Imagine this:

It’s 2 weeks after you delivered your best presentation at a virtual summit. The high of the event is wearing off and you check your Kajabi dashboard to see your sales numbers.

You’re greeted with the stark realization that all the energy and time you put into your talk created ZERO real leads into your business.

You don’t understand. 

What happened?

You were charming, made them laugh, delivered some of your BEST tips.

Yet, barely anyone signed up for that freebie and those who DID aren’t converting into customers.

Sadly, I see this happen every day.

Passionate business owners muster up the courage to put themselves out there, just to be met with disappointment that their energy and effort isn’t paying off.

They know that a strong online marketing strategy should include a visibility plan. Theoretically, when you show up on podcasts or speak on virtual stages and get more eyes on your business, the revenue will follow… right?

Wrong. 

Just showing up to deliver content on a stage and wishing for sales isn’t a strategy.

So how do you connect those visibility efforts, like speaking on stages, into a money maker for your biz?

Below you’ll find five specific steps to help you successfully integrate speaking and your business offers, whether that’s coaching, done-for-you services, digital products or programs.

Build a Bridge 

The secret is a clear connection between your speaking engagements and your paid offers. Imagine that your audience is on a cozy and comfortable island and you (and your offer) are on a completely different island.

There they sit across the water, blissfully unaware that your offer exists or that they even need it at all.

When entrepreneurs deliver presentations, the mistake they make is delivering information from their island, versus taking a hopper over to the island of the audience (meeting them where they are), then building a bridge that connects the two islands together.

A clear path from where they are to where your programs reside.

What are your paid offers?

So they question stands, what’s on your island?  If you want speaking to help grow your online business, you must have a clear strategy (learn about different speaking strategies in this episode).

If you ultimately want your visibility efforts to lead to more sales, you have to start with the end in mind. Which product, program or service are you selling?

You do NOT need to sell from the stage, in fact, I’m not really a fan of that (and you can learn about my alternative strategies here), instead I want you to be clear on what offer would ultimately be a logical and valuable resource for them.

So, which type of offer are you connecting to?

1. 1:1 Services
2. Coaching or Group Programs
3. Digital Products
4. Digital Course

I offer all of these within my business and highly recommend diversifying your revenue stream (learn more about that here) 

I particularly want to highlight the power of a digital course as a follow up offer. It can open your ability to connect with more people, your ability to serve more people.  The beautiful thing about speaking online is that we can reach people in all different countries, all different time zones, all around the world, beyond what we may have traditionally been able to reach. 

A digital course allows you to extend that level of service. It allows you to work with anyone, any time zone, any given point of time and allows other people to find the same transformation, success, results that you offer.

If you are considering creating a digital course, but don’t know where to start, I highly recommend The Ultimate Course Creation Starter Kit by my mentor Amy Porterfield. 

Now, let’s jump into how to connect the dots between whichever paid offer you choose and your stage time.

5 Steps to connect your presentation to your paid products

1. Choose a topic that directly connects to your offer.

You need to choose a topic that directly relates with your product or program, whatever it is you ultimately want to sell, they must clearly connect. Otherwise you might show up and serve, but you’re not guiding people towards your solution. Ensure you are specific and clear with that you want to be known for.

Remember the analogy I gave above with the islands? Consider this:

If you’re a marketing coach and show up to give a presentation about mindset in business or organizing your files on dropbox (both highly useful things by the way), you are building a bridge toward an island that is NOT your offer.

That would be why people aren’t leaping to buy in your next launch. You send them in a dingy boat to another island. 

When you get stage time, ensure you use it to showcase what you want to be known for. Your topic must clearly align with your expertise and what you offer.

2. Mention how you work with people and your product/program within your presentation. 

An audience must know 1) that you do in fact work with people and 2) the way in which you work with them.

For example, “one of the best strategies I use with my private clients is…” or “inside my program my clients share that…”

Mention your program or product in your talk or interview a few times, just be sure not to drop these notes to the extreme (or you border braggadocious). When you constantly mention your course or say things like  “inside my program”, you signal to your audience that they are OUTSIDE of your program. 

The benefit of doing this is that it creates excitement and interest (people want to be in the know), but when done too much you give the impression that what you are sharing with them is somehow less useful, that what you’re sharing is watered down.

Audiences are smart and skeptical. They are far over the days of  “…and to learn even more about this, you can find it in my program.”

Instead consider these stage opportunities as an audition. People are sizing you up to determine if you’re the right mentor or coach for them, so serve them well.

3. Offer tangible value.

Speaking of serving them well, when you’re on a stage be sure to offer some tangible tips.  

The mistake a lot of speakers make is delivering a bunch of fluffy mumbo jumbo

Somewhere they heard that they should only offer the WHY and the WHAT, which means they strip out any of the meat and talk around their topic.

To be clear, that is NOT what teaching the WHY and WHAT actually means, but void of clarity, that is exactly what people do.

When working with my clients or students inside my programs (see what I just did there), I always ask them this question:

How do you want your audience to describe you?

The word “tangible” comes up almost every single time. Why? Because we are sick of the fluff.

We’re done with the days of crappy freebies that promise the world and provide no substance.

Your audience wants to be challenged, they need their thinking elevated, they crave inspiration and a peak into the world of possibility…

But also, they want action. Give them that.

Think of tangible actionable takeaways like sprinkles laced throughout your talk.

4. Offer an extension of your presentation.

You need to offer your audience something to continue to work with you. This is where I highly recommend having a freebie directly tied to your talk (many consider this a “content upgrade” in the online world). 

The key here is that it must directly relate with your presentation.  Don’t have some generic freebie, make it juicy. A logical and irresistible next step.

This could be a fast action guide, a copy of your slide deck, worksheet, mini-training, free session… there are no rules here.

If you’re hesitant on the idea of offering even a freebie from a stage or podcast, remember this:

If you truly want to make an impact, you must have something for those who want to continue the journey. If you don’t, they’ll find it with your competition.

5. Nurture them into an offer.

Once the talk is over, your job is done, right? Nope.

Many of my private clients hate this part. They work SO hard on preparing a killer talk and practicing until they’re blue in the face, they don’t want to think about the follow up.

This is where I dig my heels into the sand.

If you don’t focus on time AFTER your live presentation BEFORE you take the stage, chances are you’ll forget about it.

Do future you a favor and outline exactly what you want to happen after your talk long before.

Be sure you have a way for them to opt in whether that’s a landing page or a text in service like Textiful (which I highly recommend and that right there is an affiliate link to get you some extra credits with them).

After they opt in, be sure to have an email sequence ready to go to nurture them. And if possible, customize it to honor the fact that they met you LIVE at an event! 

Now you want them to get to know your business. What to expect with the virtual relationship and give them a little bit about what value they are going to get from being on your email list beyond the freebie they got. Then guide them to an offer (if you’re fancy, use a funnel. But you do NOT need one if you’re just getting started. 

The advantage of being a small business and getting a handful of opt ins at an event means you can PERSONALLY follow up with each one.

I hope these steps help you turn your next speaking event into real leads for your business.

Links mentioned in episode:

• The Ultimate Course Creation Starter Kit by my mentor Amy Porterfield. 
• Think Big, Act Small by Jason Jennings

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

• The Power of Simple Launching with Liz Wilcox – Ep #49
• Listening, Learning & Acting in the Way of a Change-maker with Erica Courdae – Ep #48
• How I’ve structured my online business to replace my six figure salary (and thrive during quarantine) – Ep #47
• The Power of Story – Virtual Summit Interview – Ep #41
• Show Up with Confidence on Camera – Conquering Fear & Creating Engaging Video Content – Ep #38