Episode 262

Speaker Coaching: From £1K School Talks to £10K Corporate Keynotes (Plus The System for Booking Corporate Speaking Gigs)

Episode Summary

In this coaching session, John Ball works with speaker Jackson Ogunyemi, who has spent 25 years speaking in the education sector and now wants to transition into higher-paying corporate speaking opportunities.

Jackson has the experience, the message, and the stage presence. What he’s missing is the business engine that consistently generates bookings.

Together they unpack some uncomfortable realities about the speaking industry: why conferences rarely pay new speakers well, why speaker bureaus don’t create demand, and why many talented speakers stay stuck at low fees.

From there, they build a practical strategy: identify a hunting niche, use LinkedIn to find prospects, send simple outreach messages, and create a consistent follow-up system.

If you want to turn speaking into a real business rather than hoping to be discovered, this episode will show you where to start.

Want to join John's 'Serious About Speaking' newsletter? Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6882642444815519744

In This Episode

  1. Why many speakers rely on the wrong growth strategies
  2. The reality of speaker bureaus and conferences
  3. Why visibility alone doesn’t generate bookings
  4. How to identify a profitable speaking niche
  5. Why sales teams could be a powerful market for speakers
  6. How LinkedIn can become a speaker prospecting tool
  7. The outreach message that gets responses
  8. Why persistence matters more than perfection
  9. How to build a simple speaking sales engine

Key Insight

Most speakers try to build an audience before they build a business.

The real order is:

  1. Build a sales engine
  2. Get booked and paid
  3. Then grow your visibility on top of that momentum

Practical Steps From This Episode

If you want to start building your speaking pipeline:

  1. Choose a clear hunting niche
  2. Build a list of companies in that niche
  3. Contact them on LinkedIn with a simple question
  4. Track your outreach in a CRM
  5. Follow up consistently

Even 30–60 minutes a day of prospecting can start generating conversations and opportunities.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Offended But Hooked

01:29 Meet Jackson's Pivot

02:34 Education Fees Reality

06:16 Corporate Audience Fit

08:34 Why Bureaus Wont Help

10:05 Pick A Hunting Niche

12:59 Outreach That Gets Replies

15:14 CRM And Follow Up Rhythm

16:23 Daily Prospecting Engine

19:29 Persistence Mindset Shift

22:24 Add Workshops And Examples

24:49 Wrap Up And Next Steps

25:40 Final Takeaways And CTA

Visit https://strategic-speaker.scoreapp.com to take the 2-minute Strategic Speaking Business Audit and find out what's blocking you from getting more bookings, re-bookings, referrals and bigger fees. There's a special surprise gift for everyone who completes the quiz.

Want to get coached for free on the show? Fill in the form https://forms.gle/mo4xYkEiCjqtz9yP6, and if we think your challenge could help others, we'll invite you on.

For speaking enquiries or to connect with me, you can email john@presentinfluence.com or find me on LinkedIn

You can find all our clips, episodes and more on the Present Influence YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PresentInfluence

Thanks for listening. Rating the show 5* on Spotify helps their algo recommend the show, so please take a moment to follow the show and leave a rating.

Mentioned in this episode:

SPGFS - Hiro.fm

Becoming known will always make it easier to get booked and podcast guesting is one of the easiest ways to make that happen, when you have the right strategy. This program will teach you everything you need to know about podcast guesting, from the tech stack to making an impact. You'll get all the tools to stand out as an amazing podcast guest and get booked on great shows.

The Strategic Speaking Business Audit

Take this quick quiz to find out where and why your speaking business is leaking opportunities.

Transcript
Speaker:

John (2): In this episode, you're gonna

hear a speaker with 25 years of experience

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tell me that an article I wrote actually

annoyed and offended him and that moment

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leads to a conversation about something

he really didn't want to hear, that

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speaker bureaus and conferences are not

going to build his speaking business.

