The Six Figure Speaker!! by Cathleen Fillmore
Top Ten Tips to Get Started as a Paid Professional Speaker As a bureau owner and marketing consultant to speakers, I am often asked to represent speakers before they’re really ready. So here are ten tips to getting established as a professional speaker and attracting the interest of a bureau. 1. Clarify your message. What do you stand for? What is your core message? It’s not about you; it’s all about the value you bring to your audiences. Be very clear about this since it’s the foundation for everything that follows. 2. Turn your bio into a sales piece. If your bio is written in chronological order, change it, i.e., “Dynamic speaker, Bradley Smith, engages audiences with his powerful message of ……” 3. Start getting out there with great enthusiasm and never mind whether the speech is paid or unpaid. You need to gain momentum. Begin by speaking to associations, to church groups, to community groups. 4. Become known as an expert by contributing articles to magazines or ezines that your ideal client reads. 5. Get on online radio shows. 6. Develop a powerful social media campaign (without spamming!) Build your contacts on Linked-in, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Join the discussion in online groups where you’ll find your ideal audience. 7. Create brilliant marketing materials that support the fee you’re asking for. If you’re going out there as a high paid speaker, you’ll need highly professional polished materials which starts with a promo page with your bio, your photo, your three speeches and descriptions, a client list and testimonials. 8. Turn your testimonials into success stories, for example, “When XXY company wanted to get their staff onboard with their message and mission of safety, they brought in Bradley Smith to energize and inspire their employees”. 9. Get a two-three minute video done and have it on your website. 10.You can have a fairly simple website at the beginning (it will be a work in progress forever, trust me!) and gradually bump it up every month in terms of adding client testimonials (including video testimonials) and expanding your client list as well as tweaking your topics to respond to a changing marketplace. Finally and most importantly, just get yourself out there. Research and find your clients and start making calls. Do not get discouraged, this is a whole new learning curve and so be patient with yourself. You’ll get there, I promise. Just keep at it! And if you’d like a sample of a one page promo sheet, just email me at cathleen@speakersgold.com.  Cathleen Fillmore Cathleen is author of 5 books, most recently the Six Figure Speaker and owner of Speakers Gold bureau as well as a well known consultant working with beginning and established professional speakers. Sign up for her info-packed ezine at http://www.speakersgold.com