2 Things You Must Do to Get Booked to Speak at Other People’s Events

Nov 20, 2018 / By Deirdre Van Nest
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To speak at an event, you must convince the organizer that you want to help their audience and can provide true value. Here’s how to do both, including scripts to use in your email correspondence.

In a recent article, “How to Keep Your Pipeline Full Without Spending a Dime,” I wrote about hosted events and how getting yourself booked to speak at them is a time- and cost-effective method for getting in front of prospects.

I also shared my my top two sources for finding hosted events. To sum up:

  1. Do an online search for all the groups/events in your community that bring in speakers.
  2. Ask your clients, colleagues, and friends to connect you with groups they belong to.

Here we assume that you have your list of potential groups that you want to contact, and you are going to learn how to position yourself (scripts provided below) with potential hosts so that you massively increase your odds of hearing “Yes, we’d love to have you speak!”

Position 1: Specialization

You will get booked faster and more often if you tailor your content to a specific audience rather than a general audience. For example: “The top three mistakes dentists make when planning for retirement” is way more likely to garner interest and get booked than, “The top three mistakes people make when planning for retirement.” “Five ways to protect yourself financially when going through a divorce” is more likely to get booked than “Five ways to protect yourself financially.” You get the idea.

So why does being specific work? We are in the era of the specialist. People want to know that you can solve their specific problem. Even though the information you give the dentist is very likely the same information you would give a CPA who owns their own practice, people think they are special and want to know that you have specialized expertise and information just for them. They want to know that you “get them.” Plus, when your content clearly reflects a certain group of people, you stand out from the herd because many advisors are afraid to specialize.

It’s the old adage at work: the riches are in the niches. I’ve experienced this first hand. When I decided to specialize in working with advisors, my business really took off. Was it scary to draw that line in the sand? Yup. Has it paid off? Yup. It will for you, too. Now, just because you target a talk to one specific group does not mean you cannot target the same talk or another talk to another specific group. I recommend you start by targeting one group and then you can add another group or two. For example, I specialize in advisors, but I’ve recently added a presentation for leaders and one for sales pros.

Position 2: Think service, not sales

Like most things in life and business, you will get the best results when you put others first.

Here’s what I mean: Pretend you host a monthly event for advisors that focuses on helping them grow their businesses. Which approach would more likely get me booked at your event?

  • Approach 1: “I am looking to grow my business by speaking at other people’s events. I know you host a monthly meeting for parents with college-bound children. Can I speak to your group?”
  • Approach 2: “I am on a mission to teach as many parents as possible about late-stage college planning, so that they can fund their child’s education without sabotaging their retirement. One of the best ways I can do that is by speaking to groups of parents. I know you host a monthly meeting for parents with college-bound children. I would love to help your group. Do you think I’d be a good fit as a speaker?

Which approach would you respond better to? Which approach do you think will get me booked faster?

The second, right? The second is about serving. It’s about a mission, and other people love helping people who are on a mission to do good in the world. So remember, when you reach out to get booked, it’s not about you. It’s about serving and providing life-changing value to the audience.

Below I’ve shared two emails I successfully use to get connections to speaking gigs. Feel free to use them and tailor them for your needs. Keep in mind, nine out of ten times the person you are reaching out to is not the person who can book you for a gig, it’s a person who can connect you to the person who can book you. So the language used here reflects that. If, however, you’re reaching out to an event host directly, tailor your language accordingly.

Likewise, you’ll notice the emails are geared for a warm market. Tweak them if you are reaching out to the cold market. Please note, I recommend you start with your warm market and reach out to the cold market once you’ve exhausted your warm market or if there’s a group you want to speak to but you can’t find anyone in your warm market to make an introduction for you.

Also, these are email templates, but please do pick up the phone! These templates can and should be tweaked for verbal requests, too. I find a combo of email and phone calls works best.

Email scripts for your warm market

This email template can be used for anyone in your warm market, including your online connections. Use version A when you know the specific group you want to be connected to and version B when you don’t have a specific group in mind.