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If you are a brilliant speaker who

isn't being paid like one, this episode

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is gonna give you a practical way to

start building a speaking pipeline

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that actually turns into bookings.

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Most speakers try to get known first

by throwing everything they can at

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social media, usually LinkedIn, right?

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They chase conferences, bureaus,

and visibility and wonder why

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nothing's really converting.

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The harsh truth is those channels mostly

reward people who are already in demand.

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In this coaching session, I work with

Jackson Ogunyemi, a motivational speaker

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with 25 years of experience, strong

results in education, and we talk

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about a big pivot into corporate now.

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He's got the talent, he's got the message.

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What he really needs is the engine.

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You hear us talk about helping him land

on a hunting niche, building a simple

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outreach system, and mapping out a

realistic daily prospecting routine.

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So there's no fluff here.

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No manifest your keynote woowoo.

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Just what to do this week to start

getting responses and paid conversions.

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Let's get into it,

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but today we are back with another

coaching session for you and

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we're gonna discuss a particular

issue, one that he actually first

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got in touch with me for Jackson.

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Tell me, take it away.

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Tell me what's going on for you

with your speaking business right

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now, and how am I able to help?

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Jackson: Excellent.

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Great.

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So, I've been speaking for over 25 years.

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Love what I do, great at what I do

and for me is you're great at what

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you do, but you're not getting paid

to the level of impact that you make

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and the influence that you have.

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So I was just scrolling randomly as

you do on LinkedIn, came across one

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of your articles that annoyed me

and offended me at the same time.

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And it was just the idea behind, you

are broke because not because you're

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not good, you are broke because you're

not really thinking as a business.

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So it's that whole phrase in of it's

not the best speakers that get paid

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the best is the best marketed speakers.

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get paid.

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And it just flipped things for me.

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So for me, that visibility

piece is very important.

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John: Absolutely.

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Many of the world's most talented

artists have died in poverty.

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that's certainly not what we want

for, for speakers and when there's

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no real reason for it as well.

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So tell, tell me a little bit about what

you speak about and who you speak to.

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Jackson: Yeah, so for the last 25 years,

I've specialized in going into education

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spaces and doing motivational talks

within schools and and, and teachers.

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So I do a lot of that.

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And then I started pivoting

into corporate spaces as well.

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The challenge I have is that visibility.

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Do I stay in education and go all in,

or do I go into corporate space, a

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new world with the same visibility?

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And so what I'd speak about

is happiness and success.

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Those are my two key.

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topics, so I'm known as the motivational

speaker that really brings the energy

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and the inspiration into that room to

help somebody to unlock their potential

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to be happier and more successful.

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John: Okay, those are important things and

that's definitely fulfilling a need that

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many people don't have in their lives.

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Weirdly, I probably know more about

educational speaking in the US

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than I do in, in the UK and Europe

because of work that I've done

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with The Speaker Lab organization.

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But just from you, probably do have

a better insight on this than me.

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What would you say is

the speaking potential?

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In the education industry in the uk,

what sort of fees do you have seen

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people be able to command there?

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Jackson: The ceiling, now

I say ceiling, but 5K for

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keynotes to to an academy trust.

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That's probably the most I've

actually been able to get from

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education where I got to speak in

front of 1,200 people for an hour.

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So I think that 5K mark is

that, and that's sort of the

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unicorn of it, I believe.

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On a regular basis, you're probably

looking at:

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keynote to a group of teachers.

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The same amount for students

as well for the day.

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So where you get paid for an hour

for teachers, you probably charge

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the same for a day for students.

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So that's what we're looking at.

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John: Okay.

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now from my perspective, one 2000 and it's

still getting paid, but it's a pretty low.

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Speaker fee and 5K, if

that's sort of top range.

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That's more, it's very

mid range for my speakers.

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Jackson: Hmm.

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John: Are you, are you happy to keep

going in the industry knowing that

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that's sort of the top range for you?

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Or do you need to explore areas

where the range is more open?

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Jackson: I think I, I would love to

explore more where the range is open.

