Speaking for Millions How to Make Really Big Money as a Professional Speaker

Speaking for Millions

How to Make Really Big Money as a Professional Speaker

by

Fred Gleeck

Published by:

Fred Gleeck at Smashwords

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Speaking for Millions

How to Make Really Big Money as a Professional Speaker

Copyright 2002 by Fred Gleeck

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Fast Forward Press

209 Horizon Peak Drive Henderson

NV 89012

702-617-4205 – phone

fredgleeck@gmail.com,

www.fastforwardpress.com

Cover design Copyright TLC Graphics, www.TLCGraphics.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Contact Information/Our Web Site

I would love to hear from you. Your questions, your comments, any and all are welcome. Don’t be a stranger. My contact information is listed below and I encourage you to contact me in whatever way is easiest for you.

I am also available for speaking engagements on a wide variety of topics. Call for details.

My email address is fgleeck@aol.com.

My phone number is 702-617-4205

My mailing address is:

Fred Gleeck

209 Horizon Peak Drive

Suite 202

Henderson, NV 89012

www.professionalspeakingsuccess.com

This site is dedicated to helping anyone make more money as a professional speaker. Whether you’re a veteran speaker or just getting started, this site is for you. You’ll learn the latest information to help catapult your speaking business into the stratosphere.

Tips@professionalspeakingsuccess.com

If you would like to receive speaking tips via email on a regular basis, please go to this Web address and sign up. You will then receive periodic tips about how to improve your speaking business.

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge a number of people

who have been very helpful in the preparation of this book

I thank Tami Dever and Erin Stark at TLC Graphics (www.tlcgraphics.com) for their AMAZING cover design. It captures the exact feel that I wanted.

I thank my mentor (now deceased), Howard Shenson for his time, friendship and advice. If not for him, I’d probably NOT be a professional speaker.

In my opinion, the best speaker on the planet (other than myself) is Lou Heckler. Thank you, Lou, for being who you are! You’re a great example of what a professional speaker should be.

If you do find any errors in this book, they’re here for a purpose. Some people actually like looking for them and we strive to please as many people as possible. If you find any typos or grammatical errors, please email them to me at fgleeck@aol.com. If you send me a number of them I will reward you with a small gift — unless you find so many of them that I feel you deserve a large gift.

Contents

My Background

Introduction

Getting Started

Marketing Your Speaking Business

Speaking Mechanics

Bureaus and More

Doing Your Own Events

Creating and Selling Your Information

Selling Products from the Platform

Internet Strategies for Speakers

Other Helpful Speaking Info

The Future of Speaking and YOUR Future

Million-Dollar Rolodex

Speaking Glossary

My Background

My name is Fred Gleeck and I have been speaking professionally for more than seventeen years. I got started as a speaker in a similar way that many of you are doing right now; I read a book. The book was called: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is by Robert Anthony. I had seen an ad for the book in Success magazine and ordered it.

I read that book in 1979 right after finishing up my Masters Degree in International Business. When I finished the book, I knew it was only a matter of time before I made speaking my profession.

I had always enjoyed getting up in front of groups and speaking. It was reinforced when I was on the speakers committee in graduate school. We were responsible for booking outside speakers.

The first speaker that I had a hand in booking was Richard Valeriani. At the time he was an NBC News correspondent. I was chosen to introduce him. Even getting up to introduce a speaker in front of a large group of my peers I found very exciting. After I saw him give his speech I was convinced that speaking was for me.

Later that year I had to do a presentation in front of 500 people. I found that even more exhilarating. I had done some theatre in high school and liked being a ham. Chances are many of you have had similar experiences.

I also suspect I gravitated towards speaking because my Dad used to send my letters back from college corrected in red pen. I couldn’t compete with him as a writer, but, I was much better than he was as a speaker.

When I got out of graduate school I moved to New York City where I was promptly fired from five Fortune 500 companies in a row. There seemed to be unanimous agreement that I should be self-employed. It took me five years to finally get into the profession where I knew I belonged: SPEAKING.

I gave my first paid presentation when I promoted one of my own seminars on How to Start Your Own Consulting Business. That was in May of 1984.

