Speakers: 7 ways to gain new business

The first year sucked.

I did 40 speaking engagements—some free and some paid—but not one brought us any business. I got high scores and great feedback, but the business didn’t come.

You see, I’m not a salesperson. I don’t get on stage and talk about how great my company is. Instead, I deliver speeches that mean something to the audience. If someone doesn’t walk away with at least three actionable items from a one-hour presentation, I feel like I didn’t do my job as a speaker.

I thought that was enough to drum up some business this way, but I was wrong.

I scaled back last year and only did 24 speaking engagements, but guess what happened? We gained clients for Arment Dietrich from them.

I’ve been thinking about why that is, and I’ve come up with seven ways for you to gain business from your speaking engagements.

1. Don’t spend time on your bio.

No one cares about your bio. In fact, when people ask me how I want them to introduce me, I always say, “Set the expectations low so I can over-deliver.” That always gets a chuckle, but it’s true. People will get a good sense of who you are and where your expertise lies without hearing someone drone on and on about you.