Use Referrals to Propel Your Speaking Business!
“The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers.”
– Shiv Singh, Senior Vice President of Global Brand and Marketing Transformation at VisaReferrals of speaking opportunities will propel your speaking business to new heights. However, creating a new customer takes much more effort than obtaining one through a referral.
Think about how you shop. First, you find the item for which you are looking. Then what do you do? You look at the reviews of the item. You are, in essence, looking at referrals from past customers of the product.
Are you more likely to buy a product having excellent or mediocre reviews? Then, of course, you would buy the product with excellent reviews.
When you talk to a prospective customer, the first thing they will do is qualify you. They decide whether your product/service will give them more value than the money they will have to part with to buy.
When you get a referral, you are already getting a vote of confidence in your work, and it is much more likely the referred customer will buy from you. It’s that simple.
In this article, we will explore your referrals journey.
Three Essential Referral Questions
When you start speaking, realize you will have to deliver many presentations for free before you acquire the reputation of paying for your service.
Until you build your speaking business network, you will be presenting to many unrelated organizations. Until you establish a relationship with a person in an organization, no referrals are possible. Relationships are vital in getting referrals.
You must stay in touch with the event planner for the organizations for which you speak. You never know who they may know that will give you your next opportunity to speak.
Always ask the following three questions of the event planner before the presentation is done:
“Are there other groups that you feel could benefit from what I have to order?”
“Can I use your name when I call these groups?”
“Would you be willing to write a testimonial of me?”
These are powerful questions. If you don’t ask these questions, you will constantly have “one-off” presentations that don’t build on others.
So, how can you get speaking referrals?
How to Get Speaking Referrals
The majority of your speaking referrals should come from your present customers. Some may come from your speaking network, but there is no stronger advocate for your product/service than your satisfied customers.
The people in your speaking network must have witnessed you delivering a presentation and know how your presentations can help others. They must know the answer to the “So What?” question. If they don’t know the answer to the “So What?” question, these people will not refer you.
In his book Networking Like a Pro, Ivan Misner says there is a process to network your way to more business.
The other person has to know who you are
The other person has to know how you can improve the lives of others, which means they have to have “seen you in action.”
The other person has to feel comfortable enough in referring you to others – their reputation is on the line
The last bullet only happens if you have established a mutually beneficial relationship with the other person. That means you both benefit from the relationship.
Realize that even with a referral, you may be speaking for free many times before someone pays you for what you have to say. When people want you to talk for free, and you agree, one wise statement you should tell them is, “I waive my fee during the year for some organizations. I will be willing to do this for your organization if there is something in kind you can offer me.” This in-kind item may be an e-mail list of the presentation attendees or a guarantee you can speak at next year’s event or be able to sell your book in the back of the room.
It has been said a speaking business is 97% business and 3% speaking. Therefore, if you do not spend a great majority of your time on your business, you won’t have a business.
Become an intense student of marketing and sales. There are distinct traits of humans that convince them to buy something from someone. Learn and appeal to these traits when you are selling your expertise. A great book on sales is Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource by Jeffrey Gitomer. It is a fun book to read.
Remember, for someone to buy from you, they must believe the in-use value of applying your knowledge is worth more than the price they will pay for your service/product.
Referrals will propel your speaking business. Repeat business also does this.
Repeat Business Should Be Your Ultimate Goal
Another “goldmine” for your business, like referrals, is when your customers buy from you again. Remember, it is significantly more effort to create a new customer than to retain a current customer.
Your current customers are like gold. You should always cater to their wants. You want them to buy more of your service/product.
Probably 20% of your current customers contribute 80% to your revenue. This is known as the Pareto Principle, named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who noted the 80/20 connection at the University of Lausanne in 1896. The Pareto Principle has widespread application in many fields, including your speaking business.
So how do you apply the Pareto Principle to your current customers? Spend most of your time on that 20% of customers who provide 80% of the revenue. Remember, your ultimate goal in business is not to acquire as many customers as possible. It is to increase your revenue.
This article has explored the referrals journey: three essential referral questions, how to get speaking referrals, and why repeat business should be your ultimate goal.
With regular referrals, your speaking business will thrive; without them, your business will dry up!
Call to Action
Ask the three essential questions of your customers to gain more referrals
Build solid relationships with your current customers to gain more referrals
Have repeat business as your ultimate business goal
“Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do business with you.”
– Chip BellFrank DiBartolomeo is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and award-winning speaker, presentation and interview skills coach, and Professional Member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Toastmasters International’s highest individual award, Distinguished Toastmaster, in 2002 because of his outstanding work in public speaking and leadership.
Frank formed DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC (www.speakleadandsucceed.com) in 2007. The mission of DCI is to help technical professionals to inspire, motivate, and influence their colleagues and other technical professionals through improving their presentation skills, communication, and personal presence. Frank can be reached at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com and (703) 509-4424.
Don’t miss Frank DiBartolomeo’s latest book!
“Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations”
Available now at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com