Vickie Sullivan is internationally recognized as a top market strategist for experts. Specializing in branding for high-fee professional speaker markets, she has launched thousands of thought leaders since 1987. Vickie’s groundbreaking work has earned her an appointment on the Women’s Leadership Board for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In that capacity, she presented three times to the Harvard student body on personal branding and prominence.

On Saturday she presented to a somewhat less august institution than Harvard. She rocked the house at the meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association. Her presentation, Brand It And They Will Come: Build a High-Fee Brand When You Are Not Famous, was short on fluff and long on street-wise detail to help the average $1,000 – $5,000 speaker in the audience stand out from the crowd.

An era of practicality

With meeting expenditure down, even as the number of meetings are trending higher, clients are doing more with less. Unlike the go-go days of the boom period, we are now living in an era of practicality. Executives are micromanaging meetings down to the level of choosing the theme and seating arrangements. They are sending interns to do first-round interviews with prospective speakers. Many speakers are not only competing with each other for gigs, they are competing with the authors, bloggers and social media mavens who will speak for free in order to pimp their books and consulting programs.

So what’s a novice speaker to do?

First, lose the obsession with presentation skills. Being able to present well is table stakes. Next, realize meeting organizers divide the world into speakers who are nice to have and those they gotta have. In order to fall into the latter camp the information you offer has to overlap with the buyers perceived needs and beat out the other options being considered for the meeting agenda. You have to stand out from the crowd by uniquely branding yourself. Getting hired requires you create a vivid picture in the client’s mind of what they will get when you speak at their event. Craft your brand in a way that appeals to the buyers emotions and creates an image of you in a category of one. Vicki goes into more detail on the importance of differentiation in this Special Report on her website:

If branding is the promise you make to the market, then differentiation is the stage you use to deliver on your promise.

The Three Keys to a High-Fee Brand

One: A Successful Story

Your compelling story is only useful to the extent it teaches others. Sports hero’s have a problem on the speaking circuit if their motivational stories don’t connect with the couch potatoes in the audience. We can connect with the audience by telling stories that break with the expected and bring opposites into play, compare unexpected things or roles or reveal a Eureka moment. Vickie’s website has an article on writing Stories That Create The Emotional Drive To Buy.

Two: A Point of View

Build a point of view around hot issues. Focus on a Big Idea. Make the invisible visible. Tell people things they’ve not heard before. Three options that help build a unique point of view:

1. Predict the Future – what can we expect that will impact the audience’s world in unexpected ways? In my world, I’m seeing a growing backchannel of communication using PDA’s and social media to converse about the speaker while they are still onstage.
2. Sound the Alarm – what does the audience need to know that will save their skins? Again, in my own world, too much information is being crammed into presentations by subject matter experts. Someone else in the audience today shared how middle managers in Silicon Valley technology companies are addicted to the corporate crack of repeatedly launching projects to boost their career without realizing they are burning everyone out with their 7×24 demands. She realized she could develop a compelling point of view by sounding the alarm about this destructive behavior.
3. Call The Game – what are people doing that’s having an impact they don’t understand? In the corporate world it’s often the belief that 33 PowerPoint slides are needed where three would be more effective at getting the message across. I can call the game by showing presenters how they can speak less and say more.

Three: Compelling Content

Vickie writes that compelling content creates constant curiosity:

Curiosity is our radar system. It gives us early warning to change and opens the door for innovation. All of us use this emotion to be inventive and fulfilled. The media and the marketplace use curiosity to search for the latest thinking, a fresh perspective that jumpstarts conversations and originality. Help your market get what they don’t have, and watch buyers run to you to learn more.

Softly Softly

As dynamic and challenging as we need to be to brand ourselves, Vickie warns against alienating clients. Before you hit them upside the head with frightening predictions or ring the alarm bells, she advises that you start by stating something everyone can agree with. Then focus in and add a unique twist before explaining why you are proposing a credible alternative to the status quo.

Vickie Unplugged

After the event ended, I wanted to hear more from Vickie, so I asked her to explain how the era of practicality impacts speakers and why she believes it’s important that we keep an air of mystery about what we do. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:31 — 2.0MB)

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NSA/NC September Meeting

September marks the start a new year of meetings for the Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association (NSA/NC). It kicked off with a “Wealthy Speaker Seminar” conducted by Jane Atkinson, who promised to share a “Proven Formula for Catapulting You To The Top 3%” of the speaking business. Jane reported that top speakers earn over $1 million annually.

Jane has been helping speakers grow their businesses for more than 18 years. As an agent for speakers, she has represented speaking super stars Vince Poscente, Joe Calloway and Peter Legge as well as best-selling authors and celebrities. A former vice president of International Speakers Bureau, Jane has seen the industry from many angles.

The Wealthy Speaker

Jane’s new book, The Wealthy Speaker: The Proven Formula for Building Your Successful Speaking Business details many of the tools she shared in the morning seminar.

These include:

Ready, Aim, Fire: first, get crystal-clear about what your expertise is; then roll out marketing materials that enable customers to find you; finally deliver your expertise to audiences from the podium.

Focus on your speech: “No fancy brochure or website can overcome a mediocre speech.” Tips for creating a powerful speech include:

1. Use humor – once the endorphins kick in, the audience is more receptive to your message.
2. Be real, open and authentic.
3. Be congruent with your message, both on and off the platform.
4. Deliver a focused message with one main idea and three points.
5. Tell great stories – especially ones that are about the audience, not you.

Outline your speech: Pick one theme and a through-line. Would the message of the speech look good printed on a T-shirt? Does it have three main points and a hook to hang it on?

Ask, “Who do I need to become to take my speech to new heights?” It’s all about positioning: become an expert first, a speaker second.

“Clients no longer want to hire speakers. They want to hire smart people who happen to speak.”