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The vision is to be able to get paid

handsomely enough to not have to

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milk from education and force them so

when they go through their picks and

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troughs, it doesn't affect my income.

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So definitely would love to

explore more opportunities.

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John: I think, I think this may have come

up a little bit when we talked before, but

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for for our audience sake who didn't get

to hear that conversation, are you open to

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speaking outside of the UK and traveling

maybe to US, Canada and other places where

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speaking fees might actually be higher?

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Jackson: Yeah, definitely.

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I think, that if the message is right

and the opportunity is definitely

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would be a great opportunity.

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John: So my imagination is this, and

you can tell me if this is not the case,

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that you probably wanna keep talking

on the same things and stay in the same

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area, but maybe it's time to at least

look at where you take that message

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and who, who you go to with that.

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what are some of the possibilities that

you are happy to explore in that way?

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Jackson: I think just being

able to say, okay, this same

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message, that's good over here.

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I can take it over here and get paid more.

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and I'm pretty much ready to,

the time is there, the energy

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is there, the message is there.

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The frustrating thing is to know that

right now I can deliver to, to a group

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of CEOs or an organization and it

would hit, but they don't know I exist.

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John: Who needs this message,

do you think then in the, in the

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companies and corporate world?

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Jackson: I think companies

focus a lot on performance.

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They've gotta perform well, but if

the person that you want to perform

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isn't happy with themselves, it's

hard for them to perform well.

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And so for me, I have a big message on

happiness first because happiness is the

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foundation to success and performance.

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And so an individual who wants

to perform well, but they're not

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feeling themselves, and because they

haven't put their happiness first.

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That's the kind of person they're,

they're burning out, they're frustrated.

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They're just, there's that life and

they're expected to perform at their best.

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That's the kind of person.

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John: Okay, so let's maybe think of some

specific examples of people in corporate

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life who are in that position of they need

to be or want to be and need to be high

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performers, and sometimes struggling to

show up or keep showing up consistently

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at that kind of level and need a bit of

your magic to help them along the way.

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Who, who would fit?

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Jackson: The kind of

person that would fit.

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We're probably talking about

a middle leader actually, who

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has to sort of govern a team.

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And if I'm not at my best, there's no way

I can lead my team to be at their best.

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So leaders of teams would be definitely

a good space to really serve.

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John: Okay, perfect.

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So that is essentially already starts

to narrow things down and, and there is

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potential to narrow down even further.

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And we can talk about that

as, as we go maybe in this

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session or maybe another time.

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But, you said that people

don't really know who you are.

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So let me ask you this, what do

you do currently, in terms of

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marketing yourself as a speaker?

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as I would say, other than what I see

on LinkedIn, you seem pretty active

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on LinkedIn now that we've been

connected and I've seen you there.

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But other than that, what are you

doing to promote yourself as a speaker?

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Jackson: I think it's trying to sort

of get a list of bureaus and speaking

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to sort of see if I can get on because

that makes things leveraged that way.

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Putting out content is one that I

do, but aside from that, those are

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the two things I try to sort of put

together, reaching out to conferences

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to really pitch myself to them directly.

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But yeah, that a lot of work yeah.

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John: Yeah.

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No, that's great.

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That's great.

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I think that a lot of people

find themselves in that position.

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so, so this isn't gonna be nice to

hear, but it is gonna be the reality

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of what's going on with all of that.

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that conferences are really only

interested in booking speakers.

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so if you get invited into a conference,

if you're not already a big name, they

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haven't sought you out, they may offer

you, they may offer you a breakout.

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They may offer you, a workshop.

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they may offer you an honorarium for

doing that, but they're not gonna

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offer you a big fee for doing it.

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They may even ask you to pay for

being there because they're putting

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you in front of people who might be

helpful for you to be in front of.

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Jackson: Hmm.

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John: The social media

stuff is always good.

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I mean, being active on

LinkedIn is really helpful.

