Generating Prospects Through Public Speaking

For small business owners and the self-employed, generating new prospects is always on our minds. We don’t have the kind of revenue to support large-scale media campaigns, so our prospecting efforts have to be more targeted. Many of us learned the hard way what doesn’t work, and through trial and error have found some things that do. For many, speaking engagements have resulted in additional clients, which have made their investment of time a successful one. Here are some ways that you can succeed in getting yourself in front of an audience of potential clients.

One-Off Seminars

Presenting seminars is one way to assure you have an audience that fits the demographic you’re looking for. If your budget is small, you can compile the prospect list yourself from any source available to you. Websites, on-line phone books, business journals, business cards you’ve collected over the years, and personal networking can all be list sources for you. Next, have a simple brochure printed up and write a personal note on it to help ensure the seminar will catch the prospect’s eye. About a week after mailing it, follow up by phone.

You can hold the seminars in small hotel meeting rooms that have easy access to highways and are centrally located to your target audience. Charge a nominal fee that is large enough to communicate value, but low enough to avoid scaring anyone away. Seventy-five dollars to $125 should work well. The price really doesn’t matter much, as making money from the seminar itself is not your primary goal. The goal is to generate new prospects from those who attend.

Conventions

If you have a long-standing, positive reputation in your field, you should be successful at securing a few speaking gigs at annual conventions. If needed, you can choose only to do local events so that you don’t have the additional expenses associated with travel. One of the great things about speaking at an organization’s annual convention is that they usually promote you and your business before, during, and after the event. This, when added to the contacts you make at the event itself, can result in a substantial expansion of your business network, as well as additional clients.

Monthly Meetings and Luncheons

There are many business organizations whose members could be potential clients, and most of them hold some sort of monthly meeting or luncheon. They are often looking for speakers to address their membership free of charge. You may even be able to generate prospects through extended contacts from the people you meet at these events in addition to the attendees themselves.

Although a bit labor intensive, you may find that speaking engagements are well worth your time. You never know who you will meet, or who those people will know. It can be a productive way to expand your network of contacts and generate new prospects.

If you’d like to speak at one of our events, please let us know!