Expertise – Topics – Revenue

Jane recommends that we each become an expert in one area we are are passionate about. This is the “lane” we travel in. Don’t get stuck doing things we are merely good at. Find an area of expertise people will pay for. Choose this one area and develop a number of topics around it.

Ask “What do I need to become, to be the expert?” It might be focusing on a topic. It might be standing tall and stepping fully into the knowledge you already have.

In my case, my expertise is helping executives communicate effectively. The topics I’ve developed center on my services as a speechwriter. These services include writing one-time speeches for CEOs as well as company overview or Vision Pitch presentations delivered multiple times in the Executive Briefing Centers of major Silicon Valley companies. More recently, I’ve added topics involving Social Media and re-purposing a speech with podcasting. This allows asychronous communication of the speech outside the room in which it is delivered.

Jane suggests that we build revenue streams which flow from each of our topics. In my case, I have my consulting fees and more recently the recorded webinars, workbooks and clinics ranging in price from $39 – $499 available on Practical Social Networking.

Websites

Jane reminds us that a good website is a key requirement for a successful speaker. One-sheets are so last century. A good website clearly positions you and shares a promise (or brand) that will make the prospect curious about what it is that you offer. She recommended Rene Godefroy’s and Keith Harrell’s as great examples.

Podcast Interview

After the program ended I sat down with Jane and asked her what was the one piece of advice she would share with someone who wanted to become a wealthy speaker and make it into the top 3% of those in the business who make over $1 million a year. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:05 — 968.6KB)

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Social Media and video offer distinctive and creative ways to differentiate yourself.

Job seekers benefit when they profile their skills and capabilities in ways that go beyond the plain-text resume and cookie-cutter LinkedIn profile. They are heard above the noise of other candidates and promote their value to employers in ways that stand out.

Short, informational videos highlighting skills and experience with contact information and a photo can be embedded in emails to recruiters or tied into Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook postings.

Videos like this one that I produced in conjunction with Grace Hu-Morley, who is an experienced marketing professional who lives in Silicon Valley.

Can you believe Woodstock took place 40 years ago this weekend! To commemorate LIFE teamed up with the MagCloud team to release a Special Edition print on demand Magazine….check it out!

Order your copy for just $9.60 plus shipping.

Great photos of those long-gone daze.

At the recent National Speakers Association (NSA) Convention in Phoenix, AZ I had the opportunity to see Michael Soon Lee, MBA, CSP, give a talk on ways a speaker can re-market their expertise to a new industry.

In his presentation “Shift Your Expertise to a New Industry in Less than a Week!” Michael discusses the expertise speakers need to succeed in a given niche.

He asks the audience to evaluate if the industry they’ve become an expert in has slowed or even disappeared?

Michael then explains how to identify which industries will survive and thrive in this economy and become a leading authority in a new field. Quoting personal experience, he teaches how to quickly transfer your knowledge to a new industry by developing instant credibility, powerful partnerships and high visibility.

An audio recording of the complete presentation can be ordered from the Softconference website.

A small sample of Michael’s advice is shown in the edited highlight video I posted on YouTube (with his express permission).

Debra Russell: giving artists their edge

Last week I attended a presentation given at the Sandbox Suites by Debra Russell. Debra is the founder of Artist’s EDGE. She uses her business knowledge and ability to facilitate change and growth to help small business owners create a prosperous and sustainable living doing what they love. Debra specializes in small business and the Arts and Entertainment Industry and has presented innovative programs for industry trade conferences across the country.

In ‘Niche Marketing’ she discusses why many business owners are afraid to define their niche on the mistaken premise that they will lose business as a result. The truth is just the opposite. Designing your marketing around a niche can enable you to have a major impact on a small budget. Since most business owners are working with a limited to non-existent marketing budget Niche Marketing can give you a tremendous advantage over your competition.

In this video Debra discusses the concept of a niche and how it applies to your business. Specifically:

• The 8 steps of business income
• Finding a niche
• What aspects of a niche to research
• How to use Google and Yahoo Groups to develop a relationship with your niche market
• Best ways to use LinkedIn to connect with a niche
• How to combine Niche marketing with Social Networking to deliver high impact results with a very low investment

Parts of this presentation are based on the book Multiple Streams of Coaching Income by Andrea Lee.

Nan Amish spoke this weekend at the NSA Northern California Pro-Track seminar on Marketing for Speakers, Trainers and Consultants. As a professional speaker, she takes a systematic approach to bringing her products and services to her customers, focusing on the market segments most likely to benefit from her services, which are both willing and able to pay for them.

In this brief extract from a full day seminar, Nan discusses various aspects of self-promotion for speakers, including the need for collateral tools such as Web Sites and One Sheets, the role of Advertising and PR as well as Sales. She concludes by discussing the value of good old fashioned print media such as the humble postcard in reaching potential clients.

To listen, click on the the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:18 — 1.9MB)

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Professional speakers and information brokers of all kinds can leverage their knowledge into tips booklets and related information products for marketing, motivating and making money.

Paulette Ensign, the Tips Booklet Queen, is the world’s leading expert on the writing, publishing and marketing of tips booklets. She has a full-service website, Tips Products International, filled with proven processes to help anyone create a booklet.

Paulette has sold well over a million copies of her own tips booklet, 110 Ideas for Organizing your Business Life, in 4 languages and various formats, without spending a penny on advertising. Her website hosts over 300 booklets written by others on topics as diverse as 70 Tips To Welcome Your Newly Adopted Cat Into Your Life to 115 Essential Tips For Effective Presentations.

I caught up with Paulette at a seminar she gave in Sacramento this week. Click on the podcast link below to hear her share how she got started in this business and what is involved in producing a tips booklet.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:32 — 1.3MB)

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