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the reality about bureaus

and these sorts of services.

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they really want speakers who

are established and are known.

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You need to have already done

the work and have the profile

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for that to be valuable for you.

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Because bureaus are not actively

pushing you as a speaker.

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They will just have you on their books.

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They want people to be calling

and saying, Hey, we've seen this

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guy Jackson, and he's great.

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Can you book him for us?

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Does, does that make sense?

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Jackson: Yeah, it hurts,

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But it makes sense.

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John: It hurts, but this is just

like ripping off the bandaid.

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you don't know what you don't know,

but that's how bureaus operate.

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And just an unfortunate reality.

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But a lot of speakers think, if I get

myself on a bureau, I'll be fixed.

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But what you actually

need is you need an engine

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For your business.

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And that's what's missing at the moment.

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And so I think for me a few options here.

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But for me, one of the best ones

usually, especially if you're going

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to corporates and businesses, is

gonna be LinkedIn where you are

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already active and to start looking

for searching for leads in the areas.

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And so this is where you may need to

narrow things down even more and start

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finding what we call a hunting niche.

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And this is the sort of company area where

you are going to look for opportunity.

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So, if, if education were

actually a better paying option

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And it's sad that we have to it should

be, and the, the education system

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should be better funded than it is,

but this is the world we live in.

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but if it were, you could say right?

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No, let's focus in on education and

find the people to connect with there.

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If you have other corporate or business

experience that might be relevant here

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or there's places where you've spoken

where you really connected well and

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people were received well, and so I think,

alright, we could go for more of that.

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It could be tech, it could be, banks,

it could be, pretty much anything.

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It could be salespeople, but it's really

picking those right, the right sort of

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groups for you to at least be starting to

explore and find search for opportunity.

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LinkedIn probably is going to be one of

your best sales engines for doing that.

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So what do, what are your thoughts?

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I mean, based on your own knowledge

and experience, where might you start

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with as, what could be some of the

options for you as a hunting niche here?

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Jackson: Yeah, I think you, you are

right in sort of finding that platform

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and going all in with that platform.

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I've been on it for quite a while and

people are sort of seeing what I've done

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and just booked in one or two calls.

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So, yeah, I think LinkedIn and diving

in to look for maybe, I don't know

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whether it's conference organizers

or going direct to HR departments,

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John: Yeah, I, I would say, look, if

you want, if you're new corporate, I

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would probably forget about conferences

just at the moment, unless you,

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unless you want that experience.

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But ultimately, we want to get you paid

and want to get paid decent amount and

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really with your level of experience.

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Anything below 5K is almost offensive

to pay you to be honest for what

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you know you can deliver on a stage.

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for the, for the

experience that you are at.

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It should be an easy jump for you to be

getting to 10,000 or more per booking.

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I don't think it will take you

long to figure that out with the

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right, with the right places.

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But let's, let's pick, let's kind

of pick an industry that could

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be good for you to, to focus on.

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Jackson: Yeah.

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I think sales kind of popped into

mind because I, I'm both happiness

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and energy at the same time.

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Really.

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So those two, is that right?

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Sales?

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Go, go, go, Mr.

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Action Jackson.

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Let's make it happen.

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definitely.

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Look, if I was going to pivot,

that would be an interesting.

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John: Sales teams love high energy, and I

think you would be perfect for that kind

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of environment, with LinkedIn search, you

can start finding companies with sales

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teams and start reaching out to them.

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You do need to start finding the

right people to connect with there.

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But here's what I'll say.

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Don't worry too much about that.

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Um.

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Sometimes it'll be obvious.

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You, you could go to hr, but

it's not always HR who do events.

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You could try and see if they have an

events person, but really all you need

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to do is try and get a contact wherever

possible at that place, because then

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you can send an an email to them.

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Like if they seem like the kind

of person who might actually be

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booking their speakers, you can

ask, Hey, um, just reach out to see

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if you are responsible for booking

speakers for your company's events.