I promoted the seminar using newspaper ads (two large display ads on successive Sundays). I charged $95 for the seminar and made $2000 in profit on a Saturday in Saddlebrook, New Jersey. If I had been smart enough to have product to sell, I would have made a good bit more. The very next time I spoke I did have products to sell. This signficantly increased my speaking income.

Years later, I joined the largest public seminar company (at the time) called CareerTrack. You may have heard of them. I was with them for four years. I was their top rated speaker in each of my topics all four years. The two areas in which they rated us were on customer satisfaction with the seminars themselves and the product sales numbers. I had the highest numbers in all my topics in both areas.

This served as a great training ground. Like an actor doing a LOT of Off-Broadway work, I worked many of the second and third tier cities. While I was there I very much enjoyed it, but it was a lot work for very little money.

I now speak an average of 90 - 100 times a year to groups around the country and around the world (on a limited basis - my choice). Many of these speaking engagements are self-promoted seminars.

I consider myself to be a very good speaker, but I am even better in the area of product development and product sales. As it turns out, this is an area that has helped me make the bulk of my money in the speaking business. This is true with most highly successful professional speakers. I will share all my secrets with you throughout the book.

The only other item that people usually want to know is my educational background. I have an undergraduate degree in Marketing and Psychology and a masters’ degree in International Business.

From my experience in the speaking field, education is virtually meaningless to your success as a speaker. So, don’t feel like you have to go out and get an education before you get started. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Warning – Disclaimer

This book is designed to help you learn and profit from the speaking business in the shortest amount of time possible.

Every effort has been made to give you information which is 100% accurate. Mistakes, however, may have been made along the way, and for that, I am sorry.

The information in this book is no guarantee that you will succeed as a speaker, even if you follow all the techniques described. There are too many intangibles for me to suggest that everyone who reads this will be successful.

The system described in this book with give you the GREATEST possible chance for success. Once again, no guarantees can be made about your particular ability to succeed. What I can say for certain is that many people have used my system to become highly successful professional speakers.

This book, therefore cannot guarantee your success.

If you do not wish to be bound by the above, you may return the book to the publisher for a full refund.

"A wise man is he who knows he knows not."

– SOCRATES –

Introduction

If you love getting up in front of people and speaking, why not do it for a living? It’s possible, but you need to read this book to make sure you have the greatest probability of success.

There are a number of books out on the market that give you advice on how to get into the business of making money as a speaker. How is this one different?

Very simple. This is the straight story from someone who has been there. No BS. No theory. Just simple, practical ideas to show you how to make big money as a professional speaker.

I’m here to break the code of silence. To tell you what others won’t tell you. To give you the inside story. To tell you the whole truth. You will not find this information in any other book on the topic.

This book will get a lot of people annoyed. It’s going to get speakers bureaus pissed off. For the most part, these folks are overpriced opportunists who aren’t worth what they are paid. There are a select FEW who don’t fall into that category!

I’m also going to get my fellow speakers annoyed. Many of these folks are pompous and pretentious jerks who strut around thinking they are rock stars. Trust me, they are not!

The reason speakers are going to be annoyed with me is there are a lot of dirty little secrets in the speaking business that no one talks about. I’m going to spill the beans. I’m going to give you the information that few people ever discuss.

Speaking can be an incredible business. It can be a lot of fun and very financially rewarding, but you need a roadmap to get to the top as quickly as possible. This book is designed to help you cut through the crap and get to the pot of gold quickly and easily.

Other books on the topic will give you some clever ideas, but only this one will give you a specific roadmap to success as a speaker that anyone can follow.

Remember, just because there is a book on a topic, it doesn’t mean the information is accurate or correct. There are a number of books out on the topic of professional speaking. Needless to say there is a LOT of misinformation. The system in this book works. I know because it is working for me and for my many clients.

My Goals for You and for Myself

I think it would be a good idea to share with you what my goals are as a speaker. Remember, these are my goals. They may or not be similar to your own.

First, I want to net $1,000,000 a year without any employees. I want to be able to operate the business without the hassles (in my opinion) of having someone work for me. I MAY want to have an assistant at some point, but it will depend on how good a person I can find for the job.

With this money I will give a large portion of it to causes that I believe in.

