Public speaking
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Have you ever arranged for one of your firm’s members to give a presentation at a conference, but it seemed to be a dud from a business-development perspective?
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So you’ve arranged a presentation for one of your firm’s leading lights – we’ll call her “Janet” – and you wished her well when she left the office. Now, she’s back, and you’re asking her about what she got from it. The response you get is a sort of shrug – “I did the presentation and then I left.” No follow-up, no business cards collected, no subscriptions to the firm’s blog or social media.
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One of the challenges I’ve had in getting speaking gigs to the people I most want as clients is one that you may be facing as well – what you want to talk about is not always what they want to hear.
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Where do you want to be, professionally, a few years from now? Do you want to –
• Meet the needs of an industry different from the one you serve now, maybe one that has always fascinated you?
• Get bigger clients, which are less likely to have a problem with the fees your work is worth?
• Become an advisor to your clients, offering strategic advice rather than a transactional service?
Well … get out your suitcase, we’re going traveling.
• Meet the needs of an industry different from the one you serve now, maybe one that has always fascinated you?
• Get bigger clients, which are less likely to have a problem with the fees your work is worth?
• Become an advisor to your clients, offering strategic advice rather than a transactional service?
Well … get out your suitcase, we’re going traveling.
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Should you be putting more work into getting speaking engagements to build your personal profile as an expert in your field? Just maybe. Consider:
• Potential clients get to see what you’re like as a person
• You can interact with people from the stage, building a relationship with them
• People at the event have more respect for what you say even in ordinary conversations, because you’re wearing that “Speaker” badge (It works! Really!!)
• It looks good on social media, on your CV and on your LinkedIn profile
• Potential clients get to see what you’re like as a person
• You can interact with people from the stage, building a relationship with them
• People at the event have more respect for what you say even in ordinary conversations, because you’re wearing that “Speaker” badge (It works! Really!!)
• It looks good on social media, on your CV and on your LinkedIn profile