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If they come back and say,

yes, great, then you follow up.

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In fact, if they give, if you

have a phone number, then I

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would jump straight on the phone.

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I'm all all about action, right?

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Jump straight on the

phone, get them on a call.

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Um, if they say no, you respond

back, could you tell me who

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is responsible for that?

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I would love to speak to them.

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They may come back again

and say, I don't know.

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Again, I would always try and

jump on the phone if you can,

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but go back and say, oh look.

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Hey look.

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I'd really like to connect with them.

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Could you help me find out who that is?

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The main thing you are looking for

here is also gonna be a response.

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One of the challenges that people

sometimes have in this particular area

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is you may not get responses in the

timeframe you would like to get them.

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'cause sometimes people are overwhelmed

or, or not looking for a speaker right

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now, or that email doesn't seem relevant

to me, whatever, and they may not respond.

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This is where persistence is

gonna be your best friends.

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How do you feel about being

persistent with reaching out to them?

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Jackson: Well, I love that.

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Definitely for me, it's just finding

different ways to knock on the same door.

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John: Sure.

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I mean, at this stage, if you haven't

had an initial reply, I would pretty

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much be sending the same message and

certainly you could say, Hey, I did

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send you an email the other week.

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Maybe you haven't had a

chance to respond to it.

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and you probably want to leave at least

a week with the first message, and

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then maybe go maybe a couple of weeks

if you haven't heard back, and then

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maybe a month later to reach out again.

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This is where a C.R.M.

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system, client resource management

tool is gonna be essential for you

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if you don't already have that.

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Something like Pipedrive.

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which does, I think you can

do initially for free trial.

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there's a bunch of these

services around and, and if you

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don't, do you have one already?

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Lemme just ask.

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I think I'm using Zoho.

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Zoho.

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Okay.

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I haven't tried that.

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But if that, if that works for you

and that's good for individual CRM and

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Jackson: yeah,

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John: follow up reminders and

that kind of thing, great.

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That's really what you want at this stage.

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Yeah.

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And, and keep following up with them.

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But, but the point of the

first email is all you want.

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Is a response.

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And so you just want a simple

question that's a yes or no

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answer and easy to reply to.

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Not overwhelming them.

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You don't need to tell

them what you speak about.

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You don't need to send

your, your one sheet or your

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abstracts or anything like that.

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Just a simple question

that they can respond to.

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And you want that yes no answer

and then follow it up and you can

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figure out the follow up a bit after.

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But I mean, does that sound like

something that is doable for you?

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Jackson: Yes, definitely.

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It's quite practical and something that

you can do straight away, so, yeah.

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Sounds good.

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John: Prospecting, now we, we talked

about the article you read, big part

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of that was about this, this is the

sales engine for a speaker business.

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Even if you have bureaus knocking

at your door, you still need this.

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Jackson: Mm-hmm.

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John: You still need this because they

may not still be able to fill your books.

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They'll, they'll get you bookings.

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They're gonna take a

commission, of course.

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And usually that's not huge, but

they are gonna be taking a cut.

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And you may, some speakers may get

to a point where you don't need that.

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But nearly always speakers with

bureaus, they're hot when the hot

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and when they're not, they're not.

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So you still need an engine

to keep the business running.

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And this is it.

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Daily prospecting, Monday to Friday.

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30 to 60 minutes a day.

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It's not all reach out all that time.

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Sometimes it's just finding

the people to prospect to.

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Sometimes it's following up with

people you've already reached out to.

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If there are places you've spoken

before where you might like to go

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and speak again, reach out to them.

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They're part of your CRM.

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Put them into the system if they're not

already there, and follow up with them.

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but really all about this is your

system for finding the places to reach

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out, to, reaching out to them and

following up with them, and following

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:

up with anybody who has responded to

you or you've spoken before that you

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:

would like to go and speak again.

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:

Jackson: Makes sense sounds, sounds

really straightforward in terms of

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just literally knocking on those

doors and just keep chipping away.