I will do this by generating money from 6 primary sources. These include speaking engagements, seminars (self promoted and those of others), consulting, coaching, products and websites.

Second, I want to have three residences. Currently I have two, one here in the Las Vegas area and one in New York City. Eventually I want to have a third residence in Europe. My plan is to spend November to April in Las Vegas, Spring in New York City, Summer in Europe and Fall back in New York.

My goal for YOU is to help you make as much money as possible in the shortest period of time as a professional speaker. How you spend that money is up to you.

Getting Started

My System

My system for generating speaking engagements is VERY different than just about all of my colleagues. The vast majority of speakers go after speaking engagements directly. They either try to get booked for speeches directly (going to meeting planners) or they curry favor with speakers bureaus in hopes that they’ll get booked.

Both of these methodologies will cost you money and time. As is true with most business models, your marketing is a cost center.

The system that I want you to pursue as your primary means of getting business makes your marketing efforts a profit center. How can this be?

Simple.

I take a niche market and develop a line of products that range in price from $10 to $1000. These products include books, ebooks, audios, CD-roms, DVDs, videos, seminars, teleseminars, workshops and bootcamps.

I then create a web-based system to sell these products and sequentially trade people up to higher and higher priced products. How does this generate speaking engagements?

A certain percentage of people who you feed into the top of your funnel in any of your niche markets will eventually use you as a speaker. Here’s an example. One of my markets is the self storage industry. I have a whole line of products that I’ve developed to help these folks generate more business. Not long ago, someone read one of my articles in a trade magazine. They signed up for my regular tips that I send to people on a regular basis.

In this particular example, this individual bought my book for $99 which I offered in my 4th email message to him. After buying a few videos a few weeks later I got a call at my office. He wanted to know my rates to come to Hawaii and do 3 days of training/speaking for his staff.

Had I tried to go after this customer without the system I’ve described above I would have spent money in marketing to him. In my system, I MAKE money while I’m marketing my speaking and consulting services.

In this day and age, every speaker is not just a speaker. They are authors, consultants and product developers as well. In short, speakers are INFORMATION MARKETERS.

I’m not saying that you use the system that I’ve described exclusively. I am saying that you should start testing this system in a targeted niche market. This will show you how the system works and how you can turn your marketing efforts into a profit center.

If you need my help in setting it up, just give me a call.

Beginning Speaker Tips

Success as a speaker is more related to your marketing abilities than your speaking abilities. Sad, but true. But to be perfectly honest, you need both.

If you are just starting out as a speaker, here are some things you need to do. If you follow these suggestions you will be on your way to a lucrative speaking career.

Read Aloud

Pull a book off the shelf each night and read aloud for a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes. The only way to get better as a speaker is to practice. If you can’t practice in front of a live audience, then practice on your own. Even with the greatest marketing skills you still need to do a great job when you get up in front of a group. Reading aloud will help you to improve your instrument.

Start Writing

Similar to speaking, the only way to improve your writing skills is to write. I have a goal to write a minimum of 5,000 words a day. The only way to get better as a writer is to practice. If you learn how to write, it will dramatically help your speaking career. How? Simple. Speakers who have books written on their topics of expertise make substantially more money than those who don’t. My research indicates that speakers who have books generally make close to double the money than those who don’t. If you aren’t a great writer, don’t worry. You can always hire a great editor. If you can’t write at all you can also hire a ghost writer. I have no moral objection to this at all. As long as the ideas are yours, that’s all that matters!

Go to Toastmasters

Toastmasters is an organization that will help you perfect your speaking skills. They can help the new speaker to learn some of the speaking basics. They have a workbook and an agenda for any new speaker to go through. I highly recommend this group if you are just starting out as a speaker. It won’t make you an expert speaker, but it will help get you started in the right direction. Toastmasters have local branches all over the country. You can find the closest branch by visiting their website at: www.toastmasters.org.

Watch Other Speakers

Another great way to learn how to speak better is to watch others who are experts in the field. Find those speakers who you like and dissect their speeches. What do they do that makes you feel positive about them? Don’t copy them, but adapt their methodologies into your own personal style of delivery.

