it appears to big for me too handle.

~ Susan Bender Phelps

How to find hot topics: check out their associations’ website, under publications. That’s where the problems are being cussed. Ask: Is this a problem for you guys? What’s the plan to counteract the trends? Then give your take on the situation.

The best thing about advocates and colleagues is that they will gladly give you a fair hearing. Use these tips to be strategic with their gift of time and connections. You’ll be surprised at what two creative minds can cook up.

Since 1987, Vickie K. Sullivan, President of Sullivan Speaker Services, has generated millions of dollars in speaking fees, book advances and ancillary income for her clients. Sign up for her free market intelligence at www.SullivanSpeaker.com.

Garnering Good Business from Goodwill10 Tips for Making Each Established Connection Count continued from page 8

Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what

could be and asked why not.

~ Pablo Picasso

10News and Information for the Speaking Community by SpeakerMatch

When I was a kid, I loved watching Scooby-Doo cartoons. Somehow a group of kids and a dog packed into an old hippie van seemed to solve just about any problem in 23 minutes. One of the key turning points in any episode was when some subtle clue was presented to the group and Scooby’s ears perked up. Acting on this clue ultimately led to the solution of the problem (I could never figure out why the owner of a business always had to dress up in some crazy mask, but we’ll save that for the next article!)

In this article, I’ll share three key ways that you can use your “Scooby ears” to harness your knowledge and connections to help create and nurture solid business relationships.

I don’t advocate listening to people

whine about their problems all day, but if you notice a trend in the direction of challenges within your target market, you need to help become the solution.

I have a local client who owns a machine shop. He heard about the problems that many farm equipment suppliers had with a specific mechanical part wearing out in their products. He discovered that there were microscopic metal burrs that developed on the inside of the shaft where the parts needed to move.

Instead of replying with a “Wow, they are known for wearing out” type of comment, he discovered a way to smooth the lining and fabricate it so it wouldn’t develop the burrs. Today, his machine shop makes many supply parts for the agricultural industry and he is a ka-billionaire.

Twitter and LinkedIn are additional forums for you to listen to your clients. While some people use social media to

talk about various things, the smart people listen. If you perk up your social media Scooby ears, your clients will tell you exactly how you can help them.

Do you have a friend or colleague who knows just about everyone? I have a good friend named Chuck who is one of those people. If I need anything from a good plumber to someone who can haul a semi load of stuff from coast-to-coast, Chuck is my first call. He is a good friend, and whenever he calls and says, “I need a favor,’ I take care of it ASAP.

“The Godfather,” “Goodfellas,” “Donnie Brasco,” and even “Pulp Fiction” had a character who was known by everyone to be able to handle anything. While the skill set needed by a person in a mafia movie is somewhat different than the skill set needed in the business world, the concept is the same. You want to be known as someone who is indispensable within your industry.

Add people to your business Rolodex whether you need their services or not. You never know when you may visit with someone who needs something in which you may be able to facilitate an introduction. I have opened up quite a few doors for people without any expectation of the favor being returned. It just seems that whenever I help others, my business tends to improve. Maybe it’s a karma thing.

How do you become an expert? Research a bit on the challenge and begin writing articles addressing the problem at hand and your recommendations on how to fix them. Submit these articles to the publications that your clients

read. I also recommend blogging about your clients’ problems and creating the solutions. Remember to tag your blogs with the problem as well as the solution as most people will Google “How to unclog a drain” as opposed to “running a plumbing snake.”

The next thing that you need to do is to create a title or two that is relative to the problems at hand. One of my most popular programs is titled, “How to Make Great Choices … In Not So Great Times.” This program started out as a high school program designed to aid students in making good decisions. When the economic climate turned south in the United States, I used that title to promote one of my most frequently booked business programs.

Remember: Event planners buy a title. You wouldn’t go to a movie that just read into the description, would you? Titles are everything.

If you combine the Blabvertising concepts that we discussed in last month’s issue with these techniques, your business is sure to skyrocket! I invite you to share any success stories and/or challenges with me as well. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get into my VW bus with Shaggy, Daphne, Thelma, and the gang.

Dave “The Shef” Sheffield is a best-selling author and successful speaker. He has helped over 400,000 people through his speaking and books. He also is an expert at helping speakers grow their speaking business very quickly. You can contact his offices through his website at www.theshef.com.

By Dave Sheffield

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening

when you’d have preferred to talk.

~ Doug Larson

11www.speakermatch.com

How to solve sudoku puzzlesTo solve a sudoku, you only need logic

and patience. No math is required.

Simply make sure that each 3x3 square region has a number 1 through 9 with only one occurrence of each number.

Each column and row of the large grid must have only one instance of the numbers 1 through 9.

sudoku

He who devotes sixteen hours a day to hard study may

become at sixty as wise as he thought himself at twenty.

~ Mary Wilson Little

Overcoming the 6 Most Common Obstacles to Your Success A Common Response and Solution Approach Helps You Clear the Hurdles continued from page 5

speaker selection don’t want to hear your autobiography. They only want to know what you can do for them. If you are positioned as a problem solver and you know what solutions will help them, you’ll get hired eventually. And when you get hired over and over, you’ll have sufficient funds and they’ll find the funds to pay you to solve their problems.