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Yeah.

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:

John: So once you know the kinds of places

you want to speak, the sort of sizes of

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companies, the sort of minimum profit or

turnover sort of things you want to get

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to as well, the people who will be able

to afford the kinds of fees that you want.

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That's gonna make it a lot easier,

but this is gonna be the process

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to, to put in place and to start

getting consistent daily with.

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Jackson: Sounds amazing.

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John: Let me ask you this.

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How many speaking gigs would

you like to be having each month

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:

and at what sort of price range?

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Jackson: If we are getting the, the seven

to 10 K gigs in a month, if we can get

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five of those, that would be very good.

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John: That would be a pretty nice month.

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:

So if you were getting somewhere

between 35 and 50,000 for all the,

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:

for a bunch of gigs in one month,

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Jackson: yeah.

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John: That would look like

a pretty nice month, right?

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Jackson: Very good month.

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John: Yeah.

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Okay, great.

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:

And, and, and I do think it's doable.

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It will take time to build up to that.

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But this, this is gonna be

the engine that does that.

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:

There are things that might

put you off about it in terms

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:

of, it can be a bit slow.

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One of the questions I got before, and

I also pre-answered this for you, is if

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you're not getting much response from

people in that, in that industry or if

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:

you've a particular industry, you're not

getting much response from them, you may

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:

need to start trying other hunting niches.

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:

sometimes some areas just are not

very responsive and, and sometimes

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:

they may not be responsive because

they're not booking a lot of speakers.

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:

So, sometimes they might, they

might be checking you out.

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:

It might just be you're getting

hold of the wrong people.

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:

There are so many things that could

slow down the progress for you.

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But one of the things that stops

a lot of speakers from doing this

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:

consistently and that persistence

thing we talked about is feeling like

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you're gonna be a pain in their butt

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:

Jackson: doing

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:

John: Yeah.

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:

Like they're gonna get

fed up of hearing from me.

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And so here's, here's what I say to that.

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:

Good.

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:

Good if they do, because what are they?

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:

What are they gonna do about it?

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If they respond to you and say,

Hey, could you stop emailing me?

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:

they probably won't, to be honest.

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But if they respond to you and say,

Hey, could you stop emailing me?

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:

You say, Hey, look, I'll stop

emailing you if you tell me who

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:

books, your speaking gigs, you

don't have to be a dick about it.

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:

You just need to be, all right.

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:

Yeah, I'm just gonna stay persistent,

but I'm gonna stay professional and

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:

I'm gonna stay friendly with it.

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:

the chances are.

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:

If they do get fed up of seeing your

emails, and let's face it, how many

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:

emails do we all get all the time?

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:

if you see, if you see someone keeps

popping up your email, chances are more

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:

like, I've never responded to this guy.

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:

He keeps sending me emails,

I should respond to him.

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:

And that's probably the level of fed

up they're gonna get about your emails.

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:

Generally people won't get

more pissed off than that.

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:

And if they do, so what your

goal is, a response from them?

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:

we are always gonna feel worse about the

amount I'm sending them so many emails.

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:

What are they gonna think of me?

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:

It's us, us who feel worse

about it than they ever will.

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:

Jackson: Hmm.

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:

Very true.

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:

That makes a lot of sense.

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:

There's shifting that mindset to say

it's okay to be a pain in a butt.

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:

John: It, it is and, and you probably

won't be, the reality is you probably

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:

won't be, won't really get to

that stage because it's very easy.

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:

kind of anything, anything that you just

leave and don't respond to for a while.

420

:

You just know at some point if

they keep coming back you can say,

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:

I'm gonna have to respond to this.

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:

It's just too much.

423

:

They, they just too persistent.

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:

I'm gonna have to respond.

425

:

And that's not a terrible

position to get to, but that is.

426

:

Potentially the level of

persistence that you may need

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:

to have in a lot of cases here.

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:

Jackson: very true.

