Professional speaking is a grind. Either you love it or you don’t.

If you’ve done more than a couple events in a month, you’ll know what I mean.

So it makes sense that most of my friends and clients want to speak 5-10 times a year, at the right events. Maybe a bit more.

Enough to boost your business and enjoy yourself. Not so much that you’re on first name basis with the Delta luggage-check attendant.

So I reached out to Brandon Doyle again, because he’s worn all the different hats…

Speaker, author, trainer, consultant, association leader at multiple levels…

And we tied a couple things together.

Don’t chase more speaking gigs.

Chase more of the right speaking gigs + better retention on a recurring membership.

Retention is the difference between:

* Membership that compounds over time - Compounding your income and forming a strong foundation for a thought leadership business.

* Membership that loses members as fast as they come in - Resulting in a time-sink that never hits the membership numbers to be profitable and sustainable.

So let’s get to Brandon’s insights…

Relationships = Retention

If you want to get in front of associations, for example, don’t just download an email list and start sending cold emails…

“If you have a relationship with someone at that state, that’s going to help a lot. So [maybe] you have friends in the area… ask them, ‘Do you know people on the committee? Can you introduce me to a staff member there?’

Staff members are just [getting] spam emails from everyone [who are] literally just going right down a list. And so having that warm introduction is going to move the needle much further.” - Brandon Doyle

And Brandon takes it a step further, actively building relationships with speakers who come through his area.

“If you know a good speaker is coming to town, oftentimes they’re just lonely and sitting in their hotel room. So if you messaged them and you’d say, ‘Hey! I understand you’re going to be speaking tomorrow. I don’t know what time your flight gets in, but if you need a ride or a dinner recommendation or heck, if you even want to grab dinner, I’d love to get some time with you.’

I found that works really well. The speaking world is much less glamorous than most people think… It’s a nice change up when someone offers to take you somewhere that’s local, a nice experience and good one-on-one time.”

Look at attracting more speaking gigs as a game of retention.

Pro speakers know…Many speaking opportunities come from referrals from other speakers. And repeat opportunities come from good relationships with event organizers.

It’s always easier to keep a good relationship than build a new one from scratch.

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Now here are the two best tactics Brandon has found for boosting agent retention:

Market Your Membership… to Your Current Members

“If you can get them to stay for 6 months, you did a great job of convincing them that this is a good tool or this is going to be a benefit to them. And so you had a really good upfront sale.

The problem is that after the fact the [agent] just never logged in. They think that it’s easy. They just should just get [results] without actually putting in the effort.

And so, you have to really stay in front of [agents] and you’re constantly reselling them, essentially, that this is something [they] need to use.”

In a world where online courses have a completion rate of 12-15%...(per Harvard Business Review and other sources)

and some studies claim that around 50% never even log in…

getting members to stay for 6 months is great. Boosting that to 9-12 months might be the key to a membership that grows and becomes the new foundation of your income.

It’s worth setting up systems to add new content and resources, promote that new content to members, offer virtual events, special workshops, ‘office hours’ and other ways to offer members exclusive access to you.

Build a Member Community…with Real Engagement

“And then having an ongoing thing there, anyone that has a nice community where the members are the ones…pushing others for engagement. I think that’s going to be the best route.”

It takes skill to create a community-space that’s inviting, attractive, and engaging.

It takes genuine curiosity about members’ opinions, feelings and experiences. And the willingness to NOT be the center of attention in your own community.

When you have a real community component to your membership, it gives you tons of material to market to your members:

* Sharing member success stories

* Highlighting active conversations

* Promoting emerging leaders in the community

For more on community, check out Tristan Ahumada’s episode.

Want to go deeper? Click on the audio file for the full chat, or search Real Estate Thought Leaders on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Or Hit Reply and tell me what you’ve seen memberships do well to boost retention.

Ask This:

What are you doing to retain the key relationships in your network?

People who could refer you speaking gigs, people in your membership, past coaching clients, etc.

Do you have any systems in place to make sure the right people hear from you, in a real and genuine way?

Quick Links & Resources

Brandon’s website

Brandon’s books

Brandon’s YouTube channel - for smart home tech and home tours

Connect with Brandon on Facebook and Instagram

Massive thanks to Brandon for coming back and digging in deeper. Connect with Brandon on social, and keep him in mind for speaking gigs or consulting for tech companies. If I can make a personal intro, just hit Reply and ask!

-Matt

Agency Founder & Author of MicroFamous

PS Here’s how we can help…

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From Michael Maher and Lars Hedenborg to Jeff Cohn and Marki Lemons Ryhal, we’ve been the content team behind many of your fellow real estate coaches, speakers and authors.

We start every client engagement by developing your ‘Signature Talk’ - So you have a message you’re excited to take to stages, guest interviews and all your content.

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Each month we give you research-based video title and topic ideas, scripts, outlines, even slides. Plus all the support you need to stay consistent, from email updates to strategy calls.

So if you’re not putting out the quality of content…consistently…to become the thought leader you’re meant to be, let’s talk. Click here to learn more and schedule a Free Brainstorm Call.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rethoughtleaders.substack.com