The Speaker Lab Podcast

“Think about: Who is the person that I want to impact? Not so much how many people do I want to impact? Or what area of my area of expertise do I want to impact? But who is the exact person that I want to leave my message with and know that they're going to go and step out and make an impact with it?"

This week, Maryalice Goldsmith and Eve Gilmore are on the podcast talking about how to find better leads! Sure, Rick’s episode from a couple of weeks ago was great, but you can’t work leads well if you aren’t even trying to get to know the right people! 

"When I am creating a lead list for a student, I can really tell the difference between a student who knows their audience and knows their voice versus a student that doesn't, because everyone wants to get booked by an event planner or a conference manager."

We brought in our Lead Manager, Eve, to talk about how she helps students dig into their expert positioning statements to find the best leads possible. 

“In particular, we ask our students, hey, provide your expert positioning statement when they submit for leads, and the difference it makes when a student really has a clear vision and a really clarified voice in their expert positioning statement…It's the difference between someone saying, I cultivate leaders in the corporate world. That's a great expert positioning statement. But what a great expert positioning statement would look like to pull leads for is I cultivate leadership in HR directors at marketing firms in order to cultivate a greater work environment that gives you way more information because anyone can speak in leadership but what kind of leadership and who are you wanting to influence with that leadership? So I would say it makes such a huge difference. The more specific the better, especially when it comes to something as broad as leadership or confidence or resilience.”

Eve and Maryalice dig into: 

• 03:22 Why you have to understand the nuance in your target marketing and the importance of having specific audience examples before you start finding contacts and trying to book gigs. 

• 07:40 Reframing your focus from how many people you want to impact to thinking about WHO the specific person is that your story/message will resonate with to solve a problem or create a transformation. 

• 10:30 How to walk through the mindset exercise of understanding the clarity that comes with a defined audience verses using broad terms to describe your people. 

• 13:05 People often want leads across all industries, but here’s why that doesn’t work.

• 16:17 Expanding your ideas and options past event planners and yearly conferences can help you book steady gigs in other industries that have more money to spend on bringing in speakers. Let’s get creative! 

• 20:07 Getting scrappy with Google to find unique titles for people booking speakers in unconventional places, ie, business retreats, schools, etc. 

• 24:50 How to embrace the “no”s so you can find a yes. Tips and tricks for being approachable and sticking with the process when it’s discouraging. 

• 28:25 Practical questions you can reflect on to find clarity in who your leads are and what kind of impact you’re making before you go out there and start spamming inboxes! 

• 29:50 A pep talk for consistency and approaching your prospecting with tenacity.

Episode Resources:

• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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“I spoke in a literal barn last year…So for all the speakers listening, you're never too big time. You're never on a big enough stage to go speak at a barn. It kind of humbles you a little.” 

In this week's episode, Brittany Richmond sits down with the CEO of Streamline Books, Alex Demczak, to chat about his speaking career and how Streamline Books is helping speakers level up their businesses. 

"When you make a jump of any kind in your career, imagine it like this. You're in one boat, right, and you're leaping to this other boat, and you need to make sure that your boats are aligned so that when you make that jump, there's not a huge splash in the water, right. You need to make sure you go from one boat to the other. And so my mentor, they told me, they said, look, your boats with corporate America and speaking are actually, they're so close that they're actually restricting each other. They're, like, causing friction."

In this episode, Brittany and Alex dig into: 

• When Alex realized he wanted to speak 
• Alex's origins of working for free 
• Going pro in your speaking 
• The credibility a book brings to your speaking business 
• Leaving corporate America to pursue speaking full-time 
• Streamline books, what they do, and how they help people become authors 
• How to leverage your book as a speaker 
• Ideas to help you negotiate better speaking contracts with your book 
• And more! 

"Hey, I'm going to make an impact on one person today. I'm here for one person. I don't know who you and I both know we're probably going to make an impact on a lot more than that. But I think if you have that mentality, it's what drives you."

Episode Chapters:

• 04:12 Alex’s first experience with professional speaking and pursuing Jon Gordon to do what he does. 
• 05:37 The moment Alex realized speaking was going to be his calling and how he got started speaking in corporate America 
• 09:16 Overcoming rejection and sticking with the hard seasons to make an impact in the world. 
• 13:47 What do you do when only one person shows up?! How to redirect your focus on the greater impact. 
• 20:17 Let’s talk about the audience Alex serves every day with his message and his book
• 22:41 Alex’s top piece of advice for growing his speaking business and how he thinks through scoping up gigs to maximize his impact 
• 26:05 Why Alex focuses on being a value add to the people he serves and how that’s grown his business and his reputation
• 30:57 Streamline Books deal for The Speaker Lab Podcast listeners

“When you bring a team around your dream, it helps you actually get the book done.” 