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:

John: the amount of prospecting

you do with, with one place

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:

is entirely up to you.

431

:

Jackson: Mm-hmm.

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:

John: Some people will hardly ever

take a place off their CRM and will

433

:

be I will keep going with them until

I get a response, and then until I

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:

get maybe even until I get a booking.

435

:

which sometimes could

take years of follow up.

436

:

Some in some situations,

not in most thankfully.

437

:

that's up to you.

438

:

Some people will be maybe they can

stay on my for a few months, but

439

:

if I don't hear back from them in

that time, let's cross them off.

440

:

Jackson: Good.

441

:

Makes sense.

442

:

I think that persistence and

just keep chipping away at it

443

:

until you get the response.

444

:

Yeah, and interesting.

445

:

It's a different headspace, as a speaker

once you cross over to speaking business

446

:

Your, your keynote is the product.

447

:

You've gotta push that product.

448

:

And I think that shift, it

makes a lot of sense for that.

449

:

John: I'm also not gonna say

here that this is the only thing

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:

that will get you bookings.

451

:

This is the engine that will

drive your speaking business.

452

:

But things like networking at the events

you do speak, getting there early and

453

:

mixing with people sometimes even, Lemme,

lemme ask you this have a few minutes and

454

:

and I wanna make sure you get value this.

455

:

Is speaking the only thing that

you are looking to offer here or

456

:

are you maybe thinking about other

things like workshops, consulting,

457

:

any other sort of offerings?

458

:

Jackson: Yeah, so there's the speaking

and, I do the speaking, I also do

459

:

public speaking training as well,

so there's other pieces that I have.

460

:

So there's the speech and then there's

workshop that I do, that I do conduct.

461

:

Yeah.

462

:

John: Okay, great.

463

:

communication skills could go over very

well in sales environments as well.

464

:

Jackson: Okay.

465

:

John: If you haven't already come across.

466

:

This guy is a friend of mine.

467

:

we've worked together before as

well, and he speaks in this area too.

468

:

a speaker called Ravi Rajani.

469

:

Jackson: Okay.

470

:

John: And, he's great like yourself,

very energized, does very well in

471

:

sales environments and he does do

those sort of workshops with sales

472

:

teams on communication skills,

on speaking and communication,

473

:

and does very well with that.

474

:

He, back to, you'll tell you

someone that's very well worth you

475

:

checking out and, and, he might

be listening to this as well.

476

:

in fact, he's gonna be coming on.

477

:

We're trying to arrange coming

onto, onto my show soon to have chat

478

:

about what he's doing at the moment.

479

:

But, he's a really great example

of someone who manages that,

480

:

that engine of his business

481

:

Has picked picked, a nice

specific area to go and speak at.

482

:

Has matched that with his

energy and style, which somewhat

483

:

similar to yours and, and really

knows what he's doing there.

484

:

He is getting the big fees.

485

:

He is getting seen and recognized, but

486

:

What he hasn't done is tried to build all

the profile on LinkedIn and everywhere

487

:

else, social media stuff first.

488

:

He's built his speaking business

first and now he's building his

489

:

online profile built on that.

490

:

And I think that is the

better way to do it.

491

:

you need to, you need to fix

where the leak is first before you

492

:

start adding more, more things on.

493

:

solve the foundational parts

before you build on top of it.

494

:

That's a great way to think about this.

495

:

It doesn't mean you shouldn't

do any of those other things.

496

:

It just means they shouldn't be a

primary focus potentially at this stage.

497

:

won't necessarily hurt you, but

it's not gonna get you the results.

498

:

It's probably gonna leave you feeling

a little more frustrated than you

499

:

like to be, that it's not getting you

as far as it seems to get some other

500

:

Jackson: Yes, of course.

501

:

Makes sense.

502

:

John: Perfect.

503

:

So let me, let me, let's wrap things up.

504

:

What are you, what are you most taking

away from our conversation today?