Make contact with past clients, your successful speaking colleagues, and a combination of trusted friends and successful business leaders for whom you have great respect and admiration. Ask for referrals for speaking engagements and a testimonial from each. Be willing to also ask for any suggestions they might have for securing more speaking engagements. Then ask what you can do for them. Be prepared to offer them something in return — either a percentage of anything booked or a finder’s fee or a gift.

If you’re losing business because you either don’t have a website or your website is all about you, which has no traffic and no conversion, create a home page of the most frequently asked questions about your expertise, how you work with customers, how you help clients in your target market solve problems. End with your contact information. This is far superior to a blank page that says, “Website under construction.” You at least have something to send meeting professionals to so that they can learn more about how you can help them.

Solutions to their insufficient funds: Take at least 98 percent responsibility for your results. Then, get to know your target market better than you do now. You should already know their challenges. Create fee flexibility. There’s more than one way to get paid to speak. Go to the articles button on my website for your free copy of the “7 Ways to Get Paid to Speak.”

Make it your business to find out how to get in front of them either for a fee or for product sales. Be flexible in your speaking fee and arrange to offer additional products and services that you’ve created following your presentation. Find related companies and suppliers who would be willing to underwrite your appearance and pay your fee and expenses. Be willing to speak at industry showcases where you have a chance to be seen and heard by industry leaders who can hire you in the future. Consider speaking for free to industry associations whose members represent organizations in your target market that do hire speakers.

Generally speaking, the reason that organizations don’t want to pay your fee is because they don’t see the difference between what you offer and what another speaker offers — in which case, price is all that matters. This is why you have to differentiate your expertise from your competitors and believe in your ability to live up to the claims that you make in your relevant marketing message. When you make it clear that your

content is relevant and valuable, you’ll be hired. They get solutions to increase their productivity, profits and well being, and you get paid for your expertise.

As you can see from the examples, all of them are nonmaterial and they stand in the way of your progress unless you become proactive in removing or diminishing them. They all relate more often than not to your mind-set. I’ve asked you to take at least 98 percent responsibility for your results. This way, you can do something to change your circumstances. The remaining two percent covers material and literal obstacles that you cannot control, but that said, there are super extraordinary experts who speak who have figured out how to get over, under and around all impediments.

If you’re only interested in overcoming obstacles, you do what’s convenient. If you’re committed to overcoming them, you do whatever it takes.

Mary McKay is speaker marketing specialist. Contact her by phone at (949) 429-6646 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Also visit her website at www.turnkeyspeaker.com/.

Puzzle on page 6

answers on page 4

12News and Information for the Speaking Community by SpeakerMatch

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Coming Soon in

Want to be considered as the go-to authority in your area of expertise? Find out how in the July issue when we discuss Sharpening Your Consulting Skills.

most people are not well versed in how to network like a champion. They often downplay its power and potential because they treat it with little respect, and they have never studied what top networkers do to achieve quantum breakthroughs in reaching their goals faster.

A powerful way to help you network more effectively online and offline is to have a great 15-second commercial!

It’s stunning how many people I meet in a given week speaking or traveling who are unmemorable. Not that they’re bad people, but their lack of creativity and charisma often leave me unimpressed, to say the least. They open their mouth to tell me what they do, and only a few capture my attention.

A combination of laziness, fear, and lack of creativity can cause people to miss opportunities that are presented to them each day to network like a pro and pick up valuable contacts. Let’s discuss how you can join the elite group of people who are masterful at this skill.

Creating a Top-Floor Elevator Pitch

The term ‘elevator pitch’ refers to someone’s ability to pitch or tell what his profession is in a succinct and memorable way when asked, “What do you do?” These encounters happen millions of times a day around the world and I’d wager

that 95 percent of them are done poorly and many potential opportunities are wasted. In a tightening economy, I’m a big believer that refining your sales processes and systems is a good thing to do especially when it comes to networking. Great networking skills are an invaluable ally to have in your marketing arsenal.

I must confess that for years my elevator pitch was uninspiring and unmemorable. It was boring and I often winged it. You want to test, practice and own your commercial once you’ve come up with one that captures people’s attention.

Two commercials that I currently use that work like a charm for my company and speaking business are “ I perform marketing exorcisms,” and “I’m in town today to perform a marketing intervention.”

Here are a few strategies and examples to modify and consider for your own business to help you create an impressive 15-second commercial that produce both contacts and business.

1. Make it catchy or play off a hot topic or trend.

Example: “Do you know how people are talking a lot these days about the economy? I show them how to __________ even when they think it’s not possible.”

2. Share a recent success story of interest.

Example: “We recently helped a business here in town by showing them _________.”

3. Use shock value to get the person really thinking.

Example: “What if you ignored _________ and it became a major problem you could’ve easily avoided?”

4. Explain a common problem and how you solve it.

Example: “You know how people always seem to complain about _________, we help them solve this challenge quickly and easily.”

Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. By working on making your first impression stand out, you’ll be amazed at how many new opportunities to engage and win business are certain to follow.

Tony Rubleski is a bestselling author and currently the president of Mind Capture Group. His third book titled, “Mind Capture: How to Awaken Your Entrepreneurial Genius in a Time of Great Economic Change” will release in June 2010. For more information and resources visit www.MindCaptureGroup.com.

An Impressive 15-Second Commercial Can be Your Most Influential Networking Allycontinued from page 1