Episode Resources:

• Learn more about Streamline Books
• Connect with Alex on LinkedIn
• Alex's Speaking Website
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“Be the steakhouse, not the buffet.” 

“Have a take.” 

“View it as a business not a hobby.” 

We asked the TSL team to tell us their #1 piece of advice for speakers, and they delivered. This episode contains hot takes, practical advice, and key speaking tips from industry experts and leaders. 

If you want to go from casual speaker to pro in 2024, this episode will help you find a few focus areas, give you some inspiration, and help you take action to create your dreams.

The team covers:

• Advice on niching down
• How to go from hobbyist to a professional speaker
• Daily habits to create success
• Branding advice to help you level up
• Why processes, systems, and execution matter
• and so much more.

Episode Resources

• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“Look for inspiration, not comparison.” 

Brittany Richmond sat down with Dean Heffta today to talk about his speaking journey, the National Speaker Association, and how he built a business to get him booked and paid consistently. 

Get back to the basics. Keep it simple. And remember, you don't have to build somebody else's business; you have to build YOUR own business.

In this episode, Brittany and Dean talk through:

• Dean’s experience getting starting as a speaker
• When to donate your time and other ways to get paid 
• Embracing the mindset of the marathon not the sprint
• What it looks like to provide services people rave about 
• Dean’s new book and what having a book signals 
• What are the perks of being in the National Speaker Association 
• Developing the craft of speaking 

"And to sustain innovation and to sustain the hard times and the uncertainties and the ups and the downs, I believe you need a community. Your friend group and your family group will smile and nod as you're sharing things they don't really understand or they can't offer maybe the insights that the people in the speaking community can."

Episode Chapters:

• 00:54 Dean’s background as a speaker 
• 04:25 What does Dean currently speak on and what do his speaking engagements look like?
• 10:05 When to think about donating your time.
• 12:46 Dean’s take on a marathon not a sprint
• 17:33 How to grow your business by developing referrals
• 19:20 An overview of Dean’s book + the process of writing it
• 24:17 What is the National Speakers Association?
• 28:42 You get what you put into, here’s what that means for you as a speaker.
• 31:19 Why communities matter and how to lean into the speaker community
• 33:12 How to develop great relationships in this business
• 38:32 How to build your personal brand while overcoming tech issues
• 40:31 What it looks like to gracefully overcome adversity on the stage 
• 43:19 Dean’s favorite thing about begin a speaker

2024 Podcast Listener Survey:

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Episode Resources:

• Connect with Dean on LinkedIn
• Explore Dean's Website 
• Take the 2024 Speaker Lab Listener Survey
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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"Just because you get a speaking gig doesn't mean, oh, cool, I got the deposit check. Let's go spend it. You don't actually "realize" that entire piece of income until you walk off that stage and it's done. But if you're listening to how I'm talking about this, this is how a business owner thinks. This is not how a hobbyist thinks."

We’re back with another edition of our Coaches Corner series! This week, Maryalice Goldsmith sat down with Rick Clemons to dig into Lead Management and how to think like a business owner in this relationship business.

“The more you can sell the solution that you provide, not you. Yes, quote, I am the solution, so to speak. But the solution I'm going to offer to them to fix their problem, the sooner you're going to start getting the buy signals and the sooner you'll start moving that through the selling pipeline and filling your pipeline through the process."

In this episode Rick and Maryalice cover: 

• The difference between warm and cold leads 
• What it means to think like a business owner vs a hobbyist 
• How many touchpoints a prospect needs to become a lead 
• Buyers mindsets around investment decisions 
• How to research the heck out a prospect so they become a lead 
• Practical examples of what consistently looks like in the lead generation process

"You have to find where you can get in the door. And one of the things I learned when I was doing this is I could offer a college or university something. Sometimes there was some pushback, but the moment I said, and here's what else I'll do, as soon as I offered the what else I'll do, which was either a quick little webinar...or a recorded thing that I could do… I could get in the door."

Episode Chapters:

01:00 What are common pain points in lead generation?

06:39 When do I consider it a lead?

08:52 Should this be part of your daily routine?

12:12 How can prospecting be done effectively?

14:57 How can you leverage your warm network?

19:46 What differentiates the mindset of a business owner?

25:58 Do you understand the importance of relationships in this field?

27:03 How does persistence benefit you as a speaker hoping to achieve business growth?

33:12 Do you set clear goals for tasks?

36:40 Could a webinar-driven low-end product work?

37:35 How can you find opportunities to offer value? 

45:35 Examples of how Rick approaches finding places to offer value

47:26 Why is tapping into the community important?

