Presenting your expertise in front of a room of potential clients is a very powerful way to generate leads and clients. Think about it. Your prospects are invited, often by someone they respect, to hear an expert speak on a subject they care about. Pretty nice positioning for a sales call if you ask me. Pretty efficient use of your selling time too.
No matter if you never intend to hit the professional speaking circuit, you should find ways to take advantage of this powerful tool.
And, when you do, here is a way to ensure your subject is well received.
Once you book a speaking engagement, ask the host if you can visit with a small number of the attendees prior to the event. (A National convention knows who is coming but, even monthly association lunch groups know who is attending.) The organizers will be happy to provide this information when they learn you want to use it to tailor your presentation specifically for their audience
Once you get the contact information of four or five known attendees call them up and ask them a few questions about their business, their needs and your topic.
When you do this, two very powerful things will happen:
- You will get some great insight into what you need to present
- You will have some rapport with four or five audience members – this alone can make or break how effective your presentation is. “I was talking Bob over there last week and he said. . .” – now you’re one of them.
Try this the next time you are invited to speak at an event and you will be amazed at how much more impact you can have using this already proven tactic.
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