Version A: Asking about a specific group

Hi XXX,

How are you? I hope your family’s doing well and that you enjoyed your vacation to Florida last month. (If you can, say something personal before making your ask.)

I’m reaching out to you today because I remember you saying you belong to XYZ group.

As you may remember, my mission is teaching baby boomers about how Social Security works so that they are informed about how and when they should take their benefits.

I give a presentation called “Savvy Social Security Planning: What Baby Boomers Need to Know to Maximize Retirement Income.” Boomers love it (I’ve included a testimonial below) because it’s engaging, and attendees are able to implement what they learn the moment they leave the room.

Is this a topic you think XYZ group would be interested in? If so, would you be willing to introduce me to the event coordinator via email and I’ll take it from there?

“I love the materials that you have put together on Social Security. After educating my stepparents on their rights, my stepmother called the local Social Security office and told them that her spousal benefit was incorrect. They have subsequently received a check for over $25,000 for a retroactive correction of her spousal benefit. Thanks.”
—Gwen Vogt, Basking Ridge, N.J.

I appreciate your help and if there are any connections I can make for you please let me know!

Blessings,

Advisor

Version B: When you don’t have a specific group in mind

Hi XXX,

How are you? I hope your family is doing well and that you enjoyed your vacation to Florida last month. (If you can, say something personal before making your ask.)

As you may know, I’m on a mission to teach pre-retirees and retirees about IRAs and other retirement accounts, so that they understand their options and can best position themselves to retire with financial peace of mind.

I’m reaching out to you today because you are one of my favorite clients and I’d like to be able to help the people you know in the same way I’ve helped you.

(The point of this sentence is to tell them why you’ve chosen to reach out to them specifically. So, let’s say it’s not a client, it’s someone you met networking you could say, “I’m reaching out to you today because when we met you mentioned that you do a lot of networking, so I thought you might be able to give me some direction.”)

I give a presentation called “6 Retirement Account Options Every Retiree Must Know: Picking the Right One After You’ve Left Your Job.” Retirees and those nearing retirement love it (I’ve included a testimonial below) because it’s engaging, and attendees are able to implement what they learn the moment they leave the room.

Do you know of or belong to any groups or associations you think would benefit from learning about this topic? If so, would you be willing to introduce me to the event coordinator via email and I’ll take it from there?

“Your talk was informative and the scales fell away from my eyes as I listened. I had no idea the options that were available to me in retirement accounts, and frankly, I was set to make some major mistakes which you’ve saved me from making. Thanks again.”
—John Doe, Tampa Bay, Fla.

I appreciate your help and if there are any connections I can make for you please let me know!

Blessings,

Advisor

Anatomy of the ask

Let’s break down what’s going on in the email scripts above so you’re sure to include the critical elements in your ask.

  1. I talk about being on a mission and wanting to help people. It’s focused on them, not you.
  2. The talk title and subsequent language is outcome- driven. This tells the reader the benefits the group will receive from listening to the talk.
  3. I included a testimonial for social proof. Don’t worry if you’re just starting out and don’t have a testimonial yet. You can add one later. Still make the ask!
  4. I’m very specific about what I want them to do. I ask them to make an email introduction. I’ve found the email intro is the best way for you to control the conversation and follow up. If they agree to make an email intro, I suggest you give them the language you want them to use to describe you and your talk. This will make it easier on them plus ensure they properly position you.

These emails are simple but powerful. One of my clients used Version A to get herself booked for a talk that brought in 50 new clients. You can get great results for yourself, too, when you take the next step and start asking!

Deirdre Van Nest is the Creator of the Crazy Good Talks® Blueprint, a system that teaches financial professionals how to bring in business faster and impact more lives through the power of speaking. Deirdre is an international Keynoter, Trainer and Advisor Coach. Over the past six years she’s helped thousands of financial professionals become Crazy Good Speakers™. She is the host of Crazy Good Talks® TV and is called upon for interviews on financially related podcasts and TV talk shows. You can learn more about her services at www.crazygoodtalks.com. For more speaking tips check out www.crazygoodtalks.com/tv.

Comments

Wow, this is an awesome article! Thanks so much for the scripts.
Glad to help Michael!

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