Go to Seminars

Attend seminars on how to better market your speaking business and career. I offer a number of these for beginning speakers. It’s a good idea to take these seminars for not just the content, but also for the contacts. NEVER attend a seminar that doesn’t offer you a money back guarantee.

Start Speaking

Speak anytime, anywhere, for free if necessary. Well, not really for free. I’ll explain that later.

Top 5 ways that speakers get their business

As you go through this book, you need to keep in mind that speakers get their business in five primary ways. This will give you a blueprint for how you should run your marketing efforts. Concentrate your efforts in the order in which they are presented here. Don’t concentrate on number five until you’ve completely exhausted your efforts in the first four. These steps are in this order for a reason. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. You’ll be wasting your time.

1. Someone Heard the Speaker: Speak anytime/anywhere for free if necessary

The best and least costly means of marketing yourself as a speaker is to have someone hear you and decide that you’d be perfect to speak for their group. A number of years back, I bumped into a guy on a plane. We got to talking. He told me he was traveling to go to an industry convention. I told him I was going to that particular city to give a speech (to a different convention).

I invited him to come here me speak. He did. The following year his group used me for a keynote at their convention. At that same event I had another person come up to me after I spoke and request a business card. Later that year I spoke to his organization.

The lesson? Speak anywhere, anytime, for free if you have to. The more people who see you, the greater the number of requests you will get to speak. Provided that you do a great job!

2. Referral: Always be good, even if there are 5 people there

For this to work you have to do a great job EVERY time you speak. Make sure you do a great job regardless of how many people there are in the room. Remember, all you have to do is impress ONE of them each time you speak to keep this system going forever.

3. Celebrity: People gain celebrity status as the result of writing a book

You’re going to have to write a book if you’re going to make a lot of money as a speaker. If this sounds scary, don’t worry! I’ve developed a system that will get your book written, printed and have it start getting sold in less than 90 days. Yes, that’s right! In less than 3 months from today you can have a book ready to sell. The book will also become your best piece of promotional material. If you can’t wait to read about this system, go to: www.selfpublishingsuccess.com.

4. Industry Expert: Gain a reputation in a niche market

You’re much more apt to get speaking engagements if you’re perceived as an expert in the field. Being a generalist is poor positioning for all but the very well known, celebrity speakers. I encourage you to take your area of expertise and NICHE IT into one or more markets where you have a natural match or interest.

This will mean that you write articles for their trade publications and speak and/or exhibit at all of their trade shows.

5. Speaker Promotional Materials: 1 page faxable, tiered brochure, demo video, web

This is where most speakers spend the bulk of their efforts. Inappropriately, I might add. Notice that this is number five on the list. Concentrate on the first four elements first. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t have or create promotional materials, but don’t concentrate your efforts in this area alone.

These are the top five ways that speakers get their business. You’ll learn more about each of these as you go through this book. Don’t worry, it’s all here.

Are You a Motivational Speaker?

This is a question that I get asked all the time. Whenever you tell someone that you speak for a living, their inevitable next question is: Are you a motivational speaker? My answer is usually: No, I’m more of an informational speaker who is highly motivating.

I answer this way because I have an innate discomfort with this classification. To me the term motivational speaker conjures up a speaker that delivers a lot of feel good catch phrases and very little content. For those of you who watch Saturday Night Live, the character that Chris Farley used to portray. I equate these kinds of speakers with a Chinese food meal. You’re usually still hungry after you’ve heard them speak.

Many years ago I was on the platform with a gold medal Olympian. I watched as this well known individual did her speech. I found myself completely unimpressed. Then I watched as the throngs of audience members came up to this person saying how much they loved her talk. I was amazed.

This proves a very important point. You are not your audience. Don’t ever assume that you act, think, or even behave like the members of your audience. Clearly, from the above example, I was out of touch. I think I’m probably out of touch with regards to how I feel about most motivational speakers. I personally don’t like these kinds of speakers. Please don’t take this the wrong way if this is the kind of speaker you want to be. I want you to be more than just a motivational speaker.

There is obviously plenty of demand for this type of speaker, they just aren’t my cup of tea. But I think I am ahead of the curve on this issue and have a warning for those of you positioning yourself this way. In addition to being a motivational speaker, you better find a way to deliver valuable content as well. If you