Episode Resources:

• Get Rick's Lead Mastery PDF
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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"I want to get in the heads and the hearts of the people in the room. If I'm not in their heads and hearts, I don't know how I can connect."

This week, Molly Fletcher joined Grant to discuss her experience transitioning from a sports agent into a speaker. For Molly, becoming a speaker was less about a dream to be on stage and more about a logistically practical way to share the knowledge she was giving out 1-on-1 to people she was mentoring. 

When Molly started speaking, she focused on industries that required the same kind of trust and relationship building that was normal to her as a sports agent. From there, she started branching out into women’s leadership and general empowerment to encourage people to get out there and change the world. 

"One of the number one reasons women are coming out of the workforce and hitting a jack is because they don't see other women doing what they want to do. So I think for strong women to be in the front of the room and tell their story, we need more of that, for sure."

Grant and Molly dig into: 

• How Molly got into speaking 
• Her journey to authorship 
• If you need a book to be a great speaker
• What it’s like being a female speaker in a male-dominated field 
• Molly’s mindset and process to prepping for a gig
• How Molly thinks about breaking the ice on stage and what it takes to connect with your audience 

"I self deprecate immediately with a story that I tell because I think you've got to get down so that they feel connected to you because you're literally physically, they've just heard all these things they've seen."

Episode Chapters:

• 01:20 Who is Molly and what's her speaking business look like?
• 06:58 Molly's turning point for moving into speaking
• 09:34 How to build early momentum as a speaker
• 14:10 Molly's take on her pre-gig prep to deliver a great talk
• 16:12 How do you think about the appropriate level of customization vs having a signature keynote
• 19:12 Molly's #1 tip to connecting with the audience
• 21:40 How to find the right balance of humor for your talk
• 26:19 What plays into how you think about fees and the value you bring as a speaker
• 28:40 How would you encourage other females who want to speak
• 32:11 Why you need good mentors

Episode Resources:

• Visit Molly’s website
• Follow Molly on LinkedIn
• Follow Molly on Instagram
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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"We're more willing to be our genuine organic selves, which is going to attract other like minded people, that we can find our group, find our people, and take over the world in a positive way."

Today, Brittany Richmond sat down on the podcast with her speaker friends Matt Matkovich and Phil Januszewski to talk about what it’s like being a speaking duo! Matt and Phil have been speaking together for over a decade now, and they joined us to share more about what it’s like sharing the stage and what they have learned over the past 10 years. 

"We are two ordinary guys who turned out doing extraordinary things to audiences around the country. And we're living proof to people that if you stick with something, if you're natural, genuine, and organic about your message, the sky is the limit, and you could turn an ordinary idea into something truly extraordinary."

In this episode, Matt, Phil, and Brittany cover: 

• What it’s like being a speaking duo 
• The importance of honoring your niche 
• How to get over failure as a speaker 
• The balancing act of having full-time jobs and speaking 20-30 gigs a year 
• What they think are the most important traits for speakers to embody 
• Funny speaking stories and memories 
• How to partner with AV to overcome tech issues 

"We didn't want to leave the education profession. We appreciated and enjoyed it too much, so we knew that as part of our speaking plan, that. All right, well, that's it then. We just have to accept the fact that we'll be limited to the amount of gigs we can take."

Episode Chapters:

• 05:19 Who are you guys and what do you speak on?
• 08:57 How did we get connected and start speaking together?
• 12:46 Why does your message resonate with you guys?
• 15:50 We focus on chasing our why nots in life and that’s what we push from the stage. 
• 20:24 With limited time, how does your schedule work?
• 22:08 What’s your process when people want to book you?
• 26:30 How do you make it easier on the decision maker to work with you?
• 28:42 Why we priortize being easy to work with.
• 32:18 Tell us about a time when you guys had a gig go wrong
• 37:13 How do you react when tech issues come up?
• 39:03 Tech ideas to help you recover from issues and adlib if you have to! 
• 42:23 Why it’s important to stay audience focused 

Episode Resources:

• Visit the M&P Presentations Website
• Follow Matt & Phil on Instagram
• Follow Matt & Phil on LinkedIn
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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"Just because you land a gig, it doesn't stop there. How can you parlay that into more gigs?"

Erick Rheam is back on the podcast today to educate us on the power of geographical prospecting. If you’ve listened to the podcast for any time, you’ve heard us talk about daily prospecting and the growth that goes into building momentum for your speaking business. Today, we will dig into what it looks like to take that effort and work smarter, not harder. 

"You got to look at this as opportunities to create more business. So we don't want to be so focused that when you go do a gig, Grant, that you're going there. You're there to do the gig, you're going to knock it out of the park, you're going to collect your paycheck, you're going to move on. You got to think bigger than that, and you got to start thinking about, well, maybe this is an area where I can expand my message and do it with folks that are in the proximity of where I'm going to be."

