The easy way to speak to a group of prospects

Robert Gerrish

This one’s for those who love speaking, but struggle to find an audience; hate speaking, but know people; or simply don’t have anything very interesting to say. It’s a straightforward strategy to get in front of prospects and I think you’ll like it.

I have a good friend, Dale, who is a talented quantity surveyor. It’s important for him to keep his name and profile in front of his target audience - architects.

The trouble is he doesn’t much love public speaking and his prospects don’t get too revved up about his subject matter. Sure they need him, but they wouldn’t exactly stampede across the street to attend a quantity surveying event.

At the risk of offending a fair number of our readers, he’s the equivalent of a bookkeeper in my world. Hey, I love what you guys do, but it’s not necessarily the stuff of sizzling presentations.

I think you get the picture. The dilemma of course is that staying on a prospect’s radar is pivotal to success. Otherwise you risk dropping off the shopping list and being left on the shelf.

Dale’s solution was to look at what keeps architects awake at night and the hottest hot button was getting more clients. In other words, architects needed help with their marketing.

So, Dale now runs regular tailor-made gatherings where he invites marketing experts to share their tips and knowledge.

Dale supplies the venue and the sandwiches and his architect prospects leave with new skills and masses of positive karma.

Better still, the speaker doesn’t expect a fee as she’s just been exposed to a room full of potential clients. It’s what they call a win-win.

So whether you’re in Dale’s position, or are the expert looking for an audience, teaming up could be an effective way to maximise your strengths and minimise your weaknesses.

Has this strategy worked well for you? Are you an expert looking for an audience, or would you like someone to talk to your group? Let the flirting begin.

Until next week.

Love your work,

Robert Gerrish is Flying Solo’s managing director and founder and works as a business coach, professional speaker, business commentator and consultant. He’s the co-author of Flying Solo – How to go it alone in business.

21 comments | Add your own 1 2 3 4 | Next» View all»

Thanks Robert,
An excellent idea that had never occurred to me. Evan Hadkins from Sydney, Australia
You left out the most important bit! Does Dale actually get a return on his sandwich and venue investment? Alex from Perth
I'll bet Dale gets an excellent return on his sandwich and venue investment ! Why? Because, as a Centre of Influence, he has become a valuable resource in helping others achieve their goals. That makes him an aspirational figure and everyone wants to know important people and even better, to drop that important person's name as a colleague/friend/supplier! What was it that nice man, Robert Gerrish said about the power of raving fans? Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
I run 'How to Write Your Bestseller in 10 weeks' seminars - how to write and more importantly leverage your first book - but I'm also thinking of teaming up with a copywriter, a book printer and an online marketing genius to do some 'Self publishing roadshows' .... Ooohh - and I'm writing a new book with a bit of a funky, rock theme ... so there will be new seminars based around that too. I love speaking. I'm told I do a lot more of it than I probably should ... the trick is then to turn that skill into revenue! Yay! Leela. www.leelacosgrove.com Leela Cosgrove from Sydney, Australia
A good question from Alex. Yes, in fact Dale does get a quite acceptable return on his outlay - a return that he splits with his 'speaker' once expenses have been paid. And yes, Grant is quite right also...it's a much greater return than it first appears. Robert Gerrish from Flying Solo | Read my articles
I'm very happy to speak at an event such as Dale's on electronic marketing (email / sms). I've recently spoken at a number of business events on this topic and (if you don't mind me saying so myself) the events were well received. My experience in this area has been gained from several years working with our clients using eNudge - our email and sms marketing solution. Heather Maloney from Melbourne, Australia

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