Why most “speaker trainers” can’t help you grow your business?

Why most speaker trainers can’t help you grow your business?

By Douglas Vermeeren

Recently I have noticed that there are more and more speakers who are including in their business offerings the ability to teach other speakers how to grow their business. This trend includes teaching new speakers how to craft a “signature” talk, present or “rock” the stage, speak internationally,  or grow your non-speaking business by incorporating public talks into your marketing strategies. While most of these ideas are good concepts to grow your business those presenting them are not able to get you to the results you need. And here’s why:

• Most of those who are representing themselves as speaker trainers currently have never achieved success themselves. (You will never rise higher than the person teaching you. If they have never cleared 6 figures neither will you.)
• Most have added speaker training to the their business because they aren’t making enough money elsewhere. (If a person is a speaker trainer they shouldn’t be offering other things. The idea of “Jack of all trades master of none” applies here.)
• Many of those teaching speaking are teaching outdated practices. (The concept of a  “signature talk” hasn’t worked since the 1990’s. Most speakers are not paid a fee to present a “signature” talk in today’s market. the only ones that actually use these today are celebrities, athletes and politicians.)
• Most of the speaker trainers today don’t know or teach anything about the business part of speaking. (Most focus on presentation skills, which is okay. But the presentation is only a fraction of the speaking BUSINESS. If you don’t have the business part figured out you won’t be speaking for long no matter how polished your presentation is.

The speaking business is one of the most competitive professions in the world. If you are going to rise to professional levels in this business you will need support. So if you are looking for a speaker trainer what should you look for? The first thing you need to establish are your specific goals as a speaker and what you are hoping to accomplish in your speaking business.  I recommend setting goals and getting clarity in the following areas: (And then before hiring a speaker trainer ask if this person has the experience to help you get there. when I say experience they should actually be doing it themselves. If they aren’t doing it they won’t be able to give that set of skills to you either.)

What niche do you want to be recognized in? (Does this trainer have experience in helping speakers to position people like you in that niche.)

Do you want to be thought of as a competent leader in your niche? What does that mean? (Each niche has a set of rules on how they find and position their leaders. If the speaker trainer you are thinking of working with isn’t the leader in their arena they don’t know a thing about positioning. What will they be able to teach you?)

What does your business model look like? (does this trainer understand what business models are currently working in today’s marketplace. In a recent training in London, UK my students and I identified nearly 250 business models for the modern speaker. Most people today teach on average 2 -3. Yikes!!!)

What would an effective customer funnel look like for you speaking business? (Again most speaker trainers today don’t understand the importance of a funnel. The bottom line is that if you don’t have a predictable path for your student then you won’t have any. No student = broke.)

What product, workshops or services will you offer, what will you charge and where will you put them in your funnel? (Most speakers feel like maybe they want to have a book. Books used to have power and authority but with he over saturation of print on demand companies no one places prestige on having a book any more. Everyone has one. They mean very little nowadays. There are many products better than books. Having said that there are some cases where books still work. But they don’t work well for everyone. I should also mention that products correctly created sell themselves and also position you as an expert – if you have the right product.)

How often do you want to speak? Getting speaking gigs is one of the most important aspects of your business. If you are not speaking you are not a speaker.  Make sure you select a speaker trainer who understands the 5 kinds of speaking gigs available to you in todays marketplace and that they know how to find these.

Joint Venturing with other speakers is one of the fastest ways to grow your business today. Who do you want to share the stage with and how will you get there. Is the speaker trainer you want to work with connected enough to help you get those joint ventures? Have they done enough of them to know how they work?

How will you get an audience to continue the relationship with you? Many refer to this part as selling from the stage. Selling from the stage is an important part of this business, but continuing the relationship can be done in many ways. In addition it is important to recognize that there are many different ways to sell from the stage. Some of the those ways will work better with your personality. Most speaker trainers today fail in the sense that they only know, practice and teach their way. They create clones of who they are and their selling style doesn’t work for everyone. You need to find and develop your style so that its effective and comfortable.

How will you create excitement around yourself in an oversaturated industry? In a world where there are too many speakers, coaches and trainers how will you stand out and make yourself valuable and visible? One of the essentially that speaker trainers need to understand today is how to use media to position themselves. This includes traditional media like TV, radio, print and also includes social media. (Truthfully many in the upcoming generation are wizards at social media. But social media is only part of the equation. Social media is quickly becoming just noise. Alone it isn’t going to give you the results you need.)

There are many other thoughts I share with my students to consider before they decide on who they want helping them build their speaking business. But one thing I always ask them to consider is this: THIS IS YOUR SPEAKING BUSINESS. GET THE VERY BEST PEOPLE HELPING YOU. THERE IS NO SENSE LEARNING HOW TO DO IT WRONG.

Speaking is a business. And if you are serious about that business you need to get serious about who you have helping you.

Click here to see what these speakers have to say about some of the tools I have to share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp2mAChsRWc

I have been training speakers for years. I have been able to show them how in my first six months as a speaker I was able to generate over 7 figures. I have been able to show them how to get more speaking gigs. JV with some of the top leaders in the business today. I have shown them how to speaker internationally. I have shown them how to get on TV, radio and print. And I have shown them a multitude of others things that are needed for a successful speaking business that most do not even know about.

If you are ready to grow your speaking business drop me a note and I am happy to send you some free tools on growing your business today.

Douglas Vermeeren

The Speaking Business Multiplier

 

The Speaking Business Multiplier coming to Edmonton

Are you a Speaker or coach in Edmonton? Come and let me teach you how I was able to create a 7 figure speaking business and JV with some of the biggest speakers in the world today! By the way did I mention I’m going to also show you how to attract more media. This is an event that will get you ready to rock 2017! https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/5-essentials-to-positioning-yourself-as-an-expert-in-the-speaking-business-with-douglas-vermeeren-tickets-29822781743