In this episode, Grant and Erick cover: 

• What is geographical prospecting?
• The 4 pillars of geographical prospecting 
• What you need to know about putting this into practice in your business 
• Case studies of this actually working (From Grant & Erick!) 
• Practical tips to help you get started
• Best practices on investing in these relationships 

"Once you land a gig, look for prospects within a 50 miles radius. The key is just get the process started, and then once you get them on the phone, just explore opportunities with them."

Episode Chapters:

• 04:47 What is geographical prospecting?
• 07:10 Why should you focus on building great relationships?
• 10:18 Who do you reach out to?
• 15:12 What does it mean to be easy to work with?
• 18:40 How did Grant use Geographical Prospecting?
• 22:09 What does it look like to turn an event into a networking event?
• 23:07 How do you mitigate risk for the event planners? 
• 26:51 What creative ways can you leverage geographical prospecting?

Episode Resources:

• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"The two most important qualities to come across as a speaker probably, and it's on podcast as well, is to get across a sense of warmth and competence and if you can be in that energy, you can be more trusted as a voice."

We're back with another edition of our Coaches Corner series. This week, Maryalice is joined by John Ball, TSL coach and a veteran Podcaster, to investigate whether podcasting is a channel worth pursuing as you build your speaking business. 

"If you're in your earlier stages of building a speaking career, then Guesting is much more a place to start because otherwise having your own show, the amount of work that does really need to go into that is going to be one more thing that may slow down your progress in building up your speaking business and your speaker pipeline."

In this episode, John and Maryalice cover: 

• The pros and cons of podcasting 
• How to use podcasting to grow your audience and share your message
• What makes a good podcast 
• Practical advice for you to get started 
• Tips on podcast pitching and getting onto guest shows 
• Why podcast may not be a great fit for you 

"Like consistency is king, right? So if you're promising a podcast drop every Thursday, and for three months you do it and then all of a sudden, third month you go away and then six weeks later you're like, oh, I'm back, I'm so sorry, we've all experienced that. On the other side, don't be that person. So if you can't be consistent, I would say don't start it."

Episode Chapters:

• 05:10 Start with guesting before launching your show.
• 09:42 Podcasting helps you improve speaking skills that are applicable on stage.
• 12:12 What to consider when thinking about starting a podcast.
• 15:13 Examples of what being a great guest looks like.
• 22:02 The importance of consistency.
• 25:34 What you need to launch a great podcast.
• 31:33 How to plan for longterm success.
• 32:38 Ways to monetize your podcast.
• 38:08 Get to know John.

Episode Resources:

• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"If we can remind ourselves that we're in service of our audience, we have value to bring as a professional speaker, somebody determined that you have something of value to say to this audience, and if you remind yourself of that, it will turn down all of that negative self talk and really help you focus in the moment."

Matt Abrahams has made a life teaching people how to become great communicators, and today, he's sharing his expertise with us. Grant and Matt sit down to dig into what Matt teaches daily to coach speakers, sales teams, entrepreneurs, and more. 

If you want to become a better speaker with strategic growth efforts, Matt's advice will help you craft a killer keynote to build your confidence and deeply reach the audiences you're engaging with; this episode is for you. 

"So if you can remind yourself of the things that get you excited about what you're speaking on, and if you can remind yourself of the potential value that the audience has to take from what you're saying, those are things that can get you excited."

In this episode, Matt and Grant cover: 

• How to read the audience for patterns to inform your content 
• The levels of engagement to create buy-in from your audience 
• How to bio-hack your speaking confidence 
• What it looks like to get comfortable handling hecklers
• How to facilitate an engaging and beneficial QA session 
• Pro tips to focus on connection vs perfection to better reach your audience 

"And minimally viable product design says that when you want to create a new product or service, the very first thing you do is you go out and you talk to your users and understand what are their pain points, what are their issues, what are their challenges, and then you build frameworks to test it. So you get out and you're rapidly prototyping ideas. You're taking feedback, you're iterating."

Episode Chapters:

• 05:58 Can you get the same results testing on social media as you get live?
• 10:15 What is the right balance to enngaging an audience?
• 13:41 Let’s talk about preparing to be on stage…what does that look like?
• 16:05 How to create talks that engage with the audience on 3 levels.
• 19:54 Tips to combat anxiety.
• 27:58 How to run a great QA session.
• 30:43 What you can do to mitigate and handle tricky situations in a QA session.
• 35:03 Tips for interacting with the audience after your talk.

Episode Resources:

• Connect with Matt
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.