505

:

Jackson: That hunting niche and

going after that and creating that

506

:

pipe drive, sort of, system and just

keep knocking until you get some

507

:

kind of Yes, and love this call.

508

:

It's been very practical, not

sort of like idea woo woo.

509

:

Is that right?

510

:

I can come off this call now.

511

:

Go and apply it and actually

start looking for results.

512

:

Watch out for me coming back

to you to say, John, guess what

513

:

John: I want to hear that.

514

:

I, I definitely want to hear that

when it starts, when it starts working

515

:

and it starts coming into play, all

the results start coming through.

516

:

I definitely wanna hear it and

I wanna celebrate that with you.

517

:

Jackson: Yes.

518

:

John: and maybe bring you back tell us

all about it at some point in the future.

519

:

Jackson: No, that sounds good.

520

:

It's been very, very practical.

521

:

Thank you so much, John.

522

:

And to all our listeners.

523

:

John: Thanks Jackson.

524

:

Excellent.

525

:

Here's what I hope you'll

take from the session.

526

:

Bureaus aren't going to

build your business for you.

527

:

Conferences aren't going to discover you.

528

:

What they can do is amplify momentum

that you've already created.

529

:

If you want consistent fees and

consistent bookings, you need an

530

:

engine, a hunting niche, a list, a

follow-up system, resilience, and the

531

:

emotional maturity to stay politely,

persistent when people don't reply.

532

:

Jackson's next move was pretty simple.

533

:

Pick sales teams as the

initial hunting niche.

534

:

Use LinkedIn as the lead source

and keep the first message friction

535

:

free and track follow ups properly.

536

:

So nothing leaks.

537

:

John (2): If you could use some help

figuring out your niche, building up your

538

:

list, Working on your outreach messages

or getting your prospecting moving.

539

:

That's the work I do with professional

speakers inside my coaching program.

540

:

Visit present influence.com

541

:

to find out more.

542

:

If you'd like to be coached on the show

for free, like Jackson, you'll find the

543

:

link in the show notes, or you can email

me directly, john@presentinfluence.com

544

:

and I'll send you the

application form link.

545

:

And if you do all the work and

it starts landing, let me know.

546

:

tell me.

547

:

I love a good guess what happened

after I took action, John?

548

:

Kind of message.

549

:

And one last thing before you go.

550

:

Jackson mentioned earlier that he

first reached out to me after reading

551

:

an article I had written that annoyed

and offended him, but in a useful way.

552

:

If you enjoy ideas that challenge

how speakers think about their

553

:

business, I share articles like that

regularly in my LinkedIn newsletter.

554

:

it's free to sign up to, and My articles

are not written to make you comfortable.

555

:

They're written to be useful.

556

:

Sometimes the ideas land gently and

sometimes they're gonna poke you in

557

:

the eye, but if they help you think

differently about your speaking

558

:

business, they've done their job.

559

:

It's free to sign up to.

560

:

There's no email list to join.

561

:

Just come and find me on LinkedIn

through the link in the show notes

562

:

if you would like to read them maybe

you can even find the article that

563

:

offended and upset Jackson so much.

564

:

So wherever you're going, whatever you're

doing, have an amazing rest of your day.

565

:

We'll see you next time

on professional speaking.

About the Podcast

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About your host

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John Ball

John Ball is a keynote coach and professional speaker on a mission to help upcoming leaders master their communication, create impact and stand out as experts in their field.
John left the high life of his flying career to do something more meaningful to him and has since worked with several leading personal and professional development organisations as a lead coach and trainer.
The heart of everything John does involves helping people shift to personal responsibility and conscious awareness of how they show up and perform in every situation, whilst equipping them with the tools to be exceptional.
John also co-hosts The Coaching Clinic Podcast with his great friend and colleague Angie Besignano.
He lives in the beautiful city of Valencia, Spain with his husband and often visits the UK and US for speaking and training engagements. When he's not speaking or podcasting, he's likely to be out swimming, kayaking or enjoying time with friends.

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