NSA/NC Mini-Meeting: How professional speakers make big bucks while they are sleeping…

Putting a new spin on the old adage, Michael Soon Lee last night shared a secret of his successful speaking business with a dozen lucky members of the National Speakers Association Northern California chapter: “Tell ’em what you’ll tell ’em, tell ’em, and then sell ’em”.

Like many of the plutocracy of the NSA, Michael knows that speaking fees are only one of multiple potential streams of income. What he sells ‘at the back of the room’ on a literature table can easily match the speaking fee he commands. These products — books, CD’s, pamphlets, laminated reference cards and more — also sell themselves from his website while he sleeps.

Michael shared a step-by-step guide — the path to extra income for speakers smart enough to develop products that’ll entice the audience to part with cold, hard cash.

He conducted a simple five minute exercise. Asking each of us to write down topics around which we can create salable product. This exercise was a huge motivation for us newbies to get out in the marketplace with product and ‘just do it’. Paralysis by analysis prevents most speakers from passing GO and collecting $200.

Start your engines by creating simple lists that summarize an area of your subject matter expertise. (“13 ways a Realtor earns their commissions”). Give this away on laminated cards or sell them as desk-sets in perspex holders ($2.95). Add some references, sample forms, interview snippets, salient quotes and presto-chango, you’ve got pamphlets ($9.95); cue cards ($14.95); spiral-bound booklets ($19.95); CD inserts ($29.95) or 4-CD sets ($79.95). Add value to the initial content. Invest in graphics production standards that will differentiate the covers by which they’ll be judged. Pretty soon you’ll have a table of literature and can sell ‘show specials’ for $200-300 and throw in certificates for a free hour of telephone consulting to whip the feeding frenzy at the break.

Just don’t be tempted to invest years of work writing a book with all your content between the covers. Sure, it’ll build your credibility. At a price. It’ll sell for $29.95 and the trade publisher keeps 90% of this. Do the math.

My own list (drafted in a few minutes – the hard work lies ahead – making it content worth paying for):

  • 54 Reference Tools for Savvy Speakers ( I have a draft posted already)
  • 54 Research Tools for Savvy Speakers
  • 54 Search Tools for Savvy Speakers
  • 54 Survey Tools for Savvy Speakers
  • 54 Powerpoint Templates for Savvy Speakers
  • 54 Ways Professional Speakers recover from disasters on the podium
  • 108 Great Speech Openings
  • 108 Great Speech Closings
  • 108 Ways to Present in Asia
  • 108 Ways to Present in Europe
  • 108 Platform Skills for the Busy Executive
  • (In case you’re wondering, this is the significance of 54 and 108. Om Mani Padme Hum, man…)

    Time will tell if I have the chops to deliver unique, salable content that my audiences want. The more specific I make it, the better the payback for content they can’t get anywhere else.

    Meanwhile, I’ll use this blog to test drive content, gather feedback and refine it before pushing the print button and stocking up on hard copy.

    3 Comments so far
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    Ian,

    Great synopis of the program and I can wait to buy your lists! One minor note, there were actually more than a dozen people in attendance but who’s counting?

    Ian,

    You have a way with words! I appreciate you capturing a few nuggets to share with the rest of us!

    […] Michael delivered an expanded version of the NSA/NC presentation I attended back in May at his